Wendy Bisaro

In 2000 the Lion’s Club president said, “According to the RCMP, while we’ve been having this dance, acts of vandalism by youth 13 to 18 years old has been zero percent.” The same holds true today. To quote Mr. Finnamore one more time, “Since the Lion’s Club has been doing the event, vandalism at Halloween is almost nonexistent.”

I want to say thank you to the YK Lion’s Club for their service to our city. Congratulations on another successful Spook-a-Rama. May you have many more.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I bring this motion forward because I believe strongly that there needs to be a search and rescue base north of 60. I’ve lived in the North over 40 years, and as long as I’ve been here, Northerners have been talking about the need for a search and rescue base in the North.

All Northerners from the High Arctic to the 60th parallel are a long way from any dedicated rescue facility. Unlike southern Canada, a Northerner in distress or lost on the land is literally many hours away from the beginning of a search and rescue operation, and the further north the emergency, the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m really glad the Minister has recognized that at least one good idea comes from this side of the House.

The Minister has indicated that once these recommendations are in that there will be a rearrangement or a reorganization of department resources to implement whatever it is we’ve got coming forward. With the current resources, we haven’t had success to date. I’d like to know from the Minister why he expects that we will get success after this Minister’s forum without any new resources.

I’m still a little confused. The Minister says that they’re going provoke discussion in the right direction. Well, what is the right direction? The Minister is saying that he’s going to go and ask people to tell him what to do.

My second question to him would be if we’re going to visit communities – and I have to assume there’s an opportunity for all 33 communities to have input – what if he gets 33 different solutions? How is the forum or how is the Minister going to take these 33 different solutions and turn them into something that we can actually implement and work with?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I struggle with the fact that we’re going to go and ask people. The Minister says that we don’t really know the state of alcohol. I think we know all too well the state of alcohol in our communities. I think that we need to actually start doing something. I’d like to know from the Minister, come March 2013, when he’s got all these answers, what is he going to do in March 2013 to actually implement and start acting on our addictions problem.

That will teach me to ask a yes or a no question. It would be very helpful if the Minister could advise the House and advise the general public how they could access these terms of reference which are available to them.

The other point I wanted to make is that over the years, certainly my few years here but in many years prior, the shelves of government offices are filled with reports, with consultations, results of talking to people, et cetera, et cetera. Certainly, I know that Health and Social Services, that department has done many studies and looked into, and they have many reports on...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to recognize a couple of Pages who have been working very hard for us for about the last three weeks now and one more week to go. Chris Yurris from Frame Lake and Raya Laframboise from Frame Lake are working with us here today.

I also would like to recognize a good friend and old friend – not old in age, of course – Besha Blondin. Welcome to the House.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last night Yellowknife had another successful Halloween Spook-a-Rama. Today I want to acknowledge the sponsorship of this event, Yellowknife’s longest standing Halloween tradition.

Spook-a-Rama has been put on by the Yellowknife Lion’s Club for the last 45 years. As long-time Lion’s Club member and organizer Don Finnamore told me, we are now getting third-generation spooks.

Spook-a-Rama was started in response to Halloween vandalism in downtown Yellowknife. Members of the Yellowknife Lion’s Club came up with the idea for a teen dance on Halloween. It would give the youth...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ll be brief. I really want to thank all my colleagues for their very thoughtful remarks and for their support. This motion goes to the need for a much needed facility, much needed resources located where it should be, north of 60. So I would like to again thank my colleagues and I would ask for a recorded vote. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

WHEREAS Canada’s three northern territories encompass a vast, sparsely inhabited expanse of land and waters that is subject to a very harsh climate;

AND WHEREAS our climate is changing two to four times faster than in the South, and impacts, including increasing numbers and severity of so-called natural disasters, put residents and visitors alike at risk;

AND WHEREAS Arctic sovereignty is a stated priority of the Prime Minister of Canada;

AND WHEREAS there has been a substantial increase in commercial air traffic over polar routes since the 1990s, with the number of annual flights now exceeding...