Thank you, Mr. Ningark. Orders of the day. Item 2, Ministers' statements. Item 3, Members' statements. Mrs. Groenewegen.

Mrs. Groenewegen, could you slow down a bit. We have translators and the Members cannot keep up.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Members' statements. Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Steen. Members' statements. Mr. O'Brien.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate Mr. Rufus Manik from my own community of Arviat. Rufus just completed his diploma, graduated from the RCMP academy in Regina and is now a community constable. Thank you.

--Applause

Thank you, Mr. O'Brien. Members' statements. Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I would like to speak about a remarkable individual from Iqaluit. Mrs. Inga Alainga was born in 1932 on Nottingham Island. Inga's parents were Mary Eeleeteeka Nakoolak and Peter William Mackenzie who was working for the Hudson's Bay Company in Port Burwell.

Mrs. Alainga and her family moved from Nottingham Island to Port Burwell and then to Resolution Island. Later, Mrs. Alainga married well known, respected Inuk leader, Simonie Alainga. Simonie and Inga went on to have 13 children and were well known for their devotion to helping others. Mrs. Alainga, after moving to Iqaluit, opened her home to many of the people from Baffin communities who had to travel to Iqaluit for hospital. Even today, with a boarding home for hospital patients, Mrs. Alainga continues to open her home for those patients.

The tragic boating accident in October, 1994, that took her loving husband and close relatives was very difficult for Inga and all of her family. But Mrs. Alainga has remained strong and is still involved with helping others. She is well known for her cooking and still carries on the traditional art of sewing traditional clothes. She likes to make quilts and has a good sense of humour.

Mr. Speaker, after forcible relocations of raising a family, of the boat tragedy, Mrs. Inga Alainga has remained a strong and dedicated community leader, and I know that you and this House will join with me in thanking her for her generosity and humanity. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

--Applause

Thank you, Mr. Picco. Members statements. Mr. Barnabas.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Members often stand in this Assembly to make complaints about the shortcomings of government departments. Today, I rise to give thanks for assistance given at a critical time in my home community.

In late August, a very difficult situation arose in Arctic Bay. Niglasuk, a company owned by the Hunters and Trappers Organization in Arctic Bay, had planned a new venture. With the assistance of Canada North Outfitting, they had booked 13 American sport hunters to hunt caribou using sport hunting tags. The HTO was very pleased with this opportunity to earn income from sports hunting and had gone to the trouble of building a camp at Admiralty Inlet especially for these hunters.

However, when the first two hunters arrived in Arctic Bay, it turned out that through an oversight the necessary paperwork had not been concluded to allow the hunt to proceed. Since I understood that a commercial caribou quota had been set aside for the High Arctic, I turned to the Honourable Stephen Kakfwi, Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development and Mr. Ben Kovic, chair of the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board, to see if the situation could be corrected in time to allow the planned hunts to proceed.

I wish to thank Mr. Stephen Kakfwi, Mr. Ben Kovic and their officials for the extraordinary efforts they undertook to correct the situation and allow the hunt to go ahead. I was very pleased to learn that provisions of the Inuit Land Claim Agreement do permit flexibility in situations such as the one which arose, and I was also pleased to learn that the Wildlife Management Board and the GNWT department could have such a good, co-operative working relationship. I know that they had to do a lot of work in a short period of time. If the sport hunters had to be turned away, it would have been a great setback for the renewable resources economy in Arctic Bay. For a community with high unemployment, the impact of these hunts is very significant. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Barnabas. Members' statements. Mr. Evaloarjuk.

(Translation) Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Maybe all the Members have their receivers on now. I just wanted to give my thanks to my fellow colleagues, Members and especially to Mr. Speaker. I will try and make my statement short. I do not have anything written with me, I apologize for it.

I wanted to thank all my fellow Members for wishing me good luck while I was in the hospital in Montreal. I appreciated their sincere wishes for my recovery. I also would like to thank my constituents in my region. They supported me fully while I was in the hospital. I really, truly appreciate their good wishes they sent me while I was in the hospital. I also wish to thank the Premier, for he was able to accompany me in visiting my constituency.

