Norman Yakeleya

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I was at a negotiation session one time and I read where it says in order to get to the Promised Land you have to negotiate your way out of the wilderness. I think that’s what we’re doing here. I think the Northwest Territories has a lot of promise and things could happen in the Northwest Territories. I think right now with this Northern Strategy, that the Premier is giving us an opportunity to look for vision in the Northwest Territories; things that we’d like to see in the North.

Within the 15th Legislative Assembly we have only a short period of time...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, three communities in the Sahtu are going to be directly impacted by the proposed Mackenzie Valley pipeline. They are very afraid in terms of the social impacts. There is increased exploration activity in my region right now and we are seeing the impacts. We are also seeing the benefits. However, the people are really concerned about the social impacts in terms of family violence and alcohol. So again, Mr. Speaker, I ask the Minister what specific things is his department going to do to ensure that people in the Sahtu will see some benefits in terms of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question today is to the Minister of RWED, Brendan Bell. Mr. Speaker, I heard on the reports that the communities may have a difficult time in terms of the National Energy Board or the Joint Review Panel in terms of the social impacts of the pipeline. I understand that the report is evidence-based in terms of the impacts of the pipeline. I wanted to ask the Minister of RWED is there anything that his department is doing in helping the communities get this information to the boards that gives them more weight on the impacts that pipeline would have on...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the volume has increased and I would ask the Minister if he would consider advising us on this side of the House in terms of finishing up the winter bridges program. I know some people were looking at an all-weather road into the Sahtu. Would the Minister consider having that discussion with the people in the Sahtu in terms of having an all-weather road into the Sahtu region? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, last week the honourable Premier, Joe Handley, and Mr. McLeod drove up our winter road into the Sahtu. Mr. Speaker, my question is to the Minister of Transportation. In terms of the winter road complaints from the Sahtu people and the increased volume of traffic into the Sahtu due to the oil and gas exploration, I would ask the Minister if he would inform this House and the people in the Sahtu what the plans are of the department to improve the road conditions in our region for next year. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, over the past week, I was in Tulita for a funeral for an elder who happened to be my aunt. Mr. Speaker, in times like this, people in small communities take the time out to support one another in difficult times.

Mr. Speaker, we also had the opportunity of having the honourable Premier Joe Handley and Minister McLeod come to the community at that time. They drove up to the Sahtu region.

I want to say, Mr. Speaker, how much the people in Tulita and the Sahtu region appreciated having Mr. Handley and Mr. McLeod come to the community and give their...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, want to say to the government not to take the cotton balls out of their ears, but take the acorns out of their ears. That’s what we are doing in the Sahtu in terms of the financial picture that Mr. Roland indicated we have. We have a wealthy territory here, Mr. Speaker. The roads that go into the Sahtu and small communities in terms of the amount of money that comes out of these regions. The picture that Mr. Roland painted for us in his budget address, we have a surplus in the small communities. I say again, some of these larger centres take the services for...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the interim measures agreements forced the sandpits or something that the Yellowknives Dene want to have. There is a process in terms of resolving that within the interim measures agreement. Is that the process that this will take in terms of further interest by the Yellowknives Dene in terms of the sandpits? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, land within the municipalities such as the….We settled in the Sahtu. There was a lot of land within the hamlet boundaries that had a lot of interest and was claimed by our own people. These lands were distributed among the GNWT, the federal government and the aboriginal people. I would like to ask the Minister if he states that this interim measures agreement will stay in place until the settlement within the areas that haven’t yet been settled by the aboriginal people. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to congratulate Mr. Stephen Kakfwi on his recent appointment to the National Roundtable on the Environment and the Economy, which was announced by the Prime Minister, Mr. Paul Martin.

---Applause

Mr. Speaker, upon reading the mandate of the roundtable, Mr. Kakfwi's appointment is timely in that he has proven through his leadership ability that he will bring the northern issues to the roundtable as we expect of our other colleagues who are working on our behalf.

Mr. Speaker, we look forward to working with Mr. Kakfwi in this new role of taking our...