Thank you, Mr. Ng. Orders of the day. Item 2, Ministers' statements. Madam Premier.

Mr. Speaker, December 1, 1993, is World AIDS Day. World AIDS Day is a day set aside to reflect on the global challenge of AIDS. In the Northwest Territories, 25 persons are known to have been infected with the HIV virus since 1987.

The Department of Health is pursuing a comprehensive HIV/AIDS strategy for the Northwest Territories. This strategy will continue to require collaboration and consultation with other government departments, the regional health and hospital boards, the various non-government and professional organizations and community groups and members of the public.

Madam Premier, there is some problem with our system. Are you getting anything Mr. Arvaluk? Can you hear me? Is that okay, Mr. Arvaluk? Okay. I'm sorry, Madam Premier. If you would like to continue.

Mr. Speaker, projects are under way to promote public awareness on HIV/AIDS. Consultation with the regions and target groups has been used to facilitate the development of various initiatives.

A poster targeting youth and adults across the Northwest Territories has been printed in English, French, and Baffin and Keewatin dialects of Inuktitut and distributed across the Northwest Territories for World AIDS Day promotion activities.

The Department of Health is also targeting young women through the development of a "Safer Sex and Me" pamphlet, which will be available in English, Inuktitut and French.

Mr. Speaker, it's very important to get the message out to the youth of the Northwest Territories regarding the serious issue of HIV/AIDS. For the past four months, the Department of Health has been working in collaboration with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment on the development of a World AIDS Day television special on "The Tube" a television program broadcast on Television Northern Canada. The program will consist of a half-hour of information on HIV/AIDS followed by a live phone-in where callers from across the Northwest Territories will have the opportunity to phone in their questions to the panel of resource people. "The Tube" special on HIV/AIDS airs tonight on TVNC at 7:30 pm. Mr. Speaker, stopping AIDS is up to all of us. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Premier. Item 2, Ministers' statements. Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Members may recall that many times in this House, I have said that we must increase the number of community workers involved in construction jobs funded by the government, by implementing training programs and by negotiating contracts with local corporations.

Members are aware that this government has supported this direction. As a result, the Cabinet has agreed to many of the Members' requests for negotiated contracts. To date this fiscal year, six capital projects managed by Public Works & Services, that are worth $5 million and five lease contracts with the department, that are worth $1.3 million each year, have been approved by Cabinet.

For the NWT Housing Corporation, to date this fiscal year, eight capital projects worth $3.5 million, and two 20 year lease contracts worth $257,000 per year, have been approved by Cabinet for negotiated contracts. Cabinet has also approved the negotiation of a lease contract in Fort McPherson. The terms and conditions of these lease contracts are still being negotiated. So far this fiscal year, 11 contracts have been negotiated and that represents 2.8 per cent of the total capital and lease contracts awarded by the NWT Housing Corporation.

Many of our smaller communities and aboriginal organizations have established development corporations which need the support of negotiated contracts to get their businesses started. With these contracts they can develop their business skills and increase local control over the implementation of government contracts. This, in turn, increases the community's commitment to construction projects.

I am aware that there has been some concern about this initiative. It should be understood that these contracts are normally negotiated with community and aboriginal development corporations, which are not always contractors themselves. Many of the actual material and trade contracts still go to the established northern suppliers and contractors. It is a Cabinet condition of every negotiated contract that only northern resources be used.

It is also worth noting that these negotiated contracts represent only a very small percentage of the total dollar value of contracts awarded. There are still many contracts being publicly tendered.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Morin. Item 2, Ministers' statements. Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Kakfwi. Item 2, Ministers' statements. Item 3, Members' statements. Mr. Whitford.

Please rise.

---Minute of Silence

Thank you, Mr. Whitford. Item 3, Members' statements. Mr. Koe.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yesterday you tabled a report, the first annual report of the Languages Commissioner of the Northwest Territories. I'd like to express my appreciation to the Languages Commissioner for the work she has put into this document.

I read portions of the report with great interest. I know the section in which the Languages Commissioner did special studies. One of these special studies was a review of a Canada/Northwest Territories cooperation agreement on aboriginal languages and French.