I could not make it to my other communities, and I apologize for not being able to make it there because sometimes some things unforeseeable happen. In my case I could not make it to these two communities, due to the fact that I had to go down to Montreal for hospitalization. I just wanted to express my regrets to my constituents, and I also appreciate the Members for having supported me. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. (Translation ends)

Thank you, Mr. Evaloarjuk. Members' statements. Mr. Rabesca.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, Mr. Speaker, I have a heavy heart. This morning Mrs. Melanie Beaulieu, one of my home communities respected elders, passed away at the age of 76. Melanie was a hard working and caring mother. While she was young, she would help with fishing, trapping, always making sure the family was well taken care of. Melanie, in later years, has been suffering from illness and finally, this illness has taken her from us.

I would like to wish Melanie's family and friends my condolences; we will surely miss her. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Rabesca. Members' statements. Mr. Enuaraq.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Everyone knows that one must learn to walk before they learn to run. However, before the first step can be taken, a child must have developed the necessary strength and muscles. Community empowerment is like taking our first steps. Before we can take on the responsibility for community empowerment, we must first strengthen our structures within our communities.

A child cannot walk without bones in his legs or muscles. A community cannot take steps towards community empowerment until it has a workable development plan and facilities. Clyde River is behind on what other communities are already enjoying. They do not have workable development plans, so they do not have muscles. There is a shortage of public housing and a lack of recreational and community facilities so that the community also lacks structural bones. If they do not have a plan and the necessary facilities, it would be futile for the community to take the steps towards community empowerment.

The town of Clyde River realizes that they are not ready to move towards community empowerment. They have decided to stop discussions for community empowerment because of seven issues. These are issues that the community thinks must be addressed before this discussion can continue. These issues are: Municipal Legislation Review; Funding Formula Review; Government and Community Interest; Nunavut Government's Position on Community Empowerment; A Community Plan for Development; Government of the Northwest Territories Deficit Recovery Plan. I hope that the Government of the Northwest Territories will support Clyde River in their decision.

Thank you, Mr. Enuaraq. Members' statements. Mr. Krutko.

The Member for Mackenzie Delta seeks unanimous consent to conclude his statement. Do I have any nays? There are no nays. Mr. Krutko, you have unanimous consent.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Members' statements. Mr. Erasmus.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last week, three of the Yellowknife MLAs held a constituency meeting, and I wanted to elaborate briefly on some of the concerns that were brought up there.

One of the first things that was discussed was the traditional healing program that is funded by the federal government. It was felt that the program should be expanded and that more people should have access to that program. The privatization of government services took a beating. We know that privatization was initially aimed at reducing government expenditures, but the general feeling at the meeting was that the public expected that the cost for the services should also go down for them, if it is going down for the government. But unfortunately this does not seem to be the case. The examples that were brought up indicated that the costs for the public actually went up as well.

The Diamond Sorting Facility was brought up. It was generally felt that it is politically unacceptable that there should not be a diamond sorting facility in the Northwest Territories in a community.

Student Financial Assistance, it was felt that there should be a way to make financial assistance free from income tax to the students, because once they get back home many of them find themselves with a huge bill just at the end of the year when they actually need money, and they have to make a payment to the federal government.

Affirmative Action, a lot of people felt that things were going backwards with affirmative action and particularly that the loss of personnel has contributed to this.

There was also considerable discussion concerning the conflict of interest clause that senior Government of the Northwest Territories employees have within their contracts. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

The Member for Yellowknife North is seeking unanimous consent to conclude his statement. Do I have any nays? There are no nays. Mr. Erasmus, you have unanimous consent to conclude your statement.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I stated, the conflict of interest clause that is within many senior government officials contracts which indicated that they are not supposed to work within the same field of interest that they had been working in for a year, or something like that, there was a lot of discussion about it, and it was generally felt that there should be no "not withstanding clause" to allow people to escape from their commitments that they had made in their contract when they began their employment with the territorial government. The feeling was that anybody who works for the territorial government and benefits from the training, education, experience and knowledge that they gain within their area, they should not be able to use that for their betterment immediately after they leave our employment. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Erasmus. Members' statements. Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yesterday in the north there was an election for mayor and council for the tax-based municipalities. First of all, I would like to commend all the individuals that had put their names forward to be considered for community public service. I would like to congratulate the successful candidates for the mayors and for members of all the different councils at their election. The next three years will be a crucial time during their term at the community level. There will be many challenges facing them as we get into division and community empowerment and self-government arrangements that we are dealing with.

The village of Fort Simpson, which I represent here as an MLA, had an election. I would like to congratulate the successful village council members. Norm Prevost has been re-elected as the mayor for Fort Simpson, along with council of: Carl Lafferty, Gordon Villeneuve, Marilyn Napier, Tom Wilson, Bob Hanna, Lindsay Waugh, Ron McCagg and Owen Rowe. These are the members that have been elected in Fort Simpson. I would like to congratulate them at this time. Thank you.

