This House will come to order. Before I begin with the Ministers' statements, I would like to recognize in the gallery, a group of 20 rotary club students from the around the world, South Africa, Australia, Brazil, Vietnam and India, as well as Canadian students from British Columbia and Alberta. These students are being sponsored by the Alberta Rotary Club. The rotary club from Yellowknife is hosting a program called "northern experiences." The students are in town for five days and will take part in the Caribou Carnival activities this weekend. We hope they enjoy their visit to our territory.

---Applause

Welcome to the Northwest Territories. Item 2, Ministers' statements. Item 3, Members' statements. Member for Thebacha.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on Wednesday, March 24, 1993, the Honourable Stephen Kakfwi stated, and I quote from page 3157 of the unedited Hansard, "The homework which should be done should be with Members who are sometimes using information which is not correct because it impacts on statements which are made, for instance, by members of the union. When there is no attempt to correct some of the misinformation, then it becomes a problem for good factual debate in this House." Mr. Speaker, the statement made by Mr. Kakfwi was in response to my questioning the Minister on legal implications flowing from the Department of Justice's decision to designate the River Ridge facility as a secure facility. Mr. Speaker, I take strong exception to the honourable Member's statement.

The Minister is aware that I have tabled several legal documents which deal with the proper and improper designation of young offenders' facilities. The Minister, himself, acknowledges the relevance by these decisions when he stated and I quote from page 3156 from unedited Hansard, "The court cases which the Member tabled are court cases which the Department of Justice is fully aware of. They were reviewed a few months ago when this plan was being considered on a tentative basis." Given that the Minister's staff have reviewed these cases, how can he suggest that Members are not doing their homework and that Members are presenting misinformation? Mr. Speaker, the case is tabled and the thrust of my questions to the Minister have focused on whether the designation is appropriate and in keeping with the law. It may well be that the designation is appropriate and legal if the Department of Justice takes certain steps to establish programs appropriate to young offenders in an open custody facility, or if the staff are trained to deal with open custody offenders or if certain structural modifications are made. Those are the issues.

Member for Thebacha, your allotted time has expired. Member for Thebacha.

Thank you. I seek unanimous consent to continue.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Those are the issues, Mr. Speaker. They are legitimate issues of concern to me and to my constituents. The Minister has not taken the time to deal with these issues in this House in a thorough and thoughtful manner, which is responsive to legitimate concerns. On the contrary, the Minister has dismissed my concerns with an off-the-cuff comment about failure to do homework and presenting misinformation to this House.

Further to this, Mr. Speaker, he also knows I tabled a letter this week from the union, which the last paragraph reads and I quote, "Therefore, I would suggest that your statement 'that as far as you know everyone is in agreement, except for the union' is completely inaccurate as I believe you knew it was at the time you made these remarks." That is signed by Keith Dowling who is the regional vice-president of the union in Fort Smith. It makes me wonder, Mr. Speaker, who is presenting misinformation in this House. Mr. Speaker, the issue will not go away. I will continue to question the Minister until I am satisfied that the interest of the young offenders in the Northwest Territories and the concerns of my constituents are addressed. Thank you.

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

Hear, hear.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on Tuesday, March 2, 1993, I asked the Honourable Nellie Cournoyea, Minister responsible for the NWT Power Corporation, about causes of frequent power outages at the plant in Iqaluit. The Minister stated in her responses to my questions that the problems could be a result of human error. I then went on to ask the Minister, among other things, whether there were gremlins loose in the Iqaluit power plant.

Mr. Speaker, these statements caused some great concern to the dedicated staff in the Iqaluit plant. I have since looked into the situation and I have learned that an exhaustive analysis of the problems at the power plant by the corporation has concluded there was no human error. The problems were technical and, as I understand it, a result mainly of problems connecting new equipment with very old equipment and exchanges. There was no sabotage.

I understand the new unit is on-line and seems to be working well. I wish to apologize for any offence my questions may have given to dedicated staff, who were doing their professional best in difficult circumstances. Thank you.

Item 3, Members' statements. Mr. Lewis.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I listened with interest to the budget speech from the Yukon this week. In that jurisdiction they found it necessary to raise taxes and, like our government, they are favoured because they do not have a huge deficit to worry about. Whenever you deliver government programs, the money has to come from somewhere. People have to get the idea that anything they ask for has to be paid for and it is their money that pays for it through the tax regime.

