Norman Yakeleya

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I want to first of all congratulate the department here for actively taking, as it says in the last bullet, a prominent role on the national front on some very important issues to people in the Northwest Territories and certainly to people in my riding, and that the Government of the Northwest Territories, through the Minister here, is taking on the national spotlight as to the issues that we have to deal with and we have been partners across Canada. I want to say congratulations. Even though we are considered a small government, we carry a big punch sometimes, and that’s...

Mr. Speaker, the Minister and I have had a tour of the Sahtu on this bill, and with the support we had from the Sahtu communities and leadership, we are actually looking forward to seeing this bill come to fruition so that we know we can do some things that are different and beneficial. Right now we are experiencing some difficulties with the health system because of the way our system is set up in the legislation. The Sahtu is very supportive, all the communities that met with the Minister, and so I will be fully supporting this bill.

Mr. Speaker, this has been our last operations and maintenance budget, given that we have just under 300 days for the election to be called.

Will we see anything in the life of this government to know that we’re making some measurable strides to achieve what we want to achieve with our young people in our communities that are attending our education institutions?

Thank you. We certainly look forward to it. I’ve been wanting to ask the Minister of Education… The chief from Tulita, Chief Frank Andrew, talked about the quality of education in our communities and then he noted that at one time when the students finished Grade 12, they finished with a Grade 12. Today we question the Grade 12s who are finishing school.

I want to ask the Minister, is there a way that we are looking at today that when our students finish they do not have to go to Aurora College to upgrade to get into a post-secondary institution. Will our students really complete with a Grade...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too, along with my colleagues Mr. Moses, Mr. Nadli, Mr. Menicoche and also the Premier, would like to recognize people in the gallery. I want to first recognize Ms. Crystal Fraser on her achievement of working towards her PhD and her studies. I had a good discussion with her on the residential schools in the North, so good luck with that, Crystal. Good to see young northern Aboriginal people go this far in their academics to get a doctorate degree, so good luck.

At the same time, I’d like to recognize Grand Chief Herb Norwegian with his delegation, the Dehcho...

Thank you. I knew I was smart. I knew I should have listened to my Mom, who said, “You’re smart. You’re smart.”

I want to ask the Minister on the implementation plan for the Sahtu that we fulfilled all obligations under the Sahtu Implementation Plan by our government, because I’m hearing some other things from the federal government that they’re not quite all completed. You know, some of the implementation plan is 10 or 20 years late. I’m trying to figure that out. Thank you.

I certainly hope the Minister sees him real soon and makes a point of this inequity, unjust, and that one of the pillars of Canada received some recognition and not to have this type of issue with us.

Anyhow, I just wanted to raise that for the Metis locals. We fund the Native Women’s Association double what the Metis locals are getting. Again, I wish the Premier and I wish the Minister good luck to talk to the federal Minister on this issue here.

I hope the periodic basis is at last once a year. We appreciate it. I don’t even think the federal government is funding it and we’re doing it. That’s the unique challenge in the communities. Some of them do not yet have a land claim organization to fall back on, especially for the Metis people and the locals to come up to the same par as the Dene organizations, band councils. This is peanuts compared to their organizations. There is still an inequity and injustice from one Aboriginal group to another Aboriginal group. It’s clear. We see it in this government and the federal government. I’ve...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just want to get a breakdown just to confirm the core funding to the Metis locals. Can I get a breakdown on what exactly the Metis councils are getting?

Thank you, Madam Chair. I have one question for the Minister with regard to the percentage of senior management or Aboriginal employees within the government sector. We are hearing that there is a different percentage in each department. Are we getting closer to representing the population that we serve with our government employees? I know there was some type of discussion, and with the time we have left in this government, are we moving the bar up a half percent or a percent or something where we can say yes, we’re getting closer to the number of representation by the population that we...