Norman Yakeleya

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This spring I’ve had the opportunity to go on the land with my family. I brought my little boy out there. He’s 12 years old. Being out on the land for 11 days, I truly believe that the land is alive and well, and the land is the boss. The land has certain laws that when we’re in a certain type of environment that we really don’t understand. I know that when I was with my son, we were talking about walking with his grandparents on the land. His grandparents from my side of the family are not alive anymore, but they have put a place where we can go and fish, hunt and trap...

Mr. Chair, this motion talks about taking $114,000 from this activity and saying we will buy it ourselves within government. Take it from this pot and we’ll take it from the Right from the Start pot. Because of our philosophical and political issues, we say we don’t want to say to the corporate world thank you but we’ll fund it ourselves, we have enough money. Mahsi, but that’s okay. That’s what it’s saying, because of the philosophical issues of how we see the corporate social responsibility what they’re doing and because we need some more discussions as to government has always been...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that the government provide a comprehensive response to this report within 120 days. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that the health and social services authorities, in consultation with the Department of Health and Social Services, should regularly assess whether the services they provide to children and families are in compliance with the Child and Family Services Act and the Child and Family Services Standards and Procedures Manual; and further, that the results of these assessments be used to improve compliance and be shared with the director of child and family services. Thank you, Madam Chair.

I move that the health and social services authorities comply with the Child and Family Services Act and the Child and Family Services Standards and Procedures Manual in their delivery of services to children and families; – Madam Chair, we are just getting the motion handed out because there was a typo, so we are just handing out the motion – and further, that health and social services authorities ensure the key requirements are met when:

investigating concerns about child safety and well-being;

providing protective services for children to address and confirm child protection needs;

providing...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that the health and social services authorities, in consultation with the Department of Health and Social Services, develop a tool to ensure that longer-term risks to children are formally assessed to determine a child’s safety as required under the Child and Family Services Act; and further, that this tool be ready for use by front-line workers within the current fiscal year; and furthermore, to expedite the process the department look to other jurisdictions for guidance. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that the Department of Health and Social Services work with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment and Aurora College to enhance support for students in the Social Work Program with the goal of increasing the number of homegrown Aboriginal students; and further, that a bursary program be established; and furthermore, that the online course work in distance education also be considered. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Mr. Speaker, the leadership and the people in the Sahtu sort of have an idea as to the progress to get full support to move in major steps on the Mackenzie Valley Highway. I want to ask the Minister if he’s committed to working with the Sahtu leadership in regard to seeking funding from other partnerships in place to start building the important highway as soon as possible. I know they talked about some of the work that could happen, so the leadership is looking for this government and this Minister to look at some possibilities that could be there that without even further investigating, so...

Thank you for the Minister’s comment, and I recognize that there is a process for that. Looking at the Taiga Environmental Laboratory and I hope to take some of those lessons learned from that laboratory within the government that we would see something like that in our region in the future. But I’ll deal with it during the business plans.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last week the Ministers had some meetings with the Tulita leadership, and one specific topic that they were consistently on with the Ministers was the extension of the Mackenzie Valley Highway from Wrigley into the Sahtu region.

I want to ask the Minister, in regards to discussions with the Tulita leadership and this government here and the Sahtu region, could the Minister update us on the progress to build an all-season highway from Wrigley into the Sahtu?