With regret to similar situations, Mr. Speaker, which have taken place in the Akaitcho Territory in 2002 that included a DIAND official, the penalties imposed or lack thereof, this type of hunting practice will only worsen and does not reflect traditional values which we are all trying to teach our children.

When violators know that our justice system does not effectively deal with infractions and people know they can get away with this type of practice, it will only continue. If a judgment had been made that was deemed fair and just, and a message to the public was made that this practice was totally unacceptable no matter who you are and who you work for, the number of incidents would be minimized and people would think twice about wasting meat or breaking traditional laws.

Mr. Speaker, I realize that it is one thing to get charged for such disrespect for wildlife through our justice system, but people have to get caught in order for our justice system to deal with the infractions. This increased pressure on our renewable resource officers to ensure proper monitoring and practices are adhered to by the public is something that this government should support by way of increasing the number of officers to carry out this function on a 24-hour basis. The migration of caribou being close to the city is something that does not happen annually or for extended periods, so the extra workload or costs associated with ensuring public safety for motorists and residents along the Ingraham Trail should not be jeopardized by government budget restraints. Mr. Speaker, I will be asking the Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development about this issue during the question period later today. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Mr. Speaker, a while ago, the Minister of Health and Social Services, the Honourable J. Michael Miltenberger, issued a challenge to me; the challenge to be smoke free. I am pleased to report that, today, I accept his challenge. At noon here in the Great Hall, I joined my fellow colleague, Norman Yakeleya, the

Member for Sahtu, and together we made a public commitment to quit smoking.

---Applause

Now, the challenge to be smoke-free is not primarily about getting people to quit smoking. It is about making sure that young people never start in the first place. If I am successful at quitting for life, I know that I will benefit and so I hope I am successful. But it is not only for myself that I am doing this. As a former smoker, I am well aware that smoking affects everyone who comes in contact with it. One of the biggest reasons that young people take up smoking to begin with is that they see other people around them smoking; not only their peers but older people too, parents and role models. Children copy what they see their parents doing, but I am hoping this influence can work two ways. By setting a good example when I am quitting myself, I hope to have a positive influence on other people around me, particularly on youth. Already, I know my decision to quit has encouraged others to try and achieve the same thing.

Smoking is a serious problem in the North. Our rates of tobacco use are twice what they are in other parts of the country. By the time NWT youth reach 15 years of age, 42 percent of them smoke. It is these young people who really need to hear the message.

To that end, part of the commitment I made today is to encourage youth in my riding to be smoke-free. I have accepted a challenge from Mr. Yakeleya to see which of our constituencies can get the most youth to commit to being smoke-free. I will be contacting schools in our respective ridings to encourage all students to join the challenge. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my Member's statement.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, honourable colleagues. So let me make one more commitment today. I commit myself to inform this House of the results of the challenge that Mr. Yakeleya and I have taken. I promise to return with the statistics on the number of young people who have taken up the challenge with us. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Good luck with that, both in giving up the habit and being a role model for young people. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this afternoon, I also made a decision along with the honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche, to do the right thing not only for ourselves; we made this commitment for our people in our regions. I made the choice to stop continuous smoking. I have taken the Minister of Health and Social Services' challenge to be smoke-free. That is almost one year ago he gave me that challenge. It has taken me a long time to come to that challenge. The decision to look at my life and the impact of cigarettes on the younger people greatly disturbed me, Mr. Speaker. However, the power of my addiction to the nicotine which is in the cigarette has always overridden my logical thinking of putting the cigarette away. It was a common statement that I would quit tomorrow, it was not hurting anybody, or it was nobody else's business.

So, Mr. Speaker, enough is enough. It is time to walk the walk and butt out for the rest of our lives. Our children, our youth, deserve a chance to live a good strong life away from the harmful addictions.

Mr. Speaker, the 2003 school tobacco survey similarly reports that 39 percent of young people between the ages of 10 and 17 years smoke in small communities like those in the Sahtu. A pack of cigarettes cost about $15 in the Sahtu. However, although smoking is very expensive, it is more than that. Mr. Speaker, a letter will be sent out also to the schools in the Sahtu to challenge the school children not to smoke at all, or to give up smoking, to be smoke-free, and also a chance to be out there to all the constituents in the Sahtu region. I have also taken the challenge of Mr. Menicoche, to challenge his constituency to see which numbers would be the greater in terms of being smoke-free in our region. I love a good challenge. I would also like to report the results in January.

Mr. Speaker, for many years I have looked at cigarettes. One thing that really made a big difference in our life was, the other day when I was driving back from Peace River...

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

---Applause

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

Thank you, Members. Mr. Speaker, I was driving back from Peace River the other day. I have a two-and-a-half-year-old boy. He was colouring Spiderman in the truck. He had the crayon in has hand, Mr. Speaker, and he looked at the crayon and said, I want to smoke, I want to smoke. That really hit. That was really sore. Mr. Menicoche is so right. As leaders, we are role models. There are a huge number of smokers in the small communities. In that sense, Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the Minister for supporting me. I want to thank Mr. Menicoche for taking this challenge with me. Mahsi.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Good luck to your endeavours, as well. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to talk this afternoon too, about cleaning up our act. It is not quite as noble as my colleagues here, but the problem that I am looking at is one that has been around for a long time. That is the legacy that is left over after 60 years of gold mining here in the Yellowknife area. That is the ongoing saga of trying to seek some kind of approval to

the processes by which the Con and the Giant mines are going to be cleaned up.

