Good afternoon. Before I proceed with the orders of the day, I have received the following message from the Honourable Daniel Norris, Commissioner of the Northwest Territories. It reads, "Dear Mr. Speaker, I wish to advise that I recommend to the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories the passage of Bill 25, Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 1, 1993-94; Bill 27, Payroll Tax Act, 1993; and Bill 26, An Act to Amend the Income Tax Act, No. 2, during the Third Session of the 12th Legislative Assembly."

Item 2, Ministers' statements. Item 3, Members' statements. Mrs. Marie-Jewell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Honourable Members may recall that on Friday, February 25, I informed the House that the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce had decided to close the doors of its Fort Smith branch effective June 4. Mr. Speaker, this was seen by many of my constituents as a serious step backwards. The chamber of commerce held a public meeting on Monday, March 1, 1993, which the Honourable John Pollard, Minister of Finance, attended. At that time some people were of the opinion that there was nothing they could do, and some people felt that Fort Smith was too small to attract another banking institution. Others believed that the town should consider settling for a scaled down service and requested the town to consider negotiating with the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce for a lesser service for the community.

Mr. Speaker, at the time, it was my opinion, and it still is now, that Fort Smith should continue to have the same range of financial facilities and services which it has had for the past several years. On March 10, I was part of a delegation of community leaders who met in Toronto with a senior corporate official from the Bank of Montreal, Mr. Ron Jamieson. Late Friday afternoon I received a phone call from Mr. Jamieson, who is the national vice-president of the Bank of Montreal, and I am pleased to advise this House, and particularly my constituents, that the Bank of Montreal has agreed to open a branch in Fort Smith.

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Preliminary discussions are that this will be a full service operation with a complete range of local banking options including an automatic service for cash retrieval and deposit transactions, which we do not now have in the community. I would like to acknowledge the other members of the community delegation who assisted in approaching the Bank of Montreal and in particular, Don Webb, who is the president of the Fort Smith Chamber of Commerce, who spent a great deal of time coordinating this effort.

Mrs. Marie-Jewell, your allotted time has elapsed.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to seek unanimous consent to continue.

The honourable Member is seeking unanimous to continue. Are there any nays? There are no nays. Please proceed, Mrs. Marie-Jewell.

Thank you. The delegation also included mayor Dennis Bevington, Earl Jacobsen, who is the president of the Metis local, and Raymond Beaver, who represented the Fort Smith native band. I am very happy with the bank's announcement and I believe this demonstrates something to all of us about how to act in the face of adversity.

Mr. Speaker, if you look at the community of Fort Smith's flag which hangs on my left, you will see that it bears the word "perseverance." To those members of my constituency who were ready to give up, to those who said we should try to arrange for some lower level of service, I would like to point out what can be accomplished when one perseveres.

In closing, I know my constituents will be more than happy to hear that the Bank of Montreal will be the next financial institution in Fort Smith. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Marie-Jewell. Item 3, Members' statements. Mr. Ningark.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Caribou Carnival which took place over the past weekend allowed my family and I to really enjoy what Yellowknife has to offer. We saw creative arts, sampled some fine foods, outdoor style and met people. Mr. Speaker, the highlight for me was seeing children enthusiastically walking, running, smiling and the laughter which echoed like the sound of spring. After we came home from the Caribou Carnival site, my grandson fell on the

couch and dozed off still smiling. I am sure he speaks for all of the other children, the smile which makes the difference. To the people of Yellowknife, the city of Yellowknife and the organizers, I say thank you very much for a job well done.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Ningark. Item 3, Members' statements. Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have raised, in this Legislative Assembly, the concerns of trappers and the extreme poor fur harvest this year on many occasions. On February 17, 1993, I gave examples of trappers in my region who had already pulled their traps around Christmas time because of the poor trapping season. Mr. Speaker, I am worried about these families, how they will make it through the year, and whether they will have the financial resources to trap again next year. The trappers must be able to continue to support themselves in their traditional life-style.

The people in my constituency share my concern and have been discussing ways in which the trappers can continue to be self-sufficient. We must ensure that one bad year does not mean the end of a way of life. The trappers in my region and the Fort Simpson Dene council have come up with a strategy which will help to ensure that this will not be the end.

