Norman Yakeleya

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I look forward to the final results and how much energy we, as a government, are going to save in this facility and what other facilities in the Northwest Territories, and maybe under the government as a whole that’s going to implement such a system if it’s beneficial to the people. I’d like to ask the Minister in terms of supplying this new device here or this device that they’re using to the correctional facility, these wood pellets, can they make these in the Northwest Territories so we could have northern suppliers maybe south of the lake or around the lake here...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues. I want to ask the Minister of Justice, Mr. Bell, I was very interested in reading the report on government contracts over $5,000. I want to ask the Minister of Justice on one of the items here. It’s an RFP for the Roman Catholic Corporation. They won a contract for $72,000. I want to ask the Minister of Justice if he can explain to the House and the people, are the Roman Catholics in business because they have some pretty powerful people who are helping them out?

---Laughter

How is the Roman Catholic Church in this request for proposals that’s...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations:

The issue of trespassing in land claim areas is not new. It has been brought to the government’s attention many times over the last several years. Why hasn’t the GNWT brought forward legislation to prevent trespassing in settled land claim areas?

What is the Premier prepared to do to ensure that the rights of the Sahtu people are protected, that our land claim is respected, and the trespassers are kept out of the settlement area?

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have our regional health boards established across the North here. Speaking more specifically to the Sahtu health board, how is the Sahtu regional health board going to be involved in the territorial Stanton initiative in terms of involvement and input? I know you talk about the elders and that’s a key component to the success of this initiative. In terms of our regional health boards and specifically the Sahtu regional health board, will they have input into this initiative? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services if he can inform the people in the communities about the types of action plans his department has planned for serving the percentage of patients in the Stanton Territorial Hospital. What is he doing to provide good quality service that is serving the high percentage of aboriginal patients? Thank you.

He’s the king. So sometimes when my little guy puts on a tie, he says I’m going to business. He calls this meeting business. Sometimes, can he stay home today, Dad? Or don’t go to the business meetings, you know? How come my Dad doesn’t say hello to me when he’s on TV? So, hello, son.

---Applause

When he sees me on TV he wants to know why I’m not talking to him. So, Mr. Speaker, our role as leaders, as fathers, as mothers and servants to our people, it has no, sometimes a different meaning, especially as MLAs to our little guys. They just want us home and they just want to be held, or they want...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, will the Minister make a commitment to come into my region sometime in the next few months to really have a discussion on this concept? We want to hear both sides. We want to know how it’s going to impact our communities, the benefits to our communities and the things we have talked about in this House. The community needs to be comfortable and to lend the support. This concept could bring a lot of benefits to our community, but if we don’t do it right, it also could be a disaster. So we want to have a good discussion with the Housing Corporation on...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I followed the Department of Justice on this initiative because I think it’s ground breaking, I think it’s the way to go in terms of our larger institutions down the Mackenzie Valley, down the Deh Cho and right down the whole Northwest Territories that this department can be the guiding light, I guess, to the other departments, I guess, in terms of looking at large facilities that have institutions like this that could use wood pellets and get the people in the Northwest Territories to start supplying wood pellets. So I guess I wanted to ask, would the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the past week or so I read in the papers and I also received the information from the Minister of Justice, the Honourable Brendan Bell, on this wood pellet initiative that the department is doing in terms of reducing or looking at energy, effective methods to use in the government institutions. I wanted to ask the Minister in terms of what are the long-term goals, I guess, of this wood pellet initiative that’s being used at the facility by the Department of Justice? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to go back to item 7 of the orders of the day.