Mr. Speaker, my other colleagues have spoken of this issue many times in this Assembly and in the past one. We continue to see a process whereby the Miramar Con Mine is undergoing a cleanup operation, but one which has received, unfortunately, far too little public exposure and opportunity for public input.

On the Giant Mine property, Mr. Speaker, at least on the surface cleanup, we are caught in what I understand is a very difficult jurisdictional argument between our government and the federal government over who has responsibility and liability for the surface cleanup of this very large and really unfortunate situation. So, Mr. Speaker, I am going to draw attention to that again. We really, in this day and age, should not be ignoring this or leaving it on the back burner. It is probably tempting in an economy where there is so much other resource development going on, that we cannot lose sight of the fact that we have a responsibility to ourselves, to our children, and to the environment to do the right thing and clean up the mistakes of yesterday. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to speak again about the low morale at the North Slave Correctional Centre. Mr. Speaker, a veteran of 20 plus years at the correctional services contacted me over the weekend to tell me what so many others have told me already. That is that, in all this time at the North Slave Correction Centre, he can honestly say that he has never seen anything so bad in terms of low morale, sick leave abuse, forced overtime, problematic hiring practices, lack of support, inmate-staff confrontations, and assaults and micromanaging. Mr. Speaker, it also appears that the vacancy rate of seven to 10 positions that the Minister gave in this House does not really tell the whole story. It is not just about the positions on paper, but actual bodies that are required in the facility.

Mr. Speaker, I understand that there are approximately 35 casual employees who are now filling in for vacancies of various capacities. All the case management teams are acting; therefore, they are covered off with casuals. There are many positions still not filled, including the four unit supervisors, one shift supervisor, cooks, nurses, and many correctional officers.

Approximately 20 to 30 staff have resigned in the last 10 months and, ironically, none of them have been asked to give exit interviews. This is one of the concerns to me as well, Mr. Speaker, because, in our briefing about the internal review that is going on, there seems to be very little emphasis on talking to those who are either let go or who resigned.

Mr. Speaker, it is also my information that the new facility requires 14 officers on a shift as opposed to only nine or 10 that were required in the old facility, but there have been no new increase in the staffing complement. Mr. Speaker, it is my understanding that even though the building is new, it actually requires more labour. It is much more labour-intensive. The Minister should consider revisiting the staffing complement to make sure that there are enough people to do the job. Also, another problem is that even though the vacancy might not show as being high, a lot of positions on paper, the bodies are not there because they have been seconded or they are acting in other positions. They are on some kind of leave, they are on special leave, transfer assignments. So the Minister needs to really listen. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The Member is seeking unanimous consent to conclude her statement. Are there any nays? There are no nays. You may conclude your statement, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues. Mr. Speaker, I want to tell the Minister and the senior management that of the people who are talking to us, many of them I consider to be the kind of people that we call the salt of the earth. I don't just accept whatever everybody tells me. These are the people who have lived here for a long time; 26 or 30 years. They have worked in the correctional system. They know what they are talking about. I think it will do the Minister and the management a lot of good to listen to what is being said and try to enhance or improve the situation that they are going through. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, October has been designated as National Community Living Awareness Month. This is an extremely important campaign for the residents of the Northwest Territories as it encompasses national and local community living organizations working together to provide safe and healthy communities for families, adults and children with disabilities. Many of us take for granted everyday experiences like accessing local facilities, sending our children to neighbourhood schools and having the opportunity to contribute to our communities through work or volunteer activities. However, Mr. Speaker, it is important to appreciate that there are people living in our communities who do not have the luxury of taking these things for granted. People living with disabilities are as determined as anyone else to be productive citizens and deserve to be treated as such.

Mr. Speaker, we are the losers when we fail to be inclusive in our schools, workplaces, organizations and communities. We can all take responsibility for ensuring people living with disabilities are protected from discrimination, have access to any support they need, participate in community life; and, most important, are made to feel welcome and valued. This month is a great opportunity to show appreciation for the work of volunteers, local, community and national organizations and people living with disabilities, who offer their skills and talents to our communities, schools and families.

While speaking on the subject of assisting people in need, I would like to take this opportunity to pay a special tribute and extend my thanks to Hay River resident Lillian Crook who has devoted time to bring together interested parties in an effort to form a community living program in the community of Hay River. This program is in the beginning stages; however, will be a great benefit to many people who have difficulties that prevent them from living without assistance. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Item 3, Members' statements. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The Minister of Health and Social Services, the Honourable Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Department of Health and Social Services of the Government of the Northwest Territories has a very competitive and, I think, progressive pay and benefits package for nurses. We see it as a very positive step, all the work that has gone on in the last number of years, the work with the nursing association and the work with the unions, the work with the government, to come up with a fair remuneration package. So the Member and I have a different point of view on the value and the benefits of that particular issue. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am just wondering, through you to the Minister, how, under the definition that I have been supplied by the department, does a float nurse, who is required to have the skills, knowledge and ability to work in various specialty areas, not earn as much as a nurse in a specialty area. That does not make sense to me, Mr. Speaker. I am just wondering if the Minister had an answer for that. Thank you.