Norman Yakeleya

Mr. Chair, just before I close, I had somewhat of a brief discussion last summer with a representative from the Department of Indian Affairs, when they were doing the assessments at mile 70. Two people from my community came with me. There was a rough estimate of what it will cost to clean up the CANOL Trail. The trick is how do you get into the CANOL Trail.

That’s what my people want — to have some involvement. We talk about having some cleanup. What are we talking about? What is it that people are involved in? Brush cutting? Cleaning up the wire? How do you pick up the old, old vehicles, old...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Doi T’oh Canyon territorial park, I would like to ask the Minister his plans for infrastructure on that.

I heard the Minister of ITI talk about some of the challenges with the federal government in terms of land ownership, cleaning up that park. That proposed park certainly has some interest by the people in the Tu Nedhe district in terms of ownership through our land claims. However, we don’t want to take over a garbage dump, as the trail is being known as, because of the contaminated soil, drums. Everything needs to be cleaned up before we take over that park.

In...

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...

We certainly look forward to the department’s initiatives with the community; safety initiatives they could also implement from the community in terms of what safety initiatives could be undertaken. The community has some fairly good ideas about what should be done and what can be done. Some of the signs on the Mackenzie Valley road up in my region are on trees. Sometimes those signs fall down for whatever reason. We want to look at some of those signs in terms of safety measures.

The deputy minister alluded to the bridge program, and we certainly appreciate the bridge program coming to our...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I certainly have some thoughts about this motion. I thought about the highways in all the Mackenzie Valley in the north, and I’m going to not support this motion.

I think this motion should look at other highways. I also mentioned before that the Dempster Highway up in Inuvik certainly needs some work, especially with dust control. I have seen it. That’s a whole region that has been in the dust for a long time in terms of the use of that highway. I certainly understand Mr. Menicoche’s concerns about this situation. I’ve been made aware of it.

However, for myself, I look...

Just before the question, Mr. Chair, I guess I’m looking at, in terms of this motion here, the fairness. There are some processes, certain ways of getting to the capital. You have to wait for the usual process of going through a business plan and getting the support. There are several projects that seem to have gone out of the usual process to get into the capital budget. I don’t mind. That’s the way things are dealt with in here. We have certain projects in Yellowknife here that got on the books, and they’re spending money here and certainly in the Inuvik region also.

I’ve been to Inuvik; I’ve...

That’s where I’m having some difficulty: buying now in terms of supporting our own government in supporting the private business people by having assets in our community. We support the local people. We support the businesses, so I guess that’s my difficulty: shutting out the businesses in the community. I guess I’m having difficulty with that type of policy in terms of…. I’m having trouble wrapping my mind around this concept. Do we support the local business only when we think it’s to our benefit in terms of ownership and leasing, or do we work with the community? I’m having some difficulty...

Mr. Chair, a question to the Minister. I’m trying to catch up to the issue here. In terms of the facility in Inuvik, the facility you’re proposing, have there been discussions with private businesspeople to say, “Can you build the building for us? We’ll lease it, and then nobody’s short on cash”? Has that discussion happened?

In my understanding of the contaminated areas, releasing the lands to our government or to the aboriginal governments is going to be quite a contentious issue with DIAND because of the amount of garbage that was left on the trail by the U.S. government and the federal government when they built that road to the Yukon. That’s going to cost a lot of money for somebody to clean up, just like the Giant Mine here. Somebody’s got to take ownership and do it.

Does the territorial government want to hold the liability for the millions of dollars that’s going to clean up the CANOL Trail? The Minister’s...