Thank you. Members' statements. Mr. Henry.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to read a news release that I received from George Burns who is a director of De Beers in London.

Endiama and De Beers are pleased to announce the formal signing of an agreement to develop a 12-storey building in Angola on land leased from Endiama which adjoins Endiama's existing offices in the central business district of Luanda. The building will be owned by De Beers and will house a purpose built and secure diamond sorting facility where Angolan diamond production will be sorted and valued. Endiama, the Angolan national diamond company, will be the owner of three floors in the new building.

This building will incorporate the latest technology required for the efficient and secure handling of rough diamonds. The building will house facilities for training Angolans in the key skills of sorting and valuing rough diamonds. De Beers has built similar facilities in Botswana, Namibia and South Africa, and brings considerable experience to this type of development.

The building will cost approximately $30 million US to develop and equip. Locally based building contractors will be employed, and it is expected that hundreds of jobs will be created during the construction. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Henry. Members' statements. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. Mr. Krutko.

Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Item 6, oral questions. Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it has been a couple of weeks since the resignation of the chair of the Baffin Regional Health Board. I would like to ask some questions about the board and hospital. Can the Minister advise this House as to the process to appoint a new chair? Thank you.

The Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Ng.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Recognizing the importance of the chair of the Baffin Regional Health and Social Services Board, I actively had some discussions with some of the Baffin representatives of this House. I asked the Deputy Premier, Mr. Arlooktoo, to speak to Achimo Kamukaku, the acting chair of the Baffin Regional Board to see whether he would be interested first of all or if he had any other suggestions about possible candidates that could act as chair. There was a suggestion by the Baffin and Iqaluit Chambers of Commerce where they proposed a few names for consideration and issued a press release in that respect. I had a preliminary look at it and had some discussions, as I indicated with the Baffin members, to seek out whether or not the possibility of Mr. Dennis Patterson, former member of this House, former Health Minister, former Premier, was interested in taking on that responsibility. I called Mr. Patterson myself personally and asked him. He did express an interest. Mr. Arlooktoo spoke again with the acting chair, Mr. Kamukaku, who undertook some consultation with his Health and Social Services Board colleagues. I spoke to Mr. Lazarus Ariak, president of the Baffin Regional Inuit Association and got his input, the possibility of having Mr. Patterson appointed as well and as it stands now, there is no opposition to having Mr. Patterson's name put forward as the chair for the Baffin Health Board. Right now we are in the process of preparing some documentation to that effect, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the board is without Iqaluit representation. I understand two names have gone forward to the Minister. I wonder if the Minister could update on the appointment of those two Iqaluit nominees?

Mr. Ng.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would anticipate we are aware of the nominees and again they are in the process of having the formal appointment documentation prepared. I would think we will do it in as timely a fashion as possible. Thank you.

Oral questions. Mr. Krutko.

The Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Ng.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there are various avenues in the community an individual could go to all of the front line staff area. Whether it is a law enforcement official, municipal enforcement official, a teacher, a social worker, community awareness worker, alcohol and drug worker. There are different avenues and different structures within each community to report incidents of potential abuse of any kind and of course, avenues to take the appropriate action based on those complaints, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you. Oral questions. Mr. Krutko, do you have a question? Supplementary?

Mr. Ng.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. All professionals have oaths of confidentiality depending on profession and guidelines, codes of conduct that they adhere to. I think it is important to say that no matter who that individual approached, ultimately it will be referred to whomever is responsible for the child's welfare issues in that community that has a legislative authority to apprehend, if necessary, on a temporary basis or on a longer term basis depending on the circumstances and provide for the immediate protection of that individual. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Krutko.

Mr. Ng.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am trying to explain to the honourable Member that ultimately there is a child welfare worker that will have the decision on whether or not to apprehend. There are different avenues that an individual can report, but ultimately, whoever the individual reports to has to go back to the child care worker who has the legal statutory authority for apprehension, whether it is on a temporary or permanent basis to deal with the issue of protection of that individual. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. Oral questions. Final Supplementary, Mr. Krutko.

Mr. Ng.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I indicated in the past answers to this question, with the new family law legislation particularly the Child/Family Services Act, we think there are enough safeguards and mechanisms in there. First and foremost, the principle of the whole bill is for the protection of children. Individuals who do not know how to be able to protect themselves and where we have a legislative authority to intervene in those types of situations in their best interests and that will continue to be the case, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Mr. Evaloarjuk.

