Good afternoon. Item 2, Ministers' statements. Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Training is essential if northerners are to learn the skills required to take advantage of many job opportunities in the construction industry. Last spring in Rankin Inlet, the Department of Government Services and Public Works, with the assistance of the Departments of Municipal and Community Affairs, Education, Arctic College and Maani Ulujuk School, organized a basic surveyor training course. The department knew that there was going to be some survey work for a large upcoming project, and that there were not enough local people trained in surveying.

An engineer from the regional office instructed the course, which ran for 18 nights from April to June. Eight long-term residents participated in the course. Two graduates are now working as surveyor helpers, for the next three years, on the Rankin Inlet mine tailings pond cleanup project.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Item 2, Ministers' statements. Mr. Arvaluk.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, I had a visit from Mr. Joe Enook, the Chairman of the Baffin Divisional Board of Education. One of the reasons he came to see me was to show me copies of the latest books produced by the Baffin Divisional Board. I was very impressed by what I saw. These books are well written, beautifully decorated and illustrated. I believe that students will find them very appealing and will thoroughly enjoy reading them.

The books published by the boards of education have many benefits. They encourage students to read in their own languages. They have given parents their first opportunity to read to their children in their own language. They play an important role in involving parents in the education of their children, and help strengthen the partnership between the school system and the parents.

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased with the work done by the divisional boards of education and the teaching and learning centres in producing attractive, well written books. I would like to express my appreciation for this excellent work, and look forward to seeing new materials in the future. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Item 2, Ministers' statements. Item 3, Members' statements. Mr. Lewis.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have been asked by three of my constituents, why yesterday, when there was a motion in this House, requesting the Prime Minister to send Marcel Danis to Yellowknife, this motion was not made by a Yellowknife M.L.A.

I should explain, Mr. Speaker, that yesterday morning all ordinary Members met, as we always do, and it was agreed that on behalf of all Members, the Chairman of the Ordinary Members' Caucus, Mr. Nerysoo, would make that motion, and that we would get somebody from the eastern Arctic to second it.

In order to illustrate that this issue is of interest to more Members of this Assembly, it goes far beyond the borders of our city, because of the immensity of the things that have happened over the last several weeks.

Related to this, also, Mr. Speaker, is the fact that yesterday, although I am the Member for the centre of this city, I was not in the House when the recorded vote was taken. Mr. Speaker, I was part of the decision that morning to construct that motion, and urged every Member to support it. While the vote was being taken, I was busily engaged helping a very distraught individual, from my constituency, who was very upset, and was not able to get back into the House in order to record my vote.

Today, Mr. Speaker, I should like to record, and give my absolute unequivocal support to the motion that was passed yesterday, in my absence.

Thank you.

Item 3, Members' statements. Mrs. Marie-Jewell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to take the opportunity, today, to thank my colleagues who attend the luncheon that I hosted.

Mr. Speaker, last month I invited Mrs. Jean Dube, who is an elder in our community. Mrs. Dube is well known for the work that she has done, not only with muskox, but with wild meat, and particularly, the work that she has done with spices.

Mrs. Dube had a display for the Members to see how we can use muskox to its fullest potential, with no waste whatsoever. There was a display of soap, which is used from the fat. There was a display of canned muskox, along with muskox to eat. In addition, she had a variety of spices that she has worked on for fish, fowl, and wild meat.

I want to particularly thank the Honourable John Pollard for attending the luncheon to recognize the economic potential of such development for one of our resources. It is unfortunate that the Minister of Renewable Resources was unable to attend.

It is my pleasure, on behalf of Mrs. Dube, to provide each of the Members with a can of muskox, and also a small package of some of the spices that she has developed. I am sure Members will enjoy it. Thank you.

---Applause

Item 3, Members' statements. Mr. Gargan.

(Translation) Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I continue to be concerned about this government's approach to what has been called a cultural education of our aboriginal youth. I do not agree with the current trends, that give the school system primary responsibility for transmitting our traditional knowledge to the youth of our communities.

I must state clearly here, that I am not being critical of the very special efforts that have been made by the talented Dene and Inuit teachers, who have accomplished a lot in this area, often with limited resources.

My problem, is the principle, that the young persons discovery of our aboriginal way of life, should be assimilated within the school system, that is based on an entirely different set of beliefs about how children learn.

Here is what I mean, the school system we have in the Northwest Territories is based on values, principles that reflect the best way to teach the children about things that are important to the European culture.

Highly developed teaching technologies are used to help children master mathematical concepts, making scientific frame work, and expressing themselves through written word.

That may be the best way to teach youth the knowledge that has been accumulated by the non-native culture, but it is not the best way to show a young person how to live in a way our Dene and our Inuit have lived.

I think I am talking too fast for the interpreter. I would ask the honourable Members who are of aboriginal descent to think about their own childhoods. Where did they learn to make a camp that can withstand the cold and the wind? How did they learn how to set a snare?

Mr. Gargan.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to seek unanimous consent to continue my statement.

The honourable Member is seeking unanimous consent. Are there any nays? There are no nays. Please proceed, Mr. Gargan.

(Translation) How did they gain that understanding of snow and ice textures that my honourable colleague from Natilikmiot spoke about yesterday. I will guarantee that they did not learn these things by watching educational videos, or reading textbooks, or writing an essay about them, or going on a field trip. They learned them like I did, Mr. Speaker, from the elders and the hunters of our communities.

