Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Braden.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I, too, want to acknowledge Saturday's news from our partners in the federal government, Mr. Speaker. A veritable hurricane, as Eastern Canada has experienced with the weather, of investment and spending here in the NWT and across the North, Mr. Speaker. We've seen $55 million going to each of our sister territories, the Yukon and Nunavut; $85 million being invested in aboriginal training across Canada; here in the NWT, of course, $65 million for roads, $15 million for municipalities, and I couldn't catch up with some of the other good news that I believe was announced in Rankin Inlet yesterday about the expansion of the telecommunications and the broadband system on a pan-territorial basis. So this is great news.

I would also like to acknowledge the work of Cabinet. Premier Kakfwi's message, I was convinced early on, was the right one and that I was very pleased to see our Ministers, along with the Premier, stick with a consistent message. It was taken up by mayors and chiefs, by a business coalition and by my colleagues here. Just about all of us in the room took our turn going to Ottawa, walking the hallways and the corridors there to impress our message upon the federal government.

Quite frankly, Mr. Speaker, after some two years of doing this and really getting only a trickle of response, I was ready to give up on our message. But my faith, indeed, has been restored.

I would turn to one other aspect of this which, as Mr. Handley pointed out, and Ms. Lee has also indicated, when we put our collective hearts and minds and backs into something that we all believe in, Mr. Speaker, we're going to get results. Can we do the same thing with other equally significant and important things on our agenda, Mr. Speaker, like family violence, like housing, like the social conditions that need so much attention? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Hay River North, Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to address an issue that is of great concern to the residents of Hay River; that being the recent announcement of the location of the new Human Rights Commission office.

Mr. Speaker, the Board of Management of the Legislative Assembly has decided to place the Human Rights Commission office in Yellowknife, much to the chagrin of other communities. Earlier this year, Mr. Speaker, the Board of Management wrote to Members asking them to put forward appropriate locations for this new commission. The criteria was that there was to be professional office space available, good transportation facilities, in-town access to office support services, and computer banking and accounting services readily available in the potential community. At that time, Mr. Speaker, I wrote a letter to the Board of Management emphatically stating that Hay River would be an ideal location for the new commission.

Mr. Speaker, the report prepared for the implementation of the Human Rights Act stated that the office should be placed in a regional centre. Again, I fully believe that Hay River was an ideal location.

Mr. Speaker, the announcement that Yellowknife was chosen to be the best location appears to have been a preordained decision. I do believe they put the cart before the horse on this one, Mr. Speaker. I believe that the assumptions made in this regard were wrong.

Mr. Speaker, I did speak to an owner of an ideal office space in Hay River, and he informed me that DPW was way off base when they reached their conclusion as to the appropriate location. Mr. Speaker, DPW stated that this particular office space in Hay River would not be up to spec as far as being wheelchair accessible within the timeframe. Mr. Speaker, the landlord stated that it would have taken no more than 60 days to have the office space up to spec, which was well within the aforementioned timeframe.

Mr. Speaker, I don't believe the information and arguments put forward by the Board of Management justifies the decision to assign the Human Rights Commission office to Yellowknife. Mr. Speaker, had the Human Rights Commission office been placed in Hay River, I do believe staffing would not have been an issue for this new commission, and there would have been an upheaval to no one. Mr. Speaker, this would have been a perfect opportunity for this government to follow through on their commitment to empower communities.

Mr. Speaker, in conclusion, I would just like to state that it appears that the vacuum that I have brought up on many occasions in this House has successfully sucked up another one for Yellowknife. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Delorey. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as we all know, the most important fabric of our communities is our community family units. We have large aboriginal families, we have grandparents, great-grandparents, and we go back, in some communities, over 150 years. Yet, Mr. Speaker, it's those small aboriginal First Nations communities that continue to face the circumstances of children being taken away.

We saw the symposium that was in the hallway with regard to the hostels across Canada. Yet, Mr. Speaker, we have a practice in this government with regard to apprehending children from our communities, especially in the communities I represent.

I've raised this question time and time again with the Minister, and every time I request information, one thing that jumps out at me is the number of children that are continuing to be in care. Mr. Speaker, information I received from the Minister on March 31, 2003, stated there were 43 children in the Mackenzie Delta receiving care under protection services. Mr. Speaker, one thing that alarms me is the latest statistics that I received; from August 31, 2003, that number has increased from the 43 in May to, now, 56 children.

Mr. Speaker, the thing that scares me the most is the number of children that are in permanent custody. We have over 17 children out of the 56 who are classified permanent custody, which is technically short for Lords of the State. Those children will now find themselves being institutionalized for well into their adult lives, as we've seen through the hostel systems, the corrections systems, and First Nations children and people find themselves being institutionalized in a system we call social justice.

Mr. Speaker, I have asked the Minister time and time again to establish a plan of care committee with the communities I represent, especially working in the community of Fort McPherson. The community has approached the Minister on this matter, to establish such a committee to ensure that we have a mechanism to deal with these matters in our communities and not have someone from outside deal with them.

