This is page numbers 609 - 640 of the Hansard for the 12th Assembly, 6th Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was corporation.

Topics

Members Present

Mr. Allooloo, Mr. Antoine, Mr. Ballantyne, Hon. Nellie Cournoyea, Mr. Dent, Hon. Stephen Kakfwi, Mr. Koe, Mr. Lewis, Hon. Jeannie Marie-Jewell, Hon. Rebecca Mike, Hon. Don Morin, Hon. Richard Nerysoo, Mr. Ng, Mr. Ningark, Mr. Patterson, Hon. John Pollard, Mr. Pudlat, Mr. Pudluk, Hon. John Todd

---Prayer

Item 1: Prayer
Item 1: Prayer

Page 609

The Speaker Jeannie Marie-Jewell

Thank you. Good afternoon. Before we start on Ministers' statements, I would like to take a few moments to publicly thank an elder, Christine Balsillie, from Fort Resolution for the hours, time and work she has spent in designing this cape. It is very traditional and I hope it is reflective of the traditions of many of the types of work that many of the aboriginal women do in the Northwest Territories. It would be very nice with regard to indicating to our people of the north the work that native women and all women do. It will be displayed, in the future, in the Legislative Assembly. It is something that all northern people should be proud of. I would like to publicly thank her. Thank you.

---Applause

Item 2, Ministers' statements. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Kakfwi.

Minister's Statement 44-12(6): Rcmp Awards
Item 2: Ministers' Statements

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Stephen Kakfwi

Stephen Kakfwi Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Madam Speaker, I wish to inform the Members of the Legislature of a number of awards which were recently made by the RCMP in honour of a number of residents in the Northwest Territories.

Commanding Officer Chief Superintendent Brian G. Watt of the RCMP "G" division presented long service awards, along with two commendation citations to 10 individuals on October 28, 1994. The awards presentation occurred at approximately 3:00 pm in the great hall of the Legislative Assembly.

Three long service awards, for 25 years of service were presented to Staff Sergeant Rod O'Brien, Sergeant Jimm Barr and Corporal Brian Vanstone.

Five long service awards, for 20 years of service, were presented to Staff Sergeant Dave Grundy, Sergeant Rick McKillican, Corporal Glen Morash, Corporal Jon Forsythe-Erman and Corporal Ron Jones.

Charlie Thomassie of Resolute Bay was the recipient of the Commissioner's commendation to a civilian. The award was in recognition of the assistance given to the RCMP in the apprehension of an individual who was discharging a firearm in the community.

The commanding officer's commendation to an RCMP member went to Corporal Nolan Butts.

Madam Speaker, I am sure that the Members of the Legislative Assembly will join with me in congratulating these individuals. Mahsi.

---Applause

Minister's Statement 44-12(6): Rcmp Awards
Item 2: Ministers' Statements

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The Speaker Jeannie Marie-Jewell

Thank you. Item 2, Ministers' Statements. Madam Premier.

Nellie Cournoyea Nunakput

Madam Speaker, I wish to advise Members that the Honourable Silas Arngna'naaq will be absent from the House until Wednesday afternoon to attend a fisheries Ministers' meeting in Victoria. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

The Speaker Jeannie Marie-Jewell

Thank you. Item 2, Ministers' statements. The honourable Member for Keewatin Central, Mr. Todd.

John Todd Keewatin Central

Madam Speaker, as Members are aware, I was absent from the House last week to attend the Nunavut economic summit in Rankin Inlet. This conference was organized by Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated and brought together representatives of all the major economic, political and Inuit organizations in Nunavut.

The purpose of this conference was to begin the process of developing a strategy to deal with the economic issues facing Nunavut prior to and after division. Judging from the tremendous participation in this conference and the interesting discussions during the course of the week, this conference provided an important starting point in the development of such a strategy.

Madam Speaker, I would like to commend the organizers of the conference, Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., for recognizing the need for this conference and for their hard work in making it a success.

Madam Speaker, I had the pleasure of being the keynote speaker at the closing banquet of this conference. I had an opportunity at that time to announce a number of important organizational initiatives that the departments of Economic Development and Tourism and Transportation have recently initiated.

Anyone familiar with the tourism industry in the Northwest Territories is familiar with the frustration in trying to develop a territorial-wide tourism strategy. The simple fact of the matter is that tourism operators in the eastern and western Arctic face very different challenges and have very different needs, both in terms of marketing and business assistance.