Mr. Speaker, I'll be focusing on the Canada/Northwest Territories cooperation agreement on aboriginal languages and French. There were two agreements, one from 1984 to 1989, of which $16 million was allocated for aboriginal languages. I don't know how much was for French. The second agreement was from March, 1991 to 1994, where $18 million was allocated for aboriginal languages and $12.8 million for French.

Mr. Speaker, I'm very disappointed in the results the Languages Commissioner found. Each year this government assembles a list of specific projects that have been requested, puts them together and submits them to the federal Secretary of State for approval. It seems that this is always done after April 1, so the projects people who have applied for funding, have to wait until the Secretary of State approves the application and the money is then allocated. I know some start-up money and some advances are provided by this government, but the result is that the projects are always behind the eight ball and always waiting for formal approval of their projects which they are trying to get going.

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

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

Thank you, honourable Members. In March of 1993, the federal government announced a ten per cent cut to the languages programs. I introduced a motion in this Assembly severely criticizing the federal government for this action, and strongly supporting the use and enhancement of aboriginal languages in the Northwest Territories and in doing government business.

The point of my statement, Mr. Speaker, is that this government has not been upholding its end of the bargain. This government has not been spending the funds which have been allocated for aboriginal languages and French. I find this very unacceptable. For example, the report indicates that in the 1991-92 fiscal year, the eighth year of this agreement, this government lapsed $777,795 for aboriginal languages, and $1,159,641 for French. The estimated lapses for 1992-93 are approximately $400,000 for aboriginal languages, and $1 million for French. This is absurd, Mr. Speaker, given that there are many groups in the Northwest Territories that are looking for funds to enhance or carry out their programs, and were probably told there is no more money available. It's not only one department, it seems like all departments are at fault.

Mr. Speaker, I'm not very pleased in finding out information and statistics like this so far after the fact, especially since most Members, including the Premier and the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, made strong statements of support on these programs and of the actions and cuts proposed by the federal government when the motion I made was passed unanimously on March 4, 1993.

Mr. Speaker, I would expect some immediate measures be taken by this government to rectify the situation and ensure that funds which are available for language projects in the north are utilized properly. Mahsi.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Koe. Item 3, Members' statements. Mr. Gargan.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Dene Cultural Institute is in the process of developing a healing program. Mr. Speaker, this program is being developed because the institute sees a need for training for communities to help recovering alcoholics deal with the other issues that have arisen from their addiction. Issues such as child sexual assault, spousal assault, grief, anger and cultural oppression need to be addressed in order for the recovering alcoholic to lead a full and productive life, without slipping back into their previous lifestyle.

Mr. Speaker, this program will enable all the Dene communities to meet their own social and cultural healing needs. Four individuals will be trained to become the institute's mobile healing team. They will help the people in the communities become self-sufficient in dealing with the issues that they themselves identify as needing to be addressed.

Mr. Speaker, the Dene Cultural Institute has conducted a review of their progress and role in facilitating cultural development. The institute feels they will have limited success in strengthening culture until we, as Dene, have addressed the issues that cause us not to practice our own culture on a personal basis. The institute would like to start this healing program in April, 1994, and is looking to run a five year program and then have a comprehensive review on the progress made.

Mr. Speaker, I know that two days ago I promised that I would not say anything else about the final report of the Standing Committee on Health and Social Services. However, one of the recommendations that was made, that I wholeheartedly agree with, is that we do not provide enough support to the front line workers and communities.

I strongly urge this government to support the Dene Cultural Institute in the development and implementation of this worthwhile healing program. Mahsi cho.

---Applause.

Thank you, Mr. Gargan. Item 3, Members' statements. Mr. Ng.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This past May, a private scientific team, lead by Dr. Joe MacInnis discovered and videotaped at least two dozen unknown rectangular objects in the waters off the shores of Cambridge Bay while they were on an expedition looking for Sir John Franklin's ship. Their underwater exploration also confirmed the existence of two large cargo aircraft, numerous vehicles and assorted building materials which are believed to have been left or dumped into the ocean by operators of the Distant Early Warning sites in the late 1950s and early 1960s. I, personally, as a recreational diver, have viewed one of the planes, parts of vehicles, empty oil drums and other debris in the waters around Cambridge Bay.

