This is page numbers 689 - 717 of the Hansard for the 12th Assembly, 5th 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 community.

Subsidies For Small Businesses
Item 3: Members' Statements

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Dennis Patterson Iqaluit

I seek unanimous consent to conclude, Madam Speaker.

Subsidies For Small Businesses
Item 3: Members' Statements

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Some Hon. Members

(Microphones turned off)

Subsidies For Small Businesses
Item 3: Members' Statements

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The Speaker Jeannie Marie-Jewell

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

Subsidies For Small Businesses
Item 3: Members' Statements

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Dennis Patterson Iqaluit

Madam Speaker, I winced at the fulminations of the Member for Aivilik when he was on this side of the House and I am enjoying watching him suffer a bit now that I am over here.

---Laughter

Subsidies For Small Businesses
Item 3: Members' Statements

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John Todd Keewatin Central

Keewatin Central...(Microphone turned off)

---Laughter

Subsidies For Small Businesses
Item 3: Members' Statements

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Dennis Patterson Iqaluit

Keewatin Central. The Member for Aivilik had some tirades, too.

---Laughter

Madam Speaker, I am going to screw up my courage and gird my loins...

Subsidies For Small Businesses
Item 3: Members' Statements

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Some Hon. Members

Ooh!

Subsidies For Small Businesses
Item 3: Members' Statements

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Michael Ballantyne Yellowknife North

(Microphone turned off)

Subsidies For Small Businesses
Item 3: Members' Statements

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Some Hon. Members

(Microphones turned off)

---Laughter

Subsidies For Small Businesses
Item 3: Members' Statements

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Dennis Patterson Iqaluit

I am going to dare to ask some thoughtful questions about the Baffin fishery and even about the Pangnirtung fishery, not because I am against the jobs that have been created in Pangnirtung, but because I want to make sure we don't follow the Newfoundland model in Baffin Island. So, Madam Speaker, I hope the discussion will be reasonable and my questions can be answered openly and without undue defensiveness. Thank you.

---Applause

Subsidies For Small Businesses
Item 3: Members' Statements

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The Speaker Jeannie Marie-Jewell

Thank you. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Gargan.

Differences Between Cultures On Use Of Wildlife
Item 3: Members' Statements

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Samuel Gargan Deh Cho

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I will be making a statement on a book I read called the "Pied Piper of Hamelin." I have to return it by the end of the month, so I thought maybe I should make a statement now.

Madam Speaker, I listened, with interest, to the Minister of Renewable Resources the other day when he described the killing of thousands of muskrats in Holland. Because these rats do damage to the dykes in Holland, they are trapped and killed. The Europeans, being fine moral people, would never use the pelts or meat for anything useful. Instead, the carcasses are thrown into the ocean. Madam Speaker, the major reason Europeans are so interested in what goes on in our country when it comes to wildlife is that they have managed to kill off most of their own.

---Applause

Vast tracks of forest have been laid to waste by the poisonous emission of their factories.

---Applause

One only has to look at the difference between our own history and legends and the European legends which are aptly called "fairy tales."

---Laughter

In our Dene legends, harmony with nature and the land is stressed. In the European tradition, in fairy tales such as Little Red Riding Hood and the Pied Piper of Hamelin, the rats always get theirs in the end.

Differences Between Cultures On Use Of Wildlife
Item 3: Members' Statements

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An Hon. Member

That is right.

Differences Between Cultures On Use Of Wildlife
Item 3: Members' Statements

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Samuel Gargan Deh Cho

With this type of cultural education, it is little wonder that there is not much free wildlife in Europe. Madam Speaker, maybe we could write our own fairy tales for the north, a little politically correct one, something like the Pied Piper of Rankin.

---Laughter

We could have the honourable Member as the hero of the story, maybe something along the lines of piping all the seals out of the water onto the ice, where it would be reasonable to be harvested and the vast majority allowed to return to the waters.

Madam Speaker, this silly example I used illustrates the difference between the aboriginal and the European cultures. Madam Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to continue my statement.

Differences Between Cultures On Use Of Wildlife
Item 3: Members' Statements

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The Speaker Jeannie Marie-Jewell

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

Differences Between Cultures On Use Of Wildlife
Item 3: Members' Statements

Page 692

Samuel Gargan Deh Cho

Thank you, Madam Speaker, and honourable Members. Madam Speaker, this silly example I used illustrates the difference between the aboriginal and the European cultures. We look at the seal or the caribou as a resource, a source of food that has to be managed responsibly for the benefit of present and future generations. The Europeans and their collective guilt for having killed off their own wildlife have a romantic notion of what nature is. They cannot understanding our living in harmony with the land around us.