In an effort to deal with these differences, the Department of Economic Development and Tourism will soon initiate discussions with the private sector on the establishment of two separate tourism authorities for the western Arctic and Nunavut. These new organizations would be led by the private sector in partnership with government. They would be the primary agents responsible for the development of tourism in the east and west, for the delivery of tourism marketing programs presently being delivered by government and for the development of tourism strategies that better fit their region.

Secondly, Madam Speaker, the department will soon begin negotiations on a new economic development agreement with the federal government. It is our intent to negotiate one formal agreement with two sub-agreements for the western Arctic and Nunavut. These sub-agreements will recognize the different economic priorities of the two regions and serve as a model for the new economic development agreements for the two new territories.

Madam Speaker, as Members are aware, during the past 12 months, we have decentralized much of the decision-making and financial authority for both the departments of Economic Development and Tourism and Transportation from headquarters to the regional level. The next logical step in the process is to further reorganize these departments to ensure that there is one senior manager primarily responsible for the operational and planning decisions of the department in the western Arctic and in Nunavut.

I have instructed the deputy ministers of Economic Development and Tourism and Transportation to bring forward these recommendations prior to the end of the year. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

---Applause

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. Madam Speaker, I wish to honour my commitment to keep this Legislature informed about the national agenda in education and our participation in it.

The Ministers of Education from across this country met in Charlottetown a few weeks ago and made a joint declaration concerning the importance of partnership, excellence and accountability in education.

In late May 1994, the Council of Ministers of Education Canada facilitated the first ever national consultation on education where 495 delegates attended. An attempt was made to involve all sectors of Canadian society: students, educators, trustees, government and education agencies, business and labour, as well as 10 organizations representing the interests of groups such as native Canadians, women and the disabled. The conference identified a number of broad areas for activity.

First, the participants agreed that a national report on education should be developed. People said this report should contain information on the state of education and provide a comparison to education in other countries. People across Canada recognize the challenges we all face in reforming and improving the present education system in this country.

Secondly, Madam Speaker, the Ministers of Education agreed to continue with the school achievement indicators program. This program will become part of the national report on education. You will recall that in 1993, a math test was administered across Canada. Last spring, a reading and writing assessment took place, and we plan to administer a science assessment this spring. Detailed information on the reading and writing assessment should be available in December.

We anticipate that based on preliminary results, we will be close to the national average for writing, but lower in reading abilities. These assessments give us an indication of the performance of our system compared to our curriculum expectations and to the performance of students across the country. The results will help us to identify problem areas and plan for improvements in our systems to better serve our students. Members will recall that we are developing a numeracy and literacy strategy designed to help improve our students' performance in these critical areas.

Further, Madam Speaker, the declaration the Ministers of Education agreed and stated that "we jointly want to have the highest quality education based on shared and relevant goals, and to demonstrate accountability for achieving them." We realized that in order to achieve this goal and to make this part of our national report on education, we needed a solid base of information. As a result, a joint CMEC/Statistics Canada project was announced to develop better measurements of the performance of the education systems across the country. Specific suggestions regarding the content and format of a pan-Canadian education indicators program will be brought to the Ministers for consideration in the spring of 1995. Identified indicator areas would include academic achievement, accessibility, student flows, school to work transitions, citizenship and public satisfaction.

The third area Ministers agreed to was the need to further both research and planning in the area of distance education and open learning. The Ministers agreed to work on developing a basis for coordination and collaboration in this area. All Ministers see this as a way to increase access to education in a cost-effective manner. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

---Applause

The Speaker Jeannie Marie-Jewell

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

Iqaluit Hunters Lost At Sea
Item 3: Members' Statements

October 30th, 1994

Page 611

Dennis Patterson Iqaluit

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, this weekend, residents of my constituency, friends and relatives from all across the territories have become increasingly alarmed about 10 hunters from Iqaluit who were apparently returning from a walrus hunt last week at the end of Frobisher Bay. They sent an urgent distress call from their 12-metre longliner, about 100 miles from Iqaluit. The call was received by a nearby outpost camp at Tongait, about 11:00 pm last Saturday night. The call came in the midst of very strong winds, snow and rain. The hunters reported that their vessel was without power, drifting and taking in water.

