Norman Yakeleya

I thank the Minister for making the effort to come to the Sahtu and talk to the stakeholders. The Minister has dealt with the Sahtu regional health board. You have talked to them. You have talked to them also as a Regular Member. I remember you coming to the Sahtu region. There’s no difference. There are no changes in terms of our health centres, Minister Lee. In Tulita we’re busting at the seams in terms of our health centre. We’re getting two nurse practitioners in our region. Where are we going to put them? How are we going to have this facility? Where are they going to work in the...

Mr. Speaker, my question is to the Minister of Health and Social Services. I would like to know when the Minister is going to work with our stakeholders in the Sahtu to see the Sahtu regional health centre put on the capital acquisition plan.

Mr. Chair, at this time I would like to declare a conflict of interest on this bill.

Mr. Speaker, the challenges before us in terms of climate change and the greenhouse emissions have certainly been brought to the forefront of people in the last couple of years, especially with the winter roads and the ice crossings. Even being in Fort Providence last weekend…. I talked about being on the river with my father-in-law. He set a net, and he was saying, “You know, at this time of the year we should have ice coming down the river here. How come there’s no ice on the river? The weather has really been changed quite a lot for us.”

We know our challenges as leaders in the community...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My former colleague Mr. Braden fought hard for the dementia centre. He fought hard for the dementia centre in Yellowknife. All of a sudden it’s in the books, it’s on the table, and $15 million is spent. We have over the years been fighting for a centre in the Sahtu region. Now we have to go through the process to get a regional centre for the whole Sahtu region. We would like a piece of the pie in terms of the dollars coming in.

Again, I have seen elders get on the plane in terrible weather. Myself, I’ve experienced where we see people fly out to Edmonton or Norman Wells...

My people certainly would like to know where these millions of dollars are that have been pointed to the Sahtu. I have on the books for 2005–2006 $8.1 million coming into Sahtu Health. In Hansard it has on Friday that they poured millions downtown into Yellowknife in terms of projects: a $15 million dementia centre. We’re asking if this government can put capital into our region to bring the standards of health care similar to downtown Yellowknife — for the Sahtu region to have a regional health and wellness centre that our region can enjoy, just like any other region in the Northwest...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last week I was privy to the exchange between Hon. Minister Lee and my colleague Mr. Hawkins on a health care issue in downtown Yellowknife.

It says in Hansard that Ms. Lee, the honourable Minister, has stated that we’re pouring millions and millions into downtown services, that one of the richest parts of the health care service is going to downtown Yellowknife.

I was shocked to hear this, because my region has been looking for a long time at areas that we could fill to bring up standards by other communities in terms of health care services. The Sahtu has been asking...

Mr. Speaker, some years ago I remember going to one of the small communities. I was hosted by a family, and when we got up in the morning, we had some breakfast. I couldn’t believe that a family that was feeding the child breakfast cereal…. They had water there, and they had Coffee-Mate. They were making milk for the child. That’s their milk, because the milk is so expensive in our small isolated communities that have no roads, have no opportunity to purchase milk at a lower price. I sat there with the family, a well respected elder and mother, and they were making milk with Coffee-Mate, and...

I appreciate the Minister’s response of not losing sight — it might be a little foggy right now — of how you get this bridge in place. but, Mr. Chairman, I am looking at it in terms of the amount of investment that could and should continue to go into the Sahtu region.

I have these bridges in place. We know the bridges are being built in the Sahtu region, because we drive by them and we see them. We certainly appreciate them. When the bridge isn’t put at Tulita to connect to Norman Wells, we know the amount of time for the local contractors, the local businesses…. Each day they lose thousands...

There are lots of bridges, and people are very happy that the Blackwater bridge is being looked at. But I’m saying this bridge has been sitting there for about two years. It’s been sitting there. How long does it take an engineer to say, “We want to build approaches on both ends to complete it”? I don’t want to get into too much detail on the Oscar Creek Bridge in terms of the work that needs to get done there, but by God, you have to have that work done in the next couple of months. It’s been sitting there for two years.

Blackwater is not even on the banks of the Blackwater River, yet now let...