The Speaker Jeannie Marie-Jewell

Good morning, item 2, Ministers' statements. Madam Premier.

Nellie Cournoyea Nunakput

Madam Speaker, I would like to advise Members that the Honourable Stephen Kakfwi will be absent from the House today to attend a constituency meeting in Fort Good Hope. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

The Speaker Jeannie Marie-Jewell

Thank you. Item 2, Ministers' statements. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Nerysoo.

Richard Nerysoo Mackenzie Delta

Thank you, Madam Speaker. As Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, I am pleased to advise you that this week and next week, we celebrate two important annual events, Arctic College Week and Science and Technology Week. I am happy to inform Members of the Legislative Assembly that many new initiatives to promote cooperation among educators, scientists and our northern communities have already begun.

Arctic College staff and students throughout the Northwest Territories are celebrating Arctic College week from October 17th to October 21st. Arctic College Week is held to promote post-secondary education and to inform people of the services provided by the campuses and community learning centres in their areas. It is also intended to emphasize the achievements of Arctic College and its cooperative relationship with the communities it serves. The theme of this year's Arctic College Week, "building community partnerships," celebrates that relationship.

To acknowledge the importance of partnership, the campuses and community learning centres of Arctic College have planned a number of public awareness activities that highlight programs produced in cooperation with municipal and tribal councils and industry.

Community teacher education programs are one example of programs produced in partnership. The Yellowknife teacher education program is sponsored by the Yellowknives Dene Band, Yellowknife's two school boards, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment and Arctic College.

Overlapping with Arctic College Week is National Science and Technology Week, which runs from October 14th to October 23rd. We celebrate this event to recognize the contribution of science and technology to northern development. This year, the Science Institute of the Northwest Territories is promoting activities at the community level.

The Science Institute's newly implemented research support programs are providing new opportunities for northerners to become involved in scientific research. We want to recognize the contribution of northerners in science and technology. Education, Culture and Employment, in conjunction with Renewable Resources, has submitted two nominations for the 1994 northern science award sponsored by Indian and Northern Affairs Canada.

The Science Institute also continues to introduce community projects demonstrating new technology. A northern wind farm has been established in Cambridge Bay as the first privately-funded alternate energy project. Also, from an educational perspective, the innovators in the schools program have been very successful this past year and have given many young northerners the opportunity to learn more about science and technology in an interactive manner.

Madam Speaker, at this time, I would like to thank all the communities, organizations and individuals who support Arctic College programs and science and technology initiatives. I invite the Members of the Legislative Assembly and residents of Yellowknife to participate in Science Sunday at the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre at 2:00 pm on October 23rd.

I encourage northerners to contact the Science Institute here in Yellowknife or the research centres in Inuvik, Fort Smith, Igloolik and Iqaluit for information about science and technology programs in your area. As well, I invite you to contact community learning centres or Arctic College Campuses for information about college programs being offered this year. Thank you.

The Speaker Jeannie Marie-Jewell

Thank you. Item 2, Ministers' statements. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Natilikmiot, Mr. Ningark.

John Ningark Natilikmiot

Thank you, Madam Speaker. As you know, the Kitikmeot is the only region in the NWT without an elders' residence. The elders in the region, especially the elders from Natilikmiot, have been expecting and looking forward to an elders' residence being built in Gjoa Haven since I first was elected to the House in 1989.

For mysterious reasons, every year, the elders' residence project has been postponed and not built. We were told that all elders' residence funding was put on hold because federal money for social housing was cut back.

This fall, my honourable colleague Mr. Kelvin Ng and I discovered the funding for the Gjoa Haven elders' residence was deleted from the capital plans.

An Hon. Member

Shame.

John Ningark Natilikmiot

Thank you. Being concerned, Madam Speaker, about this matter, I contacted Mayor Uriash Puqiqnak of Gjoa Haven to discuss it further. He was as surprised as I was to learn of the deletion of the elders' residence project. I have met with Madam Premier, who is also the Minister of Health and Social Services; the Honourable John Pollard, the Minister of Finance; and the Honourable Don Morin, Minister of Public Works and Services. They have all agreed to reconsider addressing the needs in Kitikmeot, as my colleague, Mr. Ng, and I continue to pursue this matter on behalf of our elders.

An Hon. Member

Good.

John Ningark Natilikmiot

I ask the government to seriously revisit this very important issue of elders' residences for the Kitikmeot by reinstating the funding for the Gjoa Haven residence and by addressing the needs in the western Kitikmeot. Thank you.

---Applause

The Speaker Jeannie Marie-Jewell

Thank you. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Lewis.

Brian Lewis Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Madam Speaker. This summer has been one of the driest summers on record, with very low rainfall levels. The natural course of events when you get very little rain is that the land gets dry, you get fires, and where you get fires, you get smoke, and because of the smoke, the mosquitoes die. They don't live very long.

People can understand that. People are happy with that. But, there is a certain lack of logic for many of my constituents who can't understand why, living by one of the biggest lakes in the world -- one of the top ten, which is pretty clean, compared with most of the others; even though we have some pollution, it is still pretty clean -- with so much water around us, that we have such high summer water rates. It is so easy to get water in the summer. Many of our dried out properties are causing

consternation among many of our citizens who enjoy gardening...

An Hon. Member

Hear, hear.