Because of the difficulty transmitting radio messages this time of year, the news of the distress call could not be relayed to Iqaluit from the outpost camp until early Sunday morning. As soon as the message was received, a massive search effort began. Thanks to the presence of Canadian Armed Forces aircraft in Iqaluit for a military exercise, the rescue coordination centre in Halifax was able to mount a very thorough air search as soon as the news was received. An armed forces Aurora aircraft with the best air-to-surface radio was searching continuously all night, until relieved by another search aircraft early this morning. A Hercules and two twin otter aircraft have also been involved.

About 1:00 this morning, a large local vessel with 10 local men aboard left to assist with the search in the area, and very early this morning a fast Department of Fisheries and Oceans patrol vessel left to support on the water.

The latest news is that wreckage believed to be from a vessel has been seen from the air in the area where the boat is believed to have gone missing; about five miles south of Gabriel Island, and in the vicinity of Chase Island. The vessels at sea are now moving to that place and the air search will concentrate on the coast and islands in that area.

I'm grateful to have been kept fully informed by the Honourable Rebecca Mike and her officials in emergency measures. At this moment, the search goes on. We can only hope that the hunters have managed to somehow make it ashore, however, the situation is grave. All we can do now is pray for a miracle. Thank you.

Iqaluit Hunters Lost At Sea
Item 3: Members' Statements

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The Speaker Jeannie Marie-Jewell

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

Need For Caution When Driving
Item 3: Members' Statements

Page 611

Brian Lewis Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Madam Speaker. In more than 40 years, Madam Speaker, apart from parking tickets, I have had only one traffic violation, and that was in your home town, Madam Speaker.

In 1972 I moved to Fort Smith from the eastern Arctic, and I hadn't driven for several years. I suppose I had forgotten all the rules; at least some of them. Although I had stopped before a school bus drop-off zone, I proceeded before the bus was in motion again; therefore, I had broken the law.

On Friday around 3:00 pm, Madam Speaker, I attended the ceremonies honouring many members of the RCMP in our great hall, and then I drove home around 4:00 pm. I proceeded up Franklin Avenue very carefully, since we received our first snowfall on Thursday night. I had occasion to use my brakes several times since people changed lanes and it made me think about the quick adjustments we have to make in our driving habits when winter finally arrives.

Turning right on Matonabee Street, where I have lived for the past 18 years, I suddenly realized that the vehicle parked on the opposite side of the road beyond the intersection was a school bus. In front of the bus was a mother and child waiting to cross the road. This mother, who I know, had already protested about the failure of motorists to honour the stop sign on the school bus. I admit to finding it difficult to apply my brakes in time to allow the lady to cross the road, although I did stop. Even when we know every speed zone and every traffic zone in our neighbourhood, bells should automatically ring when we see a large, yellow bus. It should be considered a moveable traffic sign.

People expect MLAs to set an example and to educate and make the public aware of many issues. So, tonight, Madam Speaker, on a related issue, when our streets will be full of eager, young trick or treating children, I urge Members and other members of the public to be extra careful and extra cautious. Thank you.

---Applause

Need For Caution When Driving
Item 3: Members' Statements

Page 611

The Speaker Jeannie Marie-Jewell

Thank you. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for High Arctic, Mr. Pudluk.

Appreciation Of Honourable Don Morin
Item 3: Members' Statements

Page 611

Ludy Pudluk High Arctic

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I am going to make a very, very short statement of appreciation. I'm sure my colleague, the Member for Amittuq, will share this with me. I would like to thank the honourable Minister, Don Morin, for keeping his commitment to me last session, March 25, 1994; for approving local status under BIP for us in Pond Inlet. Thank you.

---Applause

Appreciation Of Honourable Don Morin
Item 3: Members' Statements

Page 611

The Speaker Jeannie Marie-Jewell

Thank you. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Kitikmeot, Mr. Ng.

Kelvin Ng Kitikmeot

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, during the last session, I raised a concern of inadequate fire alerting systems within many of our communities as a result of aging, deteriorating systems which are proving to be difficult

and expensive to repair, and as a result of the rapid growth of our communities.

