Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Good Morning. Mr. Speaker, as the only jurisdiction in the country that has a majority of aboriginal people, the NWT is in a unique position to provide leadership in developing school curricula that reflects aboriginal perspective. Education, Culture and Employment staff have been providing this leadership in developing a social study curriculum under the Western Canadian Protocol. Under this agreement, ECE staff are working with departments responsible for education in the four western provinces and the Yukon to develop common school curricula.

The Northwest Territories has strongly promoted the involvement of aboriginal people in developing the social study's curriculum and in ensuring that aboriginal perspective is included. As a result of the NWT's efforts and with the agreement of the other jurisdictions, aboriginal staff from the two territories and four western provinces took part in a recent meeting of the social studies working group in Edmonton. Aboriginal staff are now part of the team designing the document which will provide a foundation for the social studies project. The participation of aboriginal people in this kind of curriculum project signals a change in the way curriculum is written in our country.

The social studies curriculum will reflect issues which have become important across the NWT and Canada. A few of the major issues are: the protection and promotion of cultural identity, the development of a more truly representative and accurate history of Canada and citizenship and Canadian unity. The NWT delegation took a collaborative approach involving aboriginal, Francophone and English language representatives to develop an NWT perspective on these issues. This position was presented at the recent meetings in Edmonton. This is an exciting opportunity for the NWT to lead the country in curriculum development that is appropriate for all learners. We see particular promise in these developments for aboriginal learners, whose rich history and culture will be a valuable addition to the curriculum delivered in Canadian schools. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

--Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the creation of a Protected Areas Strategy for the Northwest Territories (NWT) is one of the priorities of this government. Once the strategy is in place, it will provide a framework for the overall development and management of a system of protected areas in the NWT.

Much work has been done in developing information on protected areas issues for community groups and the general public. A quarterly newsletter keeps interested parties up-to-date on the development of the strategy. It also highlights the participation of various regions of the NWT and the roles different government departments can play.

Two other publications, which I will table later today, provide information on the various eco-zones of the north. This system of land classification is used across Canada and will help contribute to the framework for a system of protected areas. Entitled Naturally North, one publication focuses on the western Northwest Territories and the other on Nunavut. These booklets define the natural regions by describing the plants, animals and landscapes that make up each of the seven eco-zones in the Western Territory and the six eco-zones in Nunavut.

The Nunavut edition is available in Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun. These publications will be distributed throughout the NWT to encourage participation in this important initiative. Thank you.

--Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, before the House recesses, I would like to take the opportunity to recognize one of my constituents, Cindy Caudron, who was recently appointed to the National Parole Board. I would like to extend my congratulations to Cindy and wish her every success with her new appointment. Cindy, her mother Doris and one of her older sisters have all been social workers in my riding of Hay River. Another sister is a social worker in Fort Smith. Mr. Speaker, Cindy and her family have displayed a commitment to social work in the north.

Cindy is a long-time northerner and has been a resident of Hay River since 1969. She attended school in Hay River and completed her post secondary education at Arctic College and the Nechi Institute outside of Edmonton. The curriculum at the Nechi Institute combines community addictions, counselling services, suicide intervention and organizational development with an aboriginal cultural perspective.

After obtaining her social work diploma, Cindy was assigned to the community of Fort Providence. It was here where she came to the attention of the National Parole Board. Cindy had developed a unique parole system incorporating the concept of community empowerment in the parole process. This innovative model is now in use in many other communities in Canada. Cindy represents the Northwest Territories, the Yukon Territory, Saskatchewan and Alberta on the National Parole Board. Although the parole board is headquartered in Saskatchewan, Cindy chooses to remain and fulfil, as much as possible, her board obligations from her home town community of Hay River. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

--Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, tomorrow we should conclude the 1998-99 budget. This will be the last joint budget of this territorial Assembly. Mr. Speaker, of late, we have been consumed and I think somewhat diverted by some of the tempests that have swirled about in this Legislative tea pot. It has detracted a lot from the good work we have

accomplished in the last three years. We have gone from a $150 million deficit to ending up this year with a surplus. That is good work on our part. There were a lot of hard work and decisions that were made by everybody, a lot of restructuring and other activity that had to take place to accomplish this. We could not have done it if we had not worked as an Assembly. Mr. Speaker, this is the last major initiative, in my opinion, of this Assembly. From here on in we are going to tend to operate as eastern and western Caucuses getting ready for division. I see the focus now for myself, and I think, for western MLAs for nailing down adequate formula financing arrangements with the federal government and to do the strategic planning that is going to be necessary for us as a Western Territory to be ready and up and running smoothly April 1, 1999. As we labour these next long days ahead of us until tomorrow night, we should not forget that we have done good work here and we are leaving the budget in a lot better shape than when we first found it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

--Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I issued a constituency newsletter recently and in it I had a statement about the Workers' Compensation Board's YMIR, or Years Maximum Insurable Earnings. Members will recall that last fall we had legislation to change the YMIR from $49,000 to $52,000. In my newsletter I stated that an injured worker could collect up to $52,000 per year. I received some feedback on that statement from several people and it appears the true picture of the YMIR needs some explanation. The most an injured worker can collect is 90 percent of the net of $52,000 after deductions of such items as CPP, UIC and income tax. For example, a typical northern worker who earned $52,000 or up, would see deductions of about $17,000 for a net pay total of about $34,000. The YMIR would be 90 percent of that $34,000. In fact, even the same worker earning $90,000 could only collect on a base of $52,000 less the deductions of UIC, CPP, income tax, et cetera and would only end up with about $34,000 or $31,000, about one third of his previous pay.

Many people up here in the north earn great high incomes. Should they become injured and go on compensation with a 100 percent disability, their standard of living would plummet dramatically. The point I am trying to make, Mr. Speaker, people should understand exactly what it is that they can expect and my statement today is to give people a sense of what the actual coverage is. Workers and especially employers here in the north need to be informed about this. Hopefully, later today during question period I can ask the Minister responsible some questions on this.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today with a heavy heart and a lot of stress which I have been under during the last week for the community of Fort McPherson which had to face a tragic death that was headline news in some newspapers in regard to a murder that took place. Along with that, we also lost a very respected elder. On Saturday, there was a passing of a young lady who was in the long-term care unit in Inuvik. Within the last week, we have lost three people in the community of Fort McPherson.

The reason I stand here today with a heavy heart is because, as an elected leader, I came to this House hoping to make a change and make life better for the people I represent. I have passed many motions in this House. I have made many long, drawn out speeches in regard to the Tl'oondih Healing Program and the help it did for the few individuals who had the opportunity of taking it. I believe without that facility, I see a real increase in the number of crimes and violent deaths occurring in my community.

Since I was elected, Mr. Speaker, I have had to deal with four violent deaths in my riding, all alcohol related. It is a tragedy, especially when a young life is being taken. The thing that upsets me the most, Mr. Speaker, is that I have passed motions in this House and in committee of the whole. I have made several statements in this House in regard to the alcohol and drug problems we see in our communities and health problems we see in the lives of aboriginal people in aboriginal communities. The cycle that we find our young people in is, where they are stuck in institutions, such as jails, young offenders' facilities and also group homes, they take the problem from the community and they allow the problem to go back home. These two young individuals who were involved in the incident in Fort McPherson were stuck in that cycle of life where they were stuck in institutions ever since they were young, 12, 13 year-old children. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues. We have to break that cycle as leaders. I thought coming to this House, I was going to improve the life of the people in the communities I represent and not have to hear about a young friend of mine being buried at age 33, a young man who was a member of our band council, was involved in the community and was the radio operator at the airport, to see this young man on Friday and hear that he passed away on Sunday.

I ask for all of your support here today and the people across the north to hear this message: when are we going to change the lives of those people in the communities when it comes to alcohol and drugs which affect everybody in the community? We cannot continue to stand up and make statements every time an incident happens. We have to find a way to prevent these things from happening in our communities. I ask all my colleagues here today and the people out there in the other communities, we all have to work together to resolve this issue. It has affected me greatly in regard to issues I have been raising for the last three years and now have to stand up in this House and make this statement again.

Please, help those people that need the help the most, those people who are desperate, those people who are without jobs, without any hope in the communities of going anywhere because they are unemployed. They are on welfare. There is no hope of jobs being developed out there and they look at all the younger people whom we are putting through our school systems. What opportunity do we have to get a better life for them if there are no economic opportunities in our communities? We have to look at the communities as a part of an overall community of the Northwest Territories. We cannot look at one area where oh, there are diamonds in the ground, so let us go great guns over there. There is oil in the Beaufort; let us go crazy over there. Everything comes down to dollars and cents in this world, but what is the value of one person's life. With that, please, think about the people in those communities. Thank you.

--Applause