Good afternoon.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, monitoring and reducing the rate of cancer among northerners is one of the department's many important responsibilities. I am happy to announce the department recently received international recognition for its work in one area of cancer monitoring. Along with the screening and health promotion programs, the NWT Cancer Registry is an important tool in our efforts to reduce the rate of cancer among northerners. The registry collects data on all cancer cases in the Northwest Territories. By analyzing this data, we can identify trends and patterns of cancer incidents in the NWT. This information lets us see where our efforts are succeeding and helps us predict where more work might be needed. As a result, we are able to target our programs and our resources more effectively.

Of course, for our efforts of cancer control to be effective, we need to be sure that the information we collect is accurate and complete. The North American Association of Central Cancer Registries, or NAACCR, is an international organization. It has established standards for measuring the quality, completeness and timeliness of data collected by cancer registries across North America.

Mr. Speaker, the Department of Health and Social Services recently submitted data from the NWT Cancer Registry to NAACCR for a confidential evaluation. I am pleased to report that the information submitted by the department exceeded the highest standards set by NAACCR, indicating that the information in the NWT Cancer Registry is of uniformly high quality. At an award's luncheon held in Vancouver last month, the department was presented with a certificate recognizing our achievement of the NAACCR gold level certification status.

Ministers' statements. Item 3, Members' statements. Mr. O'Brien.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this year the community of Arviat is proud to have nine of their high school students participating in another graduating ceremony which will take place tomorrow afternoon. Mr. Speaker, the names of students being honoured tomorrow are: Martina Anoee, Tony Uluadluak, John Main, Joe Savikataaq, Florence Suluk, Mike Angalik, Jonathan Gibbons, Larry Kablutsiak, Leon Pameok. I should mention, Mr. Speaker, that Ms. Martina Anoee will also be the school's honorary graduate. We are all very proud of her. Thanks to them and the previous graduates, Arviat is able to offer eager, educated young adults who are capable of filling the necessary jobs that are coming forward through Nunavut. I would like to advise you and my colleagues, I will be absent from the House tomorrow in order to attend the graduation. Thank you.

Members' statements, Mr. Ningark.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to acknowledge and recognize the Association of Municipalities which will be meeting in Hay River this weekend. It shows how important the body is to local government when you have Members here who serve on the administrative site. We have Mr. Steen who serves as an administrator in his community. Mr. Todd, at one time, served as an administrator. We have Mr. Ng who serves as an administrator and myself, yours truly. We have the Clerk of the Legislature who works for the local government in the Kitikmeot area. This shows how important the municipal local government is, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the local or community government is the closest body to a community. It ensures the municipal services are delivered in a community. It speaks for the community given many of the

government programs and services being transferred to communities, it may be today, as we speak, one of the biggest employers in the NWT at the community level. I just want to indicate to the association and my colleagues that I will not be able to attend this very important meeting. In the essence, I would like to wish them every success. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. Members' statements. Mr. Evaloarjuk.

(Translation) Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak about Igloolik Isuma Production Inc. Zacharias Kunuk, Paul Apak, Pauloosie Qulitalik and Norman Cohn founded this production company in 1998. Isuma is best known for its widely seen TV drama series, Nunavut, programs, recreating traditional life on the land in 1945. In 1996 Isuma was chosen Nunavut Business of the Year.

This Isuma Production Company was working on an important film called Atanajua, which is Canada's first movie produced, written, directed and acting done by Inuit, before they were forced to shut down due to lack of funds. Mr. Speaker, this year, sixty members of the Inuit cast and crew was laid off due to Telefilm's disregard for this film. The production has ended. I feel that this film would be beneficial to many people. This film portrays the way life was for the Inuit, telling our stories in our own voices for the first time on national TV, as told by Mr. Kunuk. Through the entire duration of this film, they have motivated young people to respect their culture and their elders preserving Inuit culture for future generations. Mr. Speaker, I will be asking questions to the Minister for Education, Culture and Employment about this at the appropriate time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. (Translation ends)

Thank you. Members' statements. Mr. Barnabas.

(Translation) Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the students who will be graduating in June: Susan Akikuluk, John Aola, Chris Kilabuk, Cindy Kilabuk and June Shappa. These students will be graduating in June and I would like to thank their parents. I will not be able to be in Arctic Bay for the graduation of these students. They have the full support from their parents to complete their education and I wish them the very best in the future to get good employment. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. (Translation ends)

Members' statements. Mr. Enuaraq.

