Norman Yakeleya

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I take this as a very good opportunity for this government to participate in this conference put on by the Denendeh Development Corporation and have major businesspeople coming to Yellowknife to talk about their businesses and share their success stories.

I’d like to know: will the report from this conference come back from the Minister of this government and say, “This is what we learned, this is what we wanted from it, and this is why we want to introduce it into our policies after some discussion”? I think this is key, and you certainly have my support. Would we get a...

I’ll be happy to receive that package from the Minister in terms of all this. This is a very worthwhile, golden opportunity in that we have strong aboriginal people coming together.

We talk about the Mackenzie Valley Highway. We talk about the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline. We talk about the hydro potential. We talk about partnerships with groups with unsettled land claims that have negotiated contract policies and memorandums of understanding with the Government of the Northwest Territories. You have unsettled claims.

Mr. Speaker, I’d like to ask the Minister: is this a golden opportunity for this...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank the Minister for that commitment. Could the Minister commit herself to also looking at initiatives such as the Strategic Initiative Committee on Refocusing Government and various options to again work with boards and agencies on how to deliver services like this to our community members, especially seniors?

Mr. Speaker, I would really like to work with the Minister responsible for Seniors on this. There’s a very valuable opportunity in working with seniors and putting them at a level where we are taking care of them and showing the community that we are taking care of them.

Can I ask the Minister in terms of the involvement of Regular Members or myself, would we have some options to look at some of these areas that we could work on together?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to continue on with the Member’s statement I presented yesterday to the House in terms of working with the elders in the Sahtu region.

I have reviewed some of my correspondence to previous governments, previous responses by Ministers and previous Member’s statements I made in regard to having this government own up and step up the plate in terms of helping their elders. I do want to say thank you to the Minister I heard today in terms of the increase to the fuel subsidy. That certainly goes a long way with our elders. However, I believe there is more to do for our...

Mr. Speaker, I would focus on page 2 of the Minister’s statement. The Minister has talked about the goals of the 16th Assembly as “a strong and independent North built on partnerships.” That’s what I’m asking the Minister here. Are we looking at really meaningful partnerships with these 200 or so participants from all the aboriginal businesses of the Northwest Territories and saying, “Yes, we can build the Mackenzie Valley Highway if we have to or we could”? That’s something that I’d like to look at.

We’re the North, strong and free. Would the Minister have some discussion in terms of how we’d...

Mr. Speaker, the key words that the Minister used are “working together.” If it was working together, I wouldn’t be raising this issue.

I just came out of the Sahtu. These are the issues at Norman Wells. There’s a seniors’ house in Fort Good Hope where the floors totally need replacing. The seniors are going to be living with it through the winter if it doesn’t get replaced.

So I’m asking the Minister, in terms of having some discussion with her Cabinet through the avenues that are available, to work with them and come up with a plan that would have the seniors’ sector reorganized. Mr. Premier...

The NWT Seniors’ Society certainly does a lot of good work in the Northwest Territories. They involve the regional seniors in their meetings.

I’d like to ask the Minister if there are any discussions in the upcoming business plan, any type of discussion on the new initiatives that are initiated by this government in terms of looking at the possibility of putting together a discussion paper on the seniors’ secretariat, because that will benefit the people in the region in terms of how to work with the seniors at a more respectful level.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Over the weekend I had the opportunity to host three elders from the Sahtu who were in Yellowknife for the Roman Catholic district celebration for the bishop.

In the time I spent with the elders and my family here, I had the opportunity to talk with the elders about living in the small communities. From time to time people come to Yellowknife and go back to the communities. They see the opportunities they have here in Yellowknife. They couldn’t believe the prices they pay at the OK Economy or the Co-op, or the gas, or the opportunities they have here.

They provided my...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table two documents. The first document is Taking Care of the Land in the Sahtu Region, August 7 to 9, 2007. The second document is Finding Balance: Strength from the Past, Strength from the Future.

Document 97-16(2), Taking Care of the Land in the Sahtu Region, tabled.

Document 98-16(2), Finding Balance: Strength from the Past; Strength from the Future, tabled.