During my questioning of the government on this issue, it was discovered that, while MACA provides the capital and O and M funding for firefighting and alerting equipment, Safety and Public Services has the responsibility to inspect and monitor the equipment to make sure that it is effective. I note that last spring, after I raised the issue of problems of fire alerting systems, a Safety and Public Services representative undertook inspections of fire alerting systems in my constituency. Although I'm not certain of the results of those inspections, I appreciate the fact that there was interest shown by the government.

Madam Speaker, the most recent problem identified in my constituency, in both Coppermine and Cambridge Bay, respecting the firefighting system, is the aging of the fire trucks, particularly the difficulty and length of time required to order and receive parts for the fire trucks. On different occasions over the past summer, the fire trucks in both communities were unusable for weeks as a result of waiting for parts. Needless to say, this is a very dangerous situation of having the most critical piece of firefighting equipment unavailable to the community should a fire break out.

The Speaker Jeannie Marie-Jewell

Thank you. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Yellowknife North, Mr. Ballantyne.

Michael Ballantyne Yellowknife North

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, it is appropriate today that the Minister of Justice gave credit to the RCMP. I was at the awards ceremony last week and I think all of us have to recognize that we have a tremendous police force here in the Northwest Territories. But, unless we get that police force adequate resources, they won't be able to do their job.

Today, I want to talk about policing in the capital city. We are very fortunate in the capital city to have an excellent police force. The RCMP, with their limited resources, do a tremendous job. Staff Sergeant Grundy and the officers in the Yellowknife detachment are doing a lot with inadequate resources. But, the reality is, crime is increasing steadily. In Yellowknife, violent crimes are increasing at an alarming rate, drug crimes are up, and property damage is increasing. Even at the best of times, with the limited manpower here in Yellowknife, there are only five or six officers on duty.

I will give you an example. With holidays and sick time today, for instance, in the city of Yellowknife, there are only three officers protecting a city of 17,000. My understanding is that the detachment is understaffed by six to 10 people, which I find unacceptable. I brought this situation up to the Minister in the past. The Minister assured me at that time that something would be done. I gave the example of Donny Brooks in front of the Gold Range Cafe. At times 100 or 200 people are outside that bar, fights break out, and three or four officers can do nothing. They have to sit and watch it unfold.

The situation now is that shoplifting, bicycle thefts and minor traffic accidents have to be ignored by the RCMP because they don't have the resources to deal with those sorts of investigations. It would be impossible today to deal with a major incident in the city of Yellowknife. There are no resources to conduct ongoing investigations.

So, the situation here in Yellowknife is becoming more and more of an issue. I appreciate the fact that the Minister is looking at innovative solutions to policing across the territories.

Madam Speaker, I would like to seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

The Speaker Jeannie Marie-Jewell

Thank you. The honourable Member is seeking unanimous consent to continue. Are there any nays? There are no nays. Please proceed, Mr. Ballantyne.

Michael Ballantyne Yellowknife North

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I also fully support any policing initiatives in small communities. It is important. But, the Minister has a responsibility to all communities. And, the situation that stands today is totally and absolutely unacceptable. I feel, and the people of my constituency and the people of this town feel, that the government has a responsibility to ensure that 17,000 people feel secure in their own community. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

---Applause

The Speaker Jeannie Marie-Jewell

Thank you. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Baffin South, Mr. Pudlat.

Lack Of Police Officers In Small Communities
Item 3: Members' Statements

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Kenoayoak Pudlat Baffin South

(Translation) Thank you, Madam Speaker. I will also touch on the issue of policing. Madam Speaker, police officers assist us in many ways, not just in accidents and unfortunate situations. They are resource people for a lot of things in the communities. I haven't seen too many accidents in the communities, but we used to have two police officers in our community, and we don't have any at all at this time.

We used to have people replacing RCMP officers, although we didn't expect to have a lot happen in the community. I haven't seen too many problems, besides this summer, with not having police officers. We don't expect to have heavy caseloads for officers; but, we still have the right to have police officers in our communities just to feel safe. When police officers go on holidays, it must be ensured that there is someone replacing them while they are away, because accidents can happen anytime and residents need to feel secure. The topic of RCMP replacements while RCMP officers are on holidays should be considered more. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

---Applause

Lack Of Police Officers In Small Communities
Item 3: Members' Statements

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The Speaker Jeannie Marie-Jewell

Thank you. Item 3, Members' statements. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Madam Premier.