(Translation) Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will be speaking about on May 18th in Clyde River (Translation interrupted). (Translation) They had festivities for a fishing derby. I will be naming the people who had won in the derby. Levi Illingayuk acquired a 73 centimetre fish; second place was Limekie Palluq, 65 centimetres; third place, David Joamie, 63 centimetres; fourth place, John Barry Angutikjuak, 58 centimetres and also the in fifth place, David Joamie, 57.5 centimetres. Martha Tigullaraq was also a contestant for the fishing derby for the last long weekend. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. (Translation ends)

Thank you. Members' statements. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you. Members' statements. Mr. Steen.

Thank you. Members' statements. Mr. Erasmus.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to speak about the long distance service in the Northwest Territories. The CRTC recently ruled that they are going to open long distance services to competition here in the north which will open it up to companies like Sprint and AT&T who have been waiting awhile to open competition here. The GNWT has supported and asked for this to happen as well, as long as everyone is able to get affordable phone services. In order to do this, the GNWT has asked that the CRTC establish a fund to subsidize small communities so that they can have affordable phone services. Obviously, Sprint and AT&T will not pay one penny toward local services otherwise, but somebody has to pay for local services, Mr. Speaker. Someone has to go out and fix the telephone lines when they get knocked over or something like that. NorthwesTel cannot afford to do all these local services and still compete for long distance rates that Sprint and AT&T are going to be bringing in. This is why I support this initiative that the GNWT is after for the fund. In fact, Mr. Speaker, it would be conceivable that some communities might totally lose services that they have been waiting so long to get. Even this last year, I believe there were a few that finally got telephone services. The CRTC will be holding hearings this summer and I urge people to attend these meetings and to put in written submissions if you cannot attend to support the start up of this fund. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

--Applause

Thank you. Members' statements. Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will leave my prepared statement for today and reply to the honourable Member for Fort Smith. Mr. Speaker, I should say that the facts presented by Mr. Miltenberger from today's statement were disheartening. Mr. Miltenberger's statement was not only incorrect, unfounded, untrue and unfathomable, it was part of the rhetoric that said, Mr. Speaker, we move away from. I will quote from Hansard, Mr. Speaker, what Mr. Miltenberger forgot to mention. Mr. Miltenberger said, Mr. Speaker, in the unedited Hansard that I had said something and I will repeat exactly what I said, Mr. Speaker, from the unedited Hansard of yesterday. "Mr. Speaker, it is time to move past east/west rhetoric and do what is right for all residents east and west." Mr. Speaker, that is what I said yesterday, Mr. Speaker, if Mr. Miltenberger wants to fussify the facts, he should fussify and fortify himself for the reality that residents in Nunavut only want what is fair and what is their fair share, nothing more or nothing less. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

--Applause

Thank you. Members' statements. Mr. Rabesca.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I rise to address the concerns that the community of Rae Lakes sent to me. Rae Lakes, as most remote smaller communities, operates the local airport. For some time now, they have been trying to get the Department of Transportation to address some of the deficiencies that exist within the airport boundaries. Once these are dealt with, the community is requesting to get the airport certified through Transport Canada. Some of the areas of concern include the Atco type trailer used as the terminal building. I understand that this public building does not have running water or washroom facilities. It also has only one exit door which leads to the airplane parking area. This, of course, is an extremely dangerous exit, as all traffic to and from the terminal building must work by any planes that are parked. Fencing around the airstrip is another issue. There are no controls in place to prevent vehicles or people from wandering onto the airstrip or into the parking area for the planes. Again, I think this is very dangerous. The road was built around the airstrip. However, this tote road is too narrow in places and presents a hazard to those using it. Instead of using the road, vehicles have to cross the airstrip. I believe these are valid complaints and seem to me to be contrary to a number of building codes and other regulations regarding safe operations of an airport. However, as I am not a lawyer, I do not know the proper codes. This is my opinion. It is important to ensure safety is the utmost when dealing with the aircraft and the operations of an airport. I hope the department will look into these matters and ensure the community's concerns are properly addressed. I would also like to inform the Minister that later today I will be questioning him on these most important concerns. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

--Applause

Thank you. Members' statements. Mr. Krutko.