The Department of Renewable Resources administers a trapper subsidy program which provides funds for equipment and provisions for trappers at the beginning of each fur year. However, the amount of funding has been based on the past single year's harvest. To calculate the subsidy based on the 1992-93 harvest would simply not be fair and would deny trappers the right to continue their life-style. As the Fort Simpson Dene council and the trappers have requested, the subsidy should be calculated based on the best three of the past five years of trapping. Mr. Speaker, I am sure the Minister will also appreciate that the poor harvest will have a serious impact on the ability of trappers to pay back the loans that they have received from the band through the harvesters' assistance program.

There is simply no money coming in this year. The band wants to support the trappers and forgive these loans so the trappers can continue to trap, but needs the help of the government to do so. Mr. Speaker, the Minister has said in this House that he is prepared to be flexible to enable the communities to assist trappers. The community of Fort Simpson has identified a concrete workable plan that will allow trappers to survive this lean year. The only thing missing, right now, to put this plan into action is the commitment of the government. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Antoine. Item 3, Members' statements. Mr. Arvaluk.

(Translation) Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to speak about the opening of the arena in Chesterfield Inlet. We are very glad we were able to get an arena and recreational facility for the community. I was also happy that the Minister, the Honourable Titus Allooloo, and his staff, especially the Keewatin regional staff, were able to attend the festivities in the community. People from Rankin Inlet, Whale Cove and Chesterfield Inlet were able to get together and enjoy these festivities.

As we know, Mr. Speaker, the children are not able to be taught recreational activities. Their parents provide them with the opportunity for hunting to learn their life-style.

It will help the community a great deal with the recreational facility which was just officially opened. They have shown their appreciation already and stated they will use the facility to its full ability. I would like to say thank you to Municipal and Community Affairs Minister and the staff for the opening of the facility. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Arvaluk. Item 3, Members' statements. Mr. Arngna'naaq.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There was a time, Mr. Speaker, when I made a suggestion to the Minister of Education of the day to remove the cultural inclusion program from the schools. I would like to elaborate on that today, Mr. Speaker.

At the present time, the students spend approximately 80 hours of their annual school time in the cultural inclusion programs. This works out to 14 days per year, that is 11.6 per cent of their annual schools days, which is exactly 3.8 per cent of the time my parents and their parents spent trying to learn the ways of my people. The students spent about the same amount of time in the native language classes, which doubles the amount of time that our children are learning about their own culture. However, this still only works out to less than one quarter of their school time learning their own culture.

Mr. Speaker, I went through a similar system, but at the time they were only developing the programs. We, as aboriginal people, are learning a culture which was completely foreign to our people only 30 to 50 years ago. It is no wonder we have such high failure rates in our schools as far as aboriginal people are concerned. This is further impacted by the fact that they are trying to learn their culture within four walls. As you know, Mr. Speaker, and all who are in this room, my people were a nomadic people. We survived and passed on our culture in the great outdoors. My suggestion was merely to transfer the programs with the resources to the hunters' and trappers' associations or to an elders' group in the community. This group could work with the community education councils and set up a completely traditional camp out on the land.

At the time I suggested this, Mr. Speaker, the Minister said this would be up to the community. However, I think the department should be taking a more pro-active role by encouraging communities to do this. The students, in small numbers, could take the 14 consecutive days per year and live and learn in that camp. The different grades could spend different times of the year at the camp. I believe...

Mr. Arngna'naaq, your allotted time as elapsed. Mr. Arngna'naaq.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I 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. Arngna'naaq.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The different grades could spend different times of the year at the camp. I believe in this way, our young people will learn both ways of life and understand truly the virtues of their ancestors. I know many families spend time on the land when school is over in the spring. However, not all students get to go and it is at only one time of the year. This way all students will be able to spend time on the land and learn about their culture at different times of the year. They would learn more about their own culture in a way their ancestors learned the culture. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Item 3, Members' statements. Mr. Pudlat.

(Translation) Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On Friday, I was able to go to Snare Lakes with some Members. While we were there, the people of Snare Lakes were very opened and we received their hospitality. We went to this small community to sign the hydro project with the NWT Power Corporation. We had an enjoyable feast and dance in the community, and the people of Snare Lakes were extremely friendly. I was thinking of trying to get some dry meat while I was there and I had no problem getting the meat thanks to the Member for North Slave. I had no idea that I would be participating in the dance. At first I declined to accept the offer of dancing, however, when Nellie approached me to dance with her, I truly enjoyed it. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

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

Item 4, returns to oral questions. Mr. Allooloo.