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

Thank you. The honourable Member is seeking unanimous consent to conclude his Member's statement. Are there any nays? There are no nays. You may conclude your statement, Mr. Krutko.

Mr. Speaker, I have seen what has happened through the federal justice system with regard to the Youth Justice Act, which we had to find alternate means of sentencing for youth criminal offences than strictly jail. I feel that this government has to do more than strictly apprehend children. We have to find alternatives to apprehension.

Mr. Speaker, the most important part of life is to ensure that our families are healthy, our children go along and watch their parents grow old, and also for our children to do good in life. But by taking our children away from our communities, away from their families, and most importantly being institutionalized, is not going to achieve that goal.

With that, Mr. Speaker, I will be asking the Minister of Health and Social Services questions on this matter later. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Each year the Canadian Association of Firefighters, or CAFC, recognizes men and women who promote the fire services in their communities. During the annual conference held in late September in Ottawa, Fire Rescue Canada selected a number of fire chiefs that represent the fire services industry in Canada.

This year the Award of Excellence in the Volunteer Fire Department category was presented to Mr. Al German, who is a full-time fire chief of the Inuvik volunteer firefighters department. Mr. German has been involved with the fire service for 18 years and has held the position of fire chief in Inuvik for approximately seven years. He has been instrumental in the development of the Inuvik regional fire training school which now boasts a burn house, a smoke house, tank farm, in-house structural rescue facility and vehicle extrication pits.

As current president the NWT Fire Chiefs Association and provincial/territorial director to the CAFC, he is also instrumental in securing certified fire service training for all communities within the NWT. I hope Members will join me in congratulating him on his award. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for North Slave, Mr. Lafferty.

Thank you. The honourable Member is seeking unanimous consent to conclude his Member's statement. Are there any nays? There are no nays. You may conclude your statement.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Yellowknife South, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's always difficult to follow Mr. Lafferty, but I would like today, if I could, to recognize, like a number of my colleagues have, Family Violence Awareness Week. I think it's important to do so. I would also like to recognize the work of the Status of Women Council and the Coalition Against Family Violence for getting us kicked off over the lunch hour today. It's important, I think, Mr. Speaker, for us to ensure that this remains the highest priority and we continue to give this our fullest attention in order to do what we can to combat family violence.

Mr. Speaker, the Minister today talked about the almost 700 --that's an amazing, staggering statistic, Mr. Speaker -- women and children who stayed in shelters in the past year. What he didn't mention was that many more were turned away because the shelters were full.

I think it's taken us some time, but legislatively we're now starting to make the shift. We're making a philosophical shift, we're recognizing that maybe it should be the abusers who are removed from the homes, Mr. Speaker, not the victims, not the women and children who have to uproot their lives and many times leave their community. This is important; it's an important shift for us to make and I'm happy to say that we're doing that.

I'd like to remind my colleagues that we, as a group, endorsed a proclamation in 2001 naming Family Violence Awareness Week an official week, and there are a couple of "whereas" clauses I'd like to remind my colleagues and remind the public of.

Mr. Speaker, whereas violence and other forms of abuse can cause serious problems for many individuals, families and communities;

And whereas all levels of government need to work together with community groups to increase awareness of violence and support healthy family and community life;

Whereas Family Violence Awareness Week is a time to talk honestly about how family violence harms our families and our communities;

And whereas community leaders, families and individuals wish to encourage those who are healing from violence and to speak out against violence.

Mr. Speaker, it made sense to us then, it makes sense to us now. We can't continue to sweep Family Violence Awareness Week under the carpet. It's important that we carry forward this momentum into the life of the next Assembly, and continue to ensure that this is our highest priority in dealing and coping with family violence. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Nitah.

Mahsi, Mr. Nitah. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Kakfwi. Indeed, the condolences of the House go to the Yukon family. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. Allen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to make my statement to congratulate all those members of the Inuvik Native Band and the Nihtat Gwich'in Council who were officially sworn into office on October 1st of this year.

The role of the Inuvik Native Band and the Nihtat Gwich'in Council have supported and worked on behalf of and for many of my constituents in Inuvik Twin Lakes.

Mr. Speaker, today it gives me enormous pleasure to congratulate Mr. Richard Nerysoo as the chief of the Inuvik Native Band. Councillors who will serve under his leadership are: Ruth Goose; Herbert Blake, Jr.; Dwayne Debastien; Elizabeth Hansen; Linda McLeod Lennie; Robert Charlie; and, Melba Mitchell.

Serving as elected members of the Nihtat Gwich'in Council are: Ruth Goose; Herbert Blake, Jr.; Richard Nerysoo; Tom Wright; Elizabeth Hansen; Dwayne Debastien; Denise Kurszewski; and, Linda McLeod Lennie.

Mr. Speaker, it's important that I recognize the outgoing chief, Chief James Firth, for his many years of dedication and commitment to the political, economic and social changes that affect our people in the Inuvik region. I had the privilege of serving under Mr. Firth's leadership, so I am very familiar with his sincere approach to the path toward change.

Mr. Speaker, I look forward to a continued working relationship with the newly-elected chief and council and the council of the Nihtat Gwich'in. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause