Norman Yakeleya

Mr. Gabe Kochon was chosen as senior trapper in the Sahtu region. Gabe Kochon is one solid trapper. I want to ask the Minister, with regard to trapping for seniors, are there some programs dedicated to seniors like Gabe Kochon to continue that way of life?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are with regard to the outstanding trappers we have in the Sahtu and ITI’s program. Mr. Speaker, Mr. Robert Kochon of Colville Lake had the highest sales in trapping and also the highest pelts in trapping. What is this Minister of ITI doing in terms of supporting our way of life in the Sahtu, especially with trappers like Mr. Kochon? What are the programs he has to support this way of life?

Can the Premier tell me if there is going to be any types of formal discussions in terms of constructing the Mackenzie Valley Highway, similar to questions similar to what the MLA for Kam Lake has talked about? Can we see some solid commitments from the feds or can we see that there is a possibility of even looking at the beginning of the Mackenzie Valley Highway, the construction part of it?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask the Premier questions regarding the Mackenzie Valley Highway.

Mr. Speaker, I understand that some time ago the Government of the Northwest Territories put a proposal before the federal government regarding the Norman Wells oilfield proposal in terms of possibly looking at some funding options to see if this process could be looked at and see if the federal government could entertain this proposal to construct the Mackenzie Valley Highway.

Mr. Speaker, today I would like to recognize and send my congratulations to Mr. Glen Guthrie of the Sahtu.

Mr. Guthrie was awarded the Lloyd Cook Award for his commitment to further educate the public on wildlife management.

Mr. Speaker, this award is a national recognition with the Fur Industry of Canada, and we offer our heartfelt thanks to Glen for his hard work with people, especially with the youth. Mahsi cho.

Mr. Speaker, last month we had six land rovers come up from B.C. Now, no matter what, people are going to start coming in. With notice of Mactung opening up, there is going to be more industry coming up and taking more interest. I would ask the Minister if he would look at types of enforcement or having this jurisdiction of road be improved. I would ask the Minister if he would be willing to look at some type of legislation or policy in terms of having some restrictions on people going to be using this road more in the future. Would the Minister look at types of regulations or legislation in...

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have listened to the exchange between the MLA for Mackenzie Delta and the Minister of ITI. I wanted to ask the Minister of Transportation in terms of public roads in the north end of the CANOL here, is that under GNWT’s jurisdiction in terms of public road maintenance and operations?

That’s what I’m afraid of in terms of the Mactung. If they go ahead, if they get the go-ahead to mine their deposit on the Yukon side, they are going to use the Northwest Territories side as a transportation corridor. I’d like to ask the Minister what type of alternative plans does he have in regard to having protection. We know this is a proposed park that was negotiated with the Sahtu Dene and Metis in 1993 and that we want this to happen. We don’t want to see any damage to this piece of property here. So we ask the Minister what is he prepared to do to work with the Sahtu to make sure this...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to continue my questions to the Minister of ITI. Mr. Speaker, I’ve recently received some information that the Mactung, the tungsten mine at the border of the proposed CANOL Park, is going to go into some environmental hearings in terms of starting up the tungsten mine. This tungsten mine is one of the world’s largest tungsten deposits in the world and this is the start of the CANOL Heritage Trail. I want to ask the Minister what is his department doing to ensure that this piece of property, this part of the CANOL Heritage Trail or CANOL Park is protected in...