Mr. Speaker, the discovery of these boxes lead to an intensive exploration and recovery program undertaken by the Canadian military this past August and September. The military operation involved six military divers and at least one herc load of equipment. These divers, over the course of approximately five weeks, recovered a majority of the rectangular boxes. However, the military team did not attempt to recover any of the other debris. There was national coverage of the issue as there was a concern that these boxes may have been parts of electrical equipment containing possible PCBs. There was no immediate concern of potential toxic chemical leakage, as sediment samples taken from the area of the boxes, after their initial discovery, found no sign of PCB contamination. It was later confirmed that there were minimal traces of PCBs in the recovered boxes.

I have raised this issue, as we can all recognize the tons of equipment and debris littering our land around our communities, particularly where there have been a lot of resource or military related activity.

Mr. Speaker, what we don't recognize, and what we have not even begun to address, is the amount and type of contaminants in our waters. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Ng. Item 3, Members' statements. Mr. Patterson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the situation of alcohol and drug workers in our community alcohol and drug centres is simply intolerable. Wage scales set by the Department of Social Services -- which are not even close to reflecting the real costs of living in our communities, or the wage marketplace -- suggest that the Government of the Northwest Territories is making mere token efforts to offer community alcohol and drug services. In my constituency of Iqaluit, where we know that revenue flowing to the GNWT from alcohol sales, in licensed premises alone, is just under $1 million a year, and where it is estimated by the RCMP, the drug industry amounts to $1 million a month.

An entry level alcohol and drug worker makes a base salary of $23,313, plus a housing allowance. There are no benefits, no VTA, no medical or dental benefits beyond Medicare. An entry level custodial worker at any one of our schools in Iqaluit makes $34,000 plus a whole range of government benefits.

I know of an experienced and dedicated counsellor who came from southern Canada to offer his services at Upassuraakut. He had a wife to support. He didn't drink or smoke. He had no vehicle, no skidoo. Even with the top scale of level three, at $27,388 plus housing allowance, the high cost of living and housing in Iqaluit resulted in a net income, after tax shortfall, of $300 per month for he and his family. Money was certainly not his prime motivation, but does our government expect even dedicated alcohol and drug workers to lose money each month? At this time, a very dedicated and capable Inuk from a Baffin community, with a large family, is completing the alcohol and drug component of the social worker program at Arctic College. He is working at Upassuraakut while completing his studies. He has recently spent a period of internship at Bellwood, a nationally-known alcohol and drug treatment centre in Toronto. As long as he is housed in Arctic College student housing, he can just get by on his income but as soon as he has to find his own housing for he and his family, after he finishes his course, he simply will not be able to afford to continue working at Upassuraakut. I'm sorry, Mr. Speaker, I will have to ask for consent to continue.

We'll take a short recess.

---SHORT RECESS

Could I call the Assembly back to order, please. I think that false alarm shows the need, in the next while, to have a proper fire drill. We'll work that into the schedule at some point.

When we left off, Mr. Patterson had asked for unanimous consent to continue his Member's statement. Are there any nays? There are no nays. Please proceed, Mr. Patterson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I was talking about the Inuk employee who is hoping to work for Upassuraakut but won't be able to afford to do so when he's required to find housing for himself and his family in Iqaluit.

Student counsellors at Arctic College make more money than alcohol and drug workers. Mental health workers make more money. Custodial workers and water truck helpers make more. But, the community alcohol and drug workers, who are often exposed to the problems of their peers after hours, who are often on call all hours of the day -- whether they like it or not -- who must, at times, endure excruciating stress, are paid at wage levels which I consider almost insulting.

Mr. Speaker, the Special Committee on Health and Social Services pointed out this serious problem in an early interim report to this House. Alcohol and drug problems, as we all know, are crippling our communities. Ironically, even though we are in times of financial restraint, our government has found $900,000 to send a Yellowknife bureaucrat around the territories to do a study on -- get this -- fairness and justice in the northern workplace, including wage parity, of all things. A study that, to my knowledge, no one in this House has ever asked for.

I say, Mr. Speaker, let's get our priorities right. Let's can the Northern Workplace Commission and put those funds toward finally dealing with alcohol and drug workers' low wages. Thank you.

---Applause