Sandy Lee

Thank you, Madam Chair. I need to speak on this motion because I believe this is next to the motion about changing the mandatory, or the Minister reviewing the mandatory that I spoke to earlier. I think this is one single thing that we could make a lot of difference to.

Madam Chair, I have to say that while a lot of discussions here evolve around injured workers who are unsuccessful in their claims, I think all the Members here are aware of the fact that what we are trying to do is create a fair system. The way I see it, it’s okay to go through the Workers’ Compensation process for most of...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to draw the attention of the Minister to this motion, because I think it’s a big one and it’s one that if done properly could really make a difference in the issues that we’re dealing with in this report. I would really like to recommend the Minister and anybody who cares to understand this issue to go and look at the transcript of our AOC public hearings where the workers’ advisor, Colin Baile, spoke to us about what Meredith principle means and the history of it, and how that in the last 60 or 70 years we, as a society, might have lost our way in living...

Thank you. I just want to add a piece to this motion by saying that I hope that the response to this motion from the Minister, or the new Minister of WCB, would not be that there are some kind of policy or legislative barriers to doing this. I think that there is a lot that the Minister of WCB can do, including looking at new legislation. I don’t want to hear the WCB Minister again saying the laws don’t allow me to do that. If that is going to be the answer, I would like to know what that law is. I would like the Minister to respond by saying he could change the law, because, in case the...

Madam Chair, before we go into general comments, just on the procedural point, the recommendations in this report, are we going to be submitting them by way of motion, or are the recommendations being considered as being read into? Does it require any further action from this committee? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table a letter from Arlene Hache, executive director of Yellowknife Women's Association to the editor of News/North; Bob Webber, Canadian Press; and all MLAs dated October 23, 2006. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Obviously, the Minister is stating that there is a provision on the clients affected in a situation like this, but I would think that it has something to say also about what the government in this kind of situation has to do to not interfere in getting employees and employers back together. I am suggesting that allowing these clients to be treated elsewhere and not checking to see if that is in breach of any contract is prolonging this delay. So I would like to know if the Minister could comment on what he is prepared to do, further than writing a letter, to bring...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to ask some questions to the Minister of Health and Social Services in regards to the labour situation at Nats'ejee K'eh. Mr. Speaker, I am not clear. Certainly, I sense that it is a great deal of concern to all of us that the valuable program being offered at that centre is no longer being offered, that the clients are outside of the NWT jurisdiction getting their treatment and that 22 of our employees or our residents are off the job. I do not understand exactly how we could accept the situation that looks a lot like a replacement worker...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as an immigrant to this great city of Yellowknife, from the beginning I was blessed with great teachers at the school and great family friends we met through church and other activities who helped us a lot and made it possible to get on with our life here and become contributing members of our society. Over the last 30 years I have seen Yellowknife change and become not only the biggest aboriginal community in the North, but one of the most multi-cultural cities in Canada. The vibrant aurora tourism and diamond industry and other economic opportunities have...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I have a motion. I move that this committee recommends the Minister responsible for the Workers’ Compensation Board direct the workers’ advisor to draw up a proposal to provide for assistance to workers who need expert medical evidence or legal assistance with judicial reviews to move their case forward.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Just briefly, I think it’s clear here there is a deadline here of the end of 2006, but I believe the officials at WCB are already aware of the recommendation, obviously, and in our discussions and in public hearings and the Auditor General’s report findings showed that WCB could do much better in communicating its programs and policies and its decisions and such in the letters and the way the staff conveys messages to injured workers and such. But I just wanted to make it clear that in speaking and in putting this motion forward, I think that the whole general issue...