Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to address a concern of the recently formed community services board. As you may recall, the community services board was established as a result of our community empowerment initiative. The board will enable the Dogrib Treaty 11 Communities to work together to govern education, health and social services. The board will give the Dogrib people an opportunity to identify their own priorities and integrate the delivery of services in communities in a manner which reflects Dogrib culture and traditions. Mr. Speaker, this board was formed on May 22, 1997, with the territorial government and the Dogrib Treaty 11 Chiefs signing the agreement, which was pursuant to the Territorial Hospital Insurance Act. We all felt that this would be the start of a new and different approach to serving our people. We thought it would give us the legal ability to integrate programs and to set priorities among programs. However, this is not the case. We need to draft legislation specifically for the CSB. Mr. Speaker, I currently have draft legislation that I am preparing to bring to this House as a Private Members Bill. However, after some thought and advisement I have decided to wait and see what the Departments of Education, Culture and Employment and Health and Social Services are doing to ensure this board will be able to do what it was originally intended to provide. Mr. Speaker, I will, later on today, be asking the departments about this in order to facilitate this legislation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
James Rabesca on Member's Statement 486-13(5): Dogrib Community Service Board
In the Legislative Assembly on June 2nd, 1998. See this statement in context.
Member's Statement 486-13(5): Dogrib Community Service Board
Item 3: Members' Statements
June 1st, 1998
Page 1547
James Rabesca North Slave
See context to find out what was said next.