(Translation) Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is directed to the Minister of Transportation. I have written a letter to the president of First Air as well as the chairman of the board. The Minister has also written to the same people I have mentioned on my behalf to support me. I have not received an answer yet to my letter. My question is whether they should be able to fly to Hall Beach, Pond Inlet and Arctic Bay? I have seen the letter that the Minister has given us his support, and I was very pleased with this, but I have not been given an answer to my question. Has the Minister himself been given an answer from First Air about the letter I am referring to? Thank you, Mr. Speaker. (Translation ends)

The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have not received any reply from my letter as well. Thank you.

Oral questions. Mrs. Groenewegen.

The Minister of Public Works and Services, Mr. Arlooktoo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Obviously a great deal of more information has been received over the last few weeks since the report was issued. I still stand by the statement that we are very close to following the directions of the steering committee to the letter. The steering committee recommended that changes do not take effect until 1999 or 1998, I believe. That is when the contracts for the current fuel delivery is over. In order to have those changes take effect a year and a half from now, we need to be making the appropriate planning and actions now. That is how they correlate.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Ms. Groenewegen.

Thank you. Mr. Arlooktoo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There were a number of meetings in the region with the steering committee, I had my staff from the Petroleum Products Division from Rankin Inlet and here, have discussions with the affected communities. The ongoing consultation I spoke of has to do with concern by some of the communities on the location of the pipelines.

Thank you. Oral questions. Supplementary, Ms. Groenewegen.

Mr. Arlooktoo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have received information from the hamlet of Arviat of their concerns about the location. I spoke, yesterday, to Mr. Flynn, the senior administrative officer in that community. I also spoke with the mayor, my long time friend, Peter Kay, who was in Whale Cove at meetings, and we agreed there was enough items on the table that would warrant meetings and discussion. I will be meeting with him on Monday in Igloolik where he will be attending the NTI Meeting. On Wednesday, I will meet the hamlet council and the deputy mayor. Most of the concerns from that community, as I understand it, have to do with the location of the pipelines and also the service or perceived lowering of service in the dry cargo area. I believe strongly we will be able to reassure the community that we will do all we can and will ensure there are no environmental damages. We will also ensure they receive good and adequate dry cargo services as all other northern communities do. That is the reason why I am fully confident that the consultations going on now will be completed.

Oral questions. Final supplementary, Ms. Groenewegen.

Thank you. Mr. Arlooktoo. Two questions.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First on the one year delay what I indicated yesterday and I think it is clear now. A one year delay may not be a good idea because in a year the Legislative Assembly here, all the decision-makers in Nunavut and all the decision makers in the west will be right in the middle of trying to deal with all the complicated issues of division. I believe there will be very little room at the time to deal with other important issues such as this. There is enough evidence now that this is a good move. It is a money making move to the tune of $100 million over 20 years. We need to act on it now.

On the issue of consultation. The president of NTCL, Mr. Clement was contacted on several occasions. There was correspondence between the department and NTCL but understandably, I believe that NTCL being forced into a competitive process rather than being the carrier of choice or being guaranteed a contract each year is not so comfortable with the idea. We have tried to reassure them that the process will be fair, it will be open and if you look at it logically, the company has as good a chance or a better chance than any other.

Thank you. Oral questions. Mr. Ningark.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is to the Minister of Public Works and Services. Mr. Speaker, the conventional kind of method for delivering fuel in the Keewatin region provides jobs for people of that area and provides business opportunity for the company owned by people of Nunavut area. Mr. Speaker, the Minister has indicated this initiative provides a saving to the government and to the people of that area. Of course, we know that the construction of the pipeline is going to cost money. My question is, how long will it take, Mr. Speaker, for the people of that area and the government to see realized savings of the construction of a pipeline in the Keewatin area? Thank you.

The Minister of Public Works and Services, Mr. Arlooktoo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe once the project goes into effect, the savings realized will be immediate and they will be significant. All indications and conservative estimates we have now, say the transportation cost of fuel will be about one quarter of what they are now. The savings realized will be significant and will be more once the pipelines are paid for in five years time.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Ningark.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we just have recovered from the deficit elimination. I would caution the government, myself, the amount of money we spend, the expenditure. Mr. Speaker, my supplementary question to the Minister is, how many jobs will be realized from the construction of the pipeline and at this point in time, how many jobs are required to manage the conventional method of delivering fuel to the Keewatin area? Thank you.

