Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, as you are probably aware, I am the mover of this motion. Simply put, there have been inequities between regional centres and smaller, predominantly aboriginal communities.
I asked myself why, since the establishment of the Government of the Northwest Territories in 1967 in the Northwest Territories, why do we continue to have the lowest graduation rates? Why do we continue to have the highest crime rates? Why do we continue to have the highest bed time in hospitals? Why do we continue to have the highest unemployment rate? Why do we continue to have the jobs that are lower on the organization chart within government and industry? Why do we continue to have low self-esteem? There is a sense of depression in our communities. Some of our communities are comparable to third world status. Things are improving, but not much, Mr. Chairman.
There are inequities in how capital is allocated. There is formula financing that should be revisited. Why should a community such as Lutselk'e have to wait five years so that their populations could increase to get the kind of facility that they want? That is almost like blackmail from the government perspective.
Everything is based on population. It is a democratic way but in the Northwest Territories, it does not seem fair. There is talk within the government to restructure how capital will be accessed and how capital will be allocated to communities based on people's needs. Investment of assets, protection of assets, when you have a community like Jean Marie River that does not have much, what kind of motivation would the bureaucracy of this government have in allocating capital to that area? The low population that does not necessitate the protection of people, lack of assets of capital in the community does not necessitate the protection of infrastructure.
You look at the political representation here. Although I do not want to get into that, that is something for the sunset clause to look at. You have 33 communities. You have 12 Members of this House that represent three communities.
We have, like I said, an unemployment rate that is high in our communities. We have these unprecedented development and business opportunities, but do we have the human resources to take advantage of that? No. Do we have the financial resources? Even if you do have the financial resources, without the human resources, it is pretty hard to do.
You have people migrating out of our communities into regional centres where there are facilities they could enjoy. Some of our communities are over 100 years old with a lot of rich culture and history behind it. Do we promote those communities as a government? No. Do we protect it? Not really. We do not invest in those communities.
Our education systems in those communities are so bad people are moving out of town to get a better education for their children. The housing conditions and the lack of houses are forcing young parents and young people out of the communities into regional centres where they might get a home.
I am not really interested in haggling over capital acquisitions. I am more interested in seeing how we could address the system. That is, the bureaucracy of the Northwest Territories' government does not recognize the uniqueness of the smaller communities and their unique needs.
I represent two communities, both are very different and they want different things. Sure they want a lot of similar things, but they are unique in a lot of ways in their needs and aspirations. As a Member, I have to represent those aspirations. I represent two chiefs and councils, one settlement council and one Metis council. With my limited resources as an MLA, it is pretty hard to address those. Unfortunately, Mr. Chairman, we have Ministers who represent smaller, predominately aboriginal communities that cannot really speak on issues in the House. Who do those people come to? They come to people like you and me whom they can identify with. In that sense, we represent a lot more than just our constituencies.
The real problem is the system of government that has not been addressed. Since 1967, this government has been here. Yet we have the lowest employment, the highest crime rate, and the highest health problems and social problems. Why is it 90 percent of the recipients of the social programs of this government are people from the smaller communities? Why is that? Why is it that we still have no parks in our communities for kids to play in? Why is it that we have a hard time in allocating resources to establish places where kids could hang out, have a game of pool or something? Why is it that our streets are still dusty and people are sucking in dust on a daily basis during the summer? People complain about dust in their homes. We cannot even control dust control in our communities. The system that the government has does not address those concerns.
I spoke about day cares in question period today. I have been harping on this government for day care facilities in our communities. Yellowknife and Hay River ran out of money for day cares. What happened? One million dollars in the budget to assist in the O and M of day cares, not to the establishment and direction of facilities for day cares.
There are inequities. Bureaucracy does not seem to be fitted or have the desire to address those inequities. As I said, Mr. Chairman, it has been 34 years since the Government of the Northwest Territories has been here, yet our own studies as aboriginal groups are determining that we will end up on the lower level of the organizational charts because of a lack of education.
It is getting worse, Mr. Chairman. The Inuvialuit have just released a study they have done. The graduation rate has dropped by 10 percent in the last 10 years in Inuvik alone and in the Beaufort-Delta alone. I do not know when the last time there was a graduate coming out of my community.
We are still too dependent on social programs. When we have our elected representatives at the community level ask for programs and services or projects from the government, we have to come up with a financial agreement. Some of these communities are so busy managing and reporting on those financial agreements that they sometimes do not have the time to really implement what they started negotiating for. Some of them are dealing with 50 or 60 different financial arrangements.
Our lack of housing is affecting us to a point where we cannot get the human resources in our communities to even address some of these concerns, not to mention the cultural loss, the language loss and the depression associated with those losses.
Do we see tourism in our communities? No. In a lot of our communities, we do not even have hotels to house tourists or feed them. Those are just some of the reasons why I think a special committee that is going to look at rural communities and how the relationship between this government and those communities are, and any changes that need to be done. With that, I thank you, Mr. Chairman.