Good Morning. Orders of the day for Friday, December 13, 1991. Item 2, Ministers' statements. The honourable Member for Hay River.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and good morning. Mr. Speaker, our government received a letter yesterday from Mayor Kevin Diebold of Norman Wells. Among other matters, the letter noted that he was aware of our current financial situation and that our government is short of cash, partly because some of it is tied up in loans to municipalities.

As a result, Mr. Speaker, and to help us with our current financial problems, he enclosed a cheque for some $69,214 as payment in full for a debenture loan the municipality had with the government. The payment is one year ahead of schedule, Mr. Speaker.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Village Council of Norman Wells for its support during this period of financial difficulty. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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Thank you, Mr. Pollard. Ministers' statements. Ms. Cournoyea.

Mr. Speaker, on Monday I announced reductions to the base salaries paid to the Government Leader, to the Ministers and deputy ministers and, at his request, the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly. Yesterday, Mr. Speaker, regional directors of our government advised my office that they want to be part of this initiative. They asked to have their annual salaries reduced by the same amount as the deputy ministers.

On behalf of cabinet, I want to recognize their contribution and their demonstration of support for the concept of living within our means. Thank you.

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Thank you, Ms. Cournoyea. Ministers' statements. Mr. Whitford.

Thank you. Ministers' statements. Ministers' statements. Item 3, Members' statements. Mr. Dent.

Thank you. Members' statements. Mr. Koe.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I would like to make a statement regarding the deaths of Leonard Bernard and John Gardebois. Mr. Speaker, 15 years ago an inquest ruled that the death of John Gardebois was due to a massive cerebral hemorrhage caused by forceful contact of the head with a blunt object, and that Leonard Bernard came to his death by accidental drowning. A later inquest ruled the deaths accidental.

Controversy and unanswered questions have plagued this case from the beginning. At the time of their deaths there was much media coverage and public concern about whether the arguments and fighting leading up to the deaths of Bernard and Gardebois had any relation to their discussion regarding the Mackenzie pipeline. Then it was discovered that the doctor who had performed the initial autopsies of the bodies was, in fact, not a doctor at all. Also, the circumstances surrounding the men's deaths were never made very clear.

So, 15 years later the families of these men and the nearby communities are still left with many unanswered questions. This and the desire to clear her brother's name prompted Bernard's sister to request that the bodies of her brother and Mr. Gardebois be exhumed and a second round of autopsies performed. A bogus doctor had not properly performed the autopsies. It was discovered in Bernard's case that the bogus doctor had mistaken a skull's normal joint for a fracture. The new autopsies revealed that neither man had received injuries that could account for their deaths, and the pathologist was forced to list the cause of death for the two as undetermined. Clearly the exhumation of the bodies raised more questions than it answered.

Apparently when the doctor who performed the first autopsies was unmasked as a phoney, one year after he performed the initial autopsies, the chief coroner at the time held a meeting with the RCMP and a lawyer from the Indian Brotherhood. They determined amongst themselves that the bodies need not be exhumed for another autopsy.

Mr. Koe, your time has expired. If you would like to ask for unanimous consent to proceed -- Members' consent is being requested. Are there any nays? There are no nays. Proceed, Mr. Koe.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The chief surgeon of St. Vincent's Hospital in Vancouver, who testified at the hearing this spring, expressed his dismay that the cases were not reopened and the bodies exhumed immediately after the doctor was determined to be a fraud. The decision of the then chief coroner and his meetings with the lawyer and the RCMP are not documented or explained anywhere. The chief coroner has also since died, so the reason for this unusual decision will remain a mystery.

At the time the two men died, there was an unsettled political climate and a great many racial tensions. Then, as well as today, rumours abound that the two native men had gotten into a fight with two white engineers and that this, the real cause of Gardebois' and Bernard's deaths, was hushed up due to the unsettled times.

Clearly much remains a mystery about the deaths of these two men, and their exhumation only served to deepen the mystery. Despite all these concerns, and a number of unanswered questions, the chief coroner opted not to have another inquest. This is despite the fact that much of the original transcripts from the first inquest have been destroyed and hence cannot be re-examined.