Madam Speaker, in the Pied Piper of Hamelin, there is a poem which goes as follows: "Each children has its worth, each death will be paid. A promise is kept, a promise is made or a time will come for the piper to play and charm all hope of our future away." This is the basic moral of this fairy tale. What we have to make the Europeans understand is that we, as aboriginal people, realize where our future is. We, as a government, have promised to do everything possible to ensure wildlife will exist for our future generations. Madam Speaker, I plan to write a book, if I ever get out of politics, called "Discovering Europe from an Aboriginal Perspective." Of course that means I have to go on a fact-finding trip. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

---Laughter

---Applause

Differences Between Cultures On Use Of Wildlife
Item 3: Members' Statements

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The Speaker Jeannie Marie-Jewell

Thank you. Item 3, Members' statements. Madam Premier.

Differences Between Cultures On Use Of Wildlife
Item 3: Members' Statements

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Nellie Cournoyea Nunakput

Madam Speaker, I wish to return to item 2, Ministers' statements.

Differences Between Cultures On Use Of Wildlife
Item 3: Members' Statements

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The Speaker Jeannie Marie-Jewell

Madam Premier is seeking unanimous consent to return to Ministers' statements. Are there any nays? There are no nays. Proceed.

Nellie Cournoyea Nunakput

Madam Speaker, the report of the Special Committee on Health and Social Services was tabled in this House on November 18, 1993. This report was a major undertaking and reflects input received from people across the north. It calls for fundamental changes in health and social service programs throughout the Northwest Territories and will have a significant impact on the way several government departments deliver services.

I will be tabling the government's response to this report within a week. The extra time being taken beyond the 120 days requested by Members is to allow for translation and to allow for the incorporation of input from all Ministers.

I would, once again, like to thank the committee for their work and to reaffirm that the development of a comprehensive response is being treated with the utmost importance by the government. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

---Applause

The Speaker Jeannie Marie-Jewell

Item 2, Ministers' statements. Item 3, Members' statements. Item 4, returns to oral questions. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Kakfwi.

Return To Question 293-12(5): Criteria For Living In Outpost Camps
Item 4: Returns To Oral Questions
Item 4: Returns To Oral Questions

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Stephen Kakfwi

Stephen Kakfwi Sahtu

Thank you, Madam Speaker. This is in response to a question asked by Mr. Ningark on March 15 regarding the criteria for living in outpost camps.

Assistance for outpost camps has been provided under the community harvester assistance program since 1992. At that time, the guidelines for this program were revised to increase the opportunity for local decision-making on the allocation of funds for renewable resource harvesting. People who wish to obtain financial assistance under this program should hold a general hunting licence and should apply through the local wildlife committee.

Some of the items which are eligible for assistance under this program include fuel for use during harvesting, materials for a shelter and equipment and supplies essential for subsistence harvesting operations. Each region and community decides on the priority of use for funding under this program. Thank you.

Return To Question 293-12(5): Criteria For Living In Outpost Camps
Item 4: Returns To Oral Questions
Item 4: Returns To Oral Questions

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The Speaker Jeannie Marie-Jewell

Thank you. Item 4, returns to oral questions. The honourable Member for Baffin Central, Ms. Mike.

Return To Question 282-12(5): Payment Of Gst By Social Assistance Recipients
Item 4: Returns To Oral Questions
Item 4: Returns To Oral Questions

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Rebecca Mike Baffin Central

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I have a return to an oral question asked by Mr. Ningark on March 14, 1994 regarding social assistance and the GST. The GST is administered by the Government of Canada, as a tax on goods and services. It is applied to any purchaser, whether they are on social assistance or not. The Department of Social Services does not have a policy on this, but of course it is expected that social assistance recipients will comply with federal laws, including paying the GST.

Social assistance recipients should be eligible for the GST tax credit on their income tax returns. The amount of refund that they would receive would depend on their annual income and the number of dependants they claim on their tax return. When social assistance recipients receive this refund, it is not counted as income in determining the amount of assistance they receive. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Return To Question 282-12(5): Payment Of Gst By Social Assistance Recipients
Item 4: Returns To Oral Questions
Item 4: Returns To Oral Questions

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The Speaker Jeannie Marie-Jewell

Thank you. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, oral questions. The honourable Member for Aivilik, Mr. Arvaluk.