Norman Yakeleya

We’re probably going to get a similar answer if I ask the question, but I have been asking it ever since I’ve been here. About the Metis core funding, I think it’s averaged out. I think it’s $13,000, if I can recall. Every year this funding has not increased. That’s one of the complaints I get from my region, is that the Metis get core funding. I know it’s a nice thing to do for this government here. There really is no funding for them except some Metis are under a land claim settlement and they have other kind of funding. This one for the GNWT, I guess it’s a nice gesture to recognize the...

I’m sorry if I’m asleep at the wheel here. I just want to ask one question here to the Minister. In regard to the land use framework, have we... I know it’s somewhere in the Department of Executive in terms of the land use framework and I’m trying to locate some information. Is that going to be forthcoming or do we already have it or have I just misplaced it? It’s an important initiative by the Executive in terms of going forward. I want to ask if the Premier would have some good discussions with us or where can I get some information on that.

The funding in terms of accessing funding, there are various programs that Sport North and other organizations have that sometimes it becomes very difficult in terms of accessing funding for the youth. I wonder if the Minister then could possibly look at maybe one of the organizations from the Sahtu communities looking at the funding and how we can get a youth hand game tournament in the region. Again, we could have about 40 teams participating.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just the one employee that we have with the PUB and that’s located in the South Slave?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Over the past few days I was in Deline and I was witness to the hand games that were played there, Mr. Speaker. This is the first annual traditional hand games that the Deline First Nation have hosted. There were 37 teams from the Yukon, Alberta and Northwest Territories in total.

Mr. Speaker, there were just over 260 to 280 hand game players. There’s about 40 hours of singing and drumming. The traditional hand games brought out a lot of excitement from the people in the tournament. People played all hours of the night.

I want to say that on behalf of the Sahtu region I...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. One question. Can I ask the Minister for a list of the NGOs that are being considered for the contribution funding to stabilize their operations? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to ask the Premier regarding the Northern Leaders’ Forum Fund, $304,000. I am trying to see where I read about it. However, I’ll ask the Premier about that fund.

The issue I have with the implementation is with the... I guess you look at it in terms of once you settle your negotiations and start implementing, the lay of the land really changes in terms of how our government is going to be in terms of our working relationship. It’s going to change quite considerably. Have we had some discussions in the House regarding the implementation, the potential benefits or potential things we need to be aware of in terms of implementing our self-government agreements?

Plus, this department is at a number of tables here negotiating self-government agreements. That...

Thank you. I, too, also want to let the Minister know that I want to ensure that we have good sound footing in the finances in terms of challenges that we have to acknowledge and to deal with, but at the same time I want to ensure that what’s before us here, this is probably the best-case scenario of all the assessments of our finances with a number of sunsets. You know, we heard from the Department of Health and Social Services in terms of their sunsets of some of the programs that the federal government is not going to fund anymore and at the same time we’re going to provide some pretty...

Just about got it there. So I’ll ask the Minister about realizing the economic potential. Is the Minister willing to share with the House in terms of some initial estimates or just as to what he’s talking about? Is that saved for the negotiations when you have negotiations with aboriginal governments or the federal government? It’s an interesting subject, because just myself in the Sahtu region, there is economic potential for oil and gas, hydro potential, minerals, even the Mackenzie Valley Highway construction. They had an economic analysis done on that and it showed a good return on...