Norman Yakeleya

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last summer when we completed the hike on the CANOL Trail, the last 50 miles, the first thing that we did was we went to see the elders and talk about the last 50 miles of the CANOL. The elders talked about the trail and what we should be looking for, because the elders have travelled on that land, similar to what the caribou have travelled. Our elders have travelled all over the land on this vast tract of land. I want to know from the Minister about the involvement and input of elders when they say things about the caribou. It seems that we give more weight to the...

The Minister has indicated the number of successful points in terms of him getting feedback from the aboriginal governments and leaders, and probably through the elders. I want to ask the Minister in terms of this specific issue of the caribou with respect to what the elders specifically said to him about the issue of the caribou in terms of the survival to the aboriginal people. What has the Minister heard from the elders down the Mackenzie Valley regarding the caribou and how to deal or live with the caribou?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when I was in Fort Good Hope I sat down with an elder named Jim Pierrot. Jim Pierrot and I sat there and had some tea and Jim Pierrot said to me while talking with me over a cup of tea for about two and a half hours, and one statement he said to me, “Our land is holy.” I couldn’t get what he meant when he said “our land is holy.” I’ve been thinking about it for awhile, Mr. Speaker. Our elders tell us these certain phases for us to figure it out and to work on. One of the things that as young people when you go see the elders, as our parents tell us, is that...

I look forward to the Minister reopening this file here and looking at the issues. I hope the Minister will be able to inform me as of her plans, so I can work with her in the community of Colville Lake to look at this important issue. It’s very important for the people of Colville Lake to have home care work done by their own people. They have been looking after the elders for a long time, so I hope some of the training requirements won’t get in the way of, naturally...could look after their own people.

The other thing I would ask the Minister is if she would look at a community health nurse...

I certainly appreciate the Minister’s response to the process as to how the capital planning process is established and what we agree to, and I was just wanting to make sure that when the needs come up in terms of the facilities for the people, like any project, the Sahtu has some serious considerations. I don’t want to list off some projects that are questionable as to how they got onto the capital process and the funding to operate those facilities. I am not here for that. I am here to see if we can get our projects, such as the ones I listed. There are other communities also going to ask...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just an update from the Minister in terms of the facility planning designs. I know she’s heard from my region in terms of several facilities and I want to ask her again, for the record, to outline the process if we can see something within this government plans to build a regional wellness centre. And also, the elders were looking at an elders home in the Sahtu.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The TeleSpeech project, are communities already selected for that project? I’m not too sure if that is being done as going through the committee or if there was assessments done on it, because we’d certainly like to see another project to all the telehealth projects being up and running. So can I see a little more information on this specific item here.

Mr. Chair, I want to say a few comments and maybe get a response from the Minister. She’s talked about a document called Foundation for Change. Again, I want to say to the Minister regarding health care services in our small communities, the standard of health care services in our small communities, we really need to ensure that when they walk into the health care centre, you know you’re going to get a satisfactory level of care from our nurses or when you live in a small community with no access to a hospital in a matter of minutes or hours, that the health care would do its utmost to help...

Mr. Speaker, the lifting of a small percentage of the caribou, I believe that because the issue here is it’s so large and so huge to the people in the Mackenzie Valley here, it would divert a political volcano, I guess, in terms of the issue of aboriginal rights, conservation, who’s right, who’s going to win. It’s going to impact long-term relationships with the aboriginal people. I want to again ask the Minister if he would consider a small percentage of the total amount of herd, as we’ve done in the Sahtu, at least look at this issue in terms of the bigger picture, in terms of relationship...

Before I ate my caribou stew, my wife mentioned to me, she said, you know, this issue about the caribou, the specific area that there is a ban on hunting, this is what we are fighting about. You know, to have caribou in our life. This specific issue here is about this whole thing about our way of life, our food, and when I talked to several people over the weekend about caribou and asked how does it seem like on the radio in terms of this whole issue from this government, from this Legislative Assembly, most of the replies were that it’s not very good. It seems like the government is telling...