Mr. Arlooktoo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do not have an accurate number of jobs that will be realized from these four infrastructure projects that are worth several millions of dollars in total in the four communities. I certainly can share that information with the Member once we complete the requests for proposals and the proposals, but these are incremental projects and jobs to what is planned. I just wanted to comment on the conventional methods of delivering fuel. Right now the conventional method in Keewatin is by tug and barge. As technologies get better and as we move forward we realize now that it is cheaper and more efficient to go through the offshore tanker route very much in the same way that we deliver goods before we used the bombardiers and the biplanes, et cetera. We have moved on and I see that in a similar light. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Ningark.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Supplementary to the same honourable Minister. Obviously we have not done any research in the area. Mr. Speaker, will the Minister delay the project until such time that full research is done by the government?

Mr. Arlooktoo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The answer is no. As I said before the government, the department and myself feel that we have more than enough information and evidence that there will be significant savings to the Government of the Northwest Territories, the government of Nunavut and the people of the Keewatin especially. This project has to and will go ahead. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Oral questions. Mr. Steen.

The Minister of Public Works and Services, Mr. Arlooktoo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe it is before the sealift delivery season in 1999.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Steen.

Mr. Arlooktoo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the government responsible for the entire Northwest Territories, it is important to remember we are still dealing with the whole of the Northwest Territories. This is one area we have been working on for a long time, the improvement of sealift, the improvement of the fuel delivery in the entire eastern Arctic. We recently completed the signing of a large contract with NTCL for the eastern Arctic for last year and this is part of the ongoing improvements we are making to how we deliver fuel in the eastern Arctic.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Steen.

Mr. Arlooktoo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do not have the information in front of me of what consultation has taken place with the Interim Commissioner, but this is certainly one of the issues because it is a contract that goes beyond division that it will ultimately have involvement of the Interim Commissioner.

Thank you. Final supplementary, Mr. Steen.

Mr. Arlooktoo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Certainly we will be communicating with the Interim Commissioner our plans to seek his support. What we have to remember is, what this project means is a savings of $65 to $100 million for the people of the region and of the Nunavut government over the next 20 years. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Mr. O'Brien.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is also to the Minister responsible for Public Works and Services in reference to the fuel resupply issue. I heard the Minister state that the answer was no, and he would not give consideration to delaying this project. Mr. Speaker, that seems to be the corner stone of this government over the last number of months, which is the lack of consultation, and the lack of listening to people. My question to the Minister is, is the Minister aware that the Keewatin Chamber of Commerce, this is not just an Arviat issue, includes all of the communities in the Keewatin? Is the Minister aware that the Keewatin Chamber of Commerce, the mayors of Arviat, Baker Lake, Cambridge Bay, Tuktoyaktuk have stated very clearly they are concerned about this project and that it should be delayed until all the details and information are provided? Thank you.

The Minister of Public Works and Services, Mr. Arlooktoo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have received copies of the correspondence by some of the individuals whom the Member mentioned. Yes, I have seen the correspondence. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. O'Brien.

Mr. Speaker, the issue of the resupply has been talked about for quite some time now. The report the committee which I chaired, indicated that they did state we could work toward direct resupply, providing certain conditions were addressed and met. Mr. Speaker, I am convinced these conditions have not been met. I would once again ask the Minister if he could assure the people of the Keewatin there is no risk to the environment or to sea life if this project were to move forward? Thank you.

Mr. Arlooktoo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe it is important to keep pointing out that we are speaking of more than significant savings to the region, businesses, government and to the citizens of Nunavut and ultimately to the Canadian tax payer of $100 million over 20 years. That to me as Minister of this government and one who has great interest in the future government of Nunavut, is something that is very important which grabs me immediately. As far as I am

concerned the other issues are details that can be worked out and that we are working on them.

There are a couple of issues that have been brought up on the environmental side. One is on the issue of Char River site that the Member spoke of yesterday. I want to reassure the residents of Arviat, there is no way as Minister of Public Works and Services, as an outdoor person and a fisherman myself, that I would do anything to risk or to destroy Char River. So that is something that I am going to be talking about to the community, the issue of other possible environmental damage. The only thing that we can do is to minimize the risks. The way that the fuel will be delivered to the Keewatin region is the same way that fuel is delivered to the rest of the eastern Arctic. Fuel is delivered by sea now through the barges. This is just a different way. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. O'Brien.