Mr. Speaker, aboriginal wisdom is best learned by becoming a part of our surroundings, and by relying on the uncles, parents, grandparents, or others, who know about our way of life. Mr. Speaker, I should oppose the assimilation of our traditional way of teaching youth within the educational system of another culture. I am also concerned about the possibility that the effectiveness of the standard curriculum, the math, the geography, and the spelling, is being diluted by the artificial focus our schools are putting on the notion of cultural education.

I would like to see the Northwest Territories educational system reflect the fact that we do have several cultures, each with different learning styles. Cultural values and knowledge should be taught to our youth by the leaders and elders in our communities, not by teachers and principals who look at them as just another element of the school curriculum.

That, Mr. Speaker, is the only way to ensure that we retain active living aboriginal cultures in the Northwest Territories. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Item 3, Members' statements. Mr. Todd.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to speak about an issue that has been of some concern to me for some time, the transfer of programs and services from the federal government to the Northwest Territories government.

Since I was first elected in the House, I am fast becoming used to disagreements with the federal government over funding matters. First it was the health billings dispute, which has been ongoing for some time now, and last week we received news from the Minister responsible for Housing about the devastating reduction in social housing programs.

Mr. Speaker, although the circumstances in these cases are different, I believe, ultimately, they will lead to the same conclusion. The federal government is off-loading programs and services on the Government of the Northwest Territories. Like other Members of this House I am concerned about the strategy we have taken to deal with these disputes with the federal government.

As the honourable Member from Mackenzie Delta has pointed out many times, the federal government has a constitutional and moral responsibility to provide these programs and services to aboriginal people. Mr. Speaker, I agree with the honourable Member and believe that we should be aggressively pursuing this with the federal government.

Mr. Speaker, this leads to the larger question of how we handle negotiations with the federal government. I am not satisfied that the agreements we have negotiated in the past have been as good as they should have been. Often, I believe, we have accepted agreements in the past because of our zest to transfer more power to the Northwest Territories. This has been done despite serious shortfalls in the fiscal terms of these agreements.

Mr. Speaker, in my opinion, this is a serious miscalculation. As a good friend of mine recently pointed out, responsibility should not be confused with power. Money is power. Mr. Speaker, in my opinion we should establish a moratorium on any further accords with the federal government until a negotiating framework and a mechanism for analysing any other agreements, is established and reviewed by this House.

Finally, Mr. Speaker, I will have more to say about the power sharing arrangements with the federal government, under the new Constitution, in my statement tomorrow. Thank you.

---Applause

Item 3, Members' statements. Mr. Pudlat.

(Translation) Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This winter, in February, I went to Sanikiluaq, and then in April, I went down there again, and I understood more clearly what they are planning to do with the boat. They have been asking to get rescue vessels in that community. Since they are located in the Hudson Bay, I think it would be more appropriate if I redirect this question to the Minister of Renewable Resources.

Mr. Speaker, I stand to raise this concern on how the people of Sanikiluaq can obtain a vessel, because they do not have any large vessels within that area for their own use. Many problems arise, and it can come in very handy for use in obtaining food, and for other things, such as places that need to be attended to when the weather is bad.

When the Minister is present, I can give him further details, and a picture of this particular vessel that I am talking about. I made a mistake before when I posed this question, and I got the wrong information, and I directed it to Dennis Patterson in error at the time, I apologize for that. Once I present the information to the Minister responsible, I will be putting forth a further question. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Members' statements, Mr. Antoine.

Merci, Mr. Speaker. I am very concerned, Mr. Speaker, in the preservation of my mother tongue, either Dene, moola kedih, or South Slavey. According to a census taken between 1986 and 1991, there was a slight downturn in English, it dropped to 60.5 percent, and there was a steady downturn in French, to about 23.8 percent. This is according to the Canadian population. Next largest language is Italian, followed by Chinese, and then by German.

An interesting point is that the Chinese language grew the most between 1986 and 1991, an increase of 59 percent, and according to Statistics Canada, mother tongue is defined as the first language a person learns at home in childhood, and still understands at the time of the census.

The next largest group following Chinese is Spanish, followed by Punjabi, and Arabic. Three native languages that are largest are Cree, Inuktitut, and Ojibway. I guess my main concern is, as a Dene, once my language goes, I do not have any other mother country to go back to, and learn my language again, such as these other languages. If they lose it in Canada, they always can go back to their mother country, and it is preserved there. Whereas in my particular case, we are on the endangered species list, and we are getting close to extinction. The only place to preserve our language is through this government here, and I think I would like to say, that on behalf of a lot of people in my constituency, there is concern over the standardization of the language of the Dene.

There are so many different dialects up here, that if you are going to standardize it, there is a real danger of taking the uniqueness of each distinct dialect away, and I have a very big concern about that. I would just like to say mahsi for that. Thank you.

Members' statements. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, oral questions. Mr. Ningark.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is directed to the Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs.

Mr. Speaker, by-law enforcement officers in a community are a very important part of the municipal government operation, especially in a small community such as Pelly Bay and Spence Bay and other communities, I am sure, across the territories. A by-law enforcement officer has to be able to make the distinction between the Criminal Code of Canada, and the local by-law in the local municipalities. The by-law enforcement officer requires a solo training within the field that he has chosen to do within the community.

Mr. Speaker, my question is, does the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs have a policy, or program, in place to oversee that by-law enforcement officers in the small communities are properly trained to do the job? Thank you.

Mr. Allooloo.