Mr. Speaker, I make this statement today on behalf of the Bernard family in the hope of getting some resolution on this issue. Mahsi cho.

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Thank you, Mr. Koe. Members' statements. Members' statements. Mr. Pudlat.

(Translation) Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was not present yesterday. I was very ill yesterday, but I am feeling a little better today, and I am happy I could be present. I came here yesterday for a while but I could not do the work because I was so ill. That is my apology to you. I want to be present as much as I can when I am here. As you know, I am very new and I know there are going to be a lot of things that I will have to learn. I am not happy I was not able to come yesterday, but it could not be helped because I was ill.

RCMP did not give me any documentation. They just told me it was all right. That is all I wanted to say, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Members' statements. Mrs. Marie-Jewell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to take the time to commend the current Social Services Minister for taking such decisive action in respect to abstention by alcohol and drug counsellors in the NWT. I believe it is critically important that alcohol and drug counsellors, in order to effectively assist Members and individuals in the Territories that are having problems with the abuse of alcohol or drugs, be leading the way by showing an example. I believe that abstaining from any drug or alcohol is the perfect way of showing an example. I would like to commend him for this decision, and I am sure it will be to the benefit of many of the people who are facing this problem in the NWT.

Thank you. Mr. Antoine.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Today I want to talk about a serious concern that has to do with a number of different issues rolled into one. This is regarding the forest in the Liard Valley. Recently the Liard Valley has been viewed as potentially developing renewable resources, hopefully for sustainable economic development. A couple of weeks ago, when I was touring in that area, I was in Nahanni Butte and the plane from Deh Cho Air picked me up and flew me over Fort Liard. Eight minutes over Fort Liard is the British Columbia border, and the Yukon border kind of veers into there too. So we have the BC border very close to Fort Liard. The pilot wanted to fly me in there to show me what the BC side looks like.

What I saw was very shocking because what they are doing on the BC side is, they are clear-cutting. They have a big sawmill in Fort Nelson, and they take the spruce for lumber. Then there is a chopstick factory there, as well, that takes the birch and the poplar. So they are going into an area and cutting everything down. There are big clear spots all over that valley.

It is really concerning the people in Fort Liard and Nahanni Butte. If any development of the forest happens, they do not want to see this development happen in their area. I raise this today because I feel it is very crucial and I do not know if the Government of the NWT has any prior arrangement with BC, especially on the environmental impacts of such -- I call it -- destruction of the natural environment. Mahsi.

Thank you. Mr. Arngna'naaq.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the community of Arviat there is an organization called the Inuit Cultural Institute, a non-profit organization, which collects traditional interests of the people of Arviat and the region. Since its inception it has been in Arviat. The Inuit Cultural Institute was moved this summer to Rankin Inlet against the people of Arviat's wishes. Although this is not a GNWT matter, I would like to make the Members aware and to show on record that I, as the representative of Arviat, agree with the elders.

At the appropriate time, Mr. Speaker, I will table a letter written to me by Joe Manik, who is a resident of Arviat. He wrote this letter as a representative of the elders of Arviat. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Arngna'naaq. Members' statements. Members' statements. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Mr. Pollard.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a return to an oral question asked by Mr. Gargan on December 10, 1991, concerning first class travel for Expo '92 personnel, Mr. Speaker. No first class tickets have been purchased for travel by government officials or contractors to travel to Seville. Between February and September, officials travelled to Spain on different airlines, including Canadian Airlines International and Air Canada. Different fare bases were used for these trips, including economy and business class.

In September of this year, Canadian Airlines International became a corporate partner with the Government of the Northwest Territories in the Expo '92 project and, as such, is the carrier that our officials now use for travel to Seville. They offer business class service, Mr. Speaker, and, as part of the sponsorship arrangements, provide our officials with business class service for the price of economy seats. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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Returns to oral questions. Mr. Pollard.