We have faced the same kind of problem here, but we do not have a party system, we have consensus government, which means that any individual here who does not want to vote for something because it will make him or her unpopular, will not do so. It puts our own government at a tremendous disadvantage compared to other governments. It is very difficult to get unpopular legislation through any assembly. For example, in my constituency, by voting for a tax measure, I will automatically be considered to be out of sync with the people I represent.

The tax we have in front of us to deal with very soon is a payroll tax and for many of the people I represent it seems rather "cute." An attempt to get us to pay taxes by pretending to tax people who live somewhere else. My own guess is if we were more straightforward with the public and say if they want service someone has to pay for it, we would just simply make an adjustment so the tax which we impose on people is very clearly designed to provide the level of service people are asking for. Thank you.

Thank you. Item 3, Members' statements. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Mr. Pollard.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a response to a question asked by Mr. Pudlat on March 5, 1993, regarding the status of research on Malikjuaq Park.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, in response to the question from Mr. Pudlat on the status of Malikjuaq Park, I would like to report the following progress.

During the summer of 1992, the department contracted Mr. Doug Stenton to carry out archaeological work at the park. This work continued from preliminary investigations undertaken during 1991. Four Cape Dorset students were trained by Mr. Stenton and assisted him in the field.

Mr. Stenton has provided the Department of Economic Development and Tourism with a report summarizing his activities and finds, and a draft text for a brochure to be produced this coming year. Copies of this material will be provided to the Member from the department's Iqaluit office.

John Liard and Associates of Yellowknife, was hired during 1992-93 to develop plans and brochures for interpretive walking trails in the park and surrounding the community of Cape Dorset.

In the 1992-93 fiscal year the department provided the community of Lake Harbour with $20,000 for a season hosting program and $12,000 for an oral history project. Stories and legends taken from the oral history project are planned to be used in upcoming tourist pamphlets, park signs and brochures.

For the 1993 fiscal year we have set aside $75,000 in our capital plan for continued development of the park. This would include producing brochures, posters, signs, laying out trails and completing archaeological investigations. The local park advisory committee, made up of Kananginak Pootoogook, Maioni Ashoona and Doug Workman, has also been successful in securing funds from the Department of Education, Culture and Employment Programs for identifying traditional place names in and around the park.

Finally, Mr. Speaker, as a means of promoting visitation to the park, a section on Malikjuaq Park has been included in the recently produced Baffin handbook. This book will be on sale at many retail outlets throughout Canada and at northern visitor centres. It will provide visitors to the north with greater exposure to the many attractions in the Baffin region including Malikjuaq Park. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you. Mr. Pollard.

Mr. Speaker, I have a return to a question asked by Ms. Marie-Jewell on March 19, 1993. It concerns the review of the freshwater fish marketing agreement.

Mr. Speaker, further to the response given to the Member for Thebacha by the Premier on March 19, the Department of Economic Development and Tourism will be requesting the Department of Justice to review the agreement between the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation and the Government of the Northwest Territories respecting the marketing of freshwater fish. Specifically, the review will focus on the prospects for, and implications of the Northwest Territories getting out of that agreement. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Mr. Nerysoo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a return to an oral question asked by Mr. Arngna'naaq on March 8, 1993, with regard to an assault in Arviat high school.

On February 17, 1993, an adult approached two students who were standing outside Qitiqliq High School during the afternoon recess, and assaulted one of them. The school called the RCMP, and the student who was assaulted gave the officer a statement but did not want to press charges.

The school and the community education council investigated the possibility of laying charges under the Criminal Code, and the RCMP officer advised them not to proceed. A teacher, the school, or the community education council can report any incidents to the RCMP and encourage the laying of charges. However, in the end the police officer makes the decision to lay a charge.

School authorities are responsible for the supervision and general protection of students. The school and the community education council did report the assault, and did encourage the policy officer to lay charges under the Criminal Code. The school contacted the Northwest Territories Teachers' Association and the association has written the RCMP about this incident, and are awaiting an answer.

There are also other actions school authorities can taken to try to protect the students. The Education Act allows a teacher to exclude any person who has created a disturbance from school premises. The Northwest Territories Teachers' Association and the Department responsible for Education, Culture and Employment Programs are continuing to look into what took place following the assault in Arviat, and are working to ensure that school authorities have the information and advice they need to do their part to protect students in school and on school premises. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.