Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Members' statements. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Villeneuve.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Today I just want to talk about the great elders' facility in Deninu Kue. Currently, there are no elders living in the main building that is designed to accommodate up to four residents or elders. The community is well aware that this facility is

not a long-term care facility, but they do support the options proposed in the review of the memorandum of understanding and the possibility of the reprofiling of a facility to better meet the needs of the community.

Mr. Speaker, the issues brought to the Minister's attention about the proposed uses of the facility are not issues that are specifically related to the need to have the facility full of seniors at all times, but these concerns are just about the management and the authority, or lack thereof, of the community organizations respecting the use of the building. One of the main concerns is the fact that the Housing Corporation that owns the great elders' main building or the facility in Fort Resolution has more say than any other community organization when it comes to what the allowable uses of the facility are and could be. I don't think that the Housing Corporation consults with the Deninu Kue First Nations or Fort Resolution's Metis Nation, the Deninu Community Council or any residents when receiving requests from these organizations and residents alike on possible uses or even temporary ones.

The requests such as having wakes for deceased residents and elders and their relatives held within the main building or perhaps providing temporary shelter to victims of domestic abuse within the community. Also, temporary residents for possibly the homeless or some seniors who are still living at home but are waiting for emergency home repairs. These are just some of the ideas that always seem to fall on deaf ears, Mr. Speaker, when they are brought to the proper authorities to seek permission and gain access to the building, which, in turn, always results in residents becoming frustrated with protocol and with the lack of compassion shown by this government and its officials toward community requests to use the main facility, which is usually empty, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the next Health and Social Services...

Your time for your Member's statement has expired, Mr. Villeneuve.

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

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

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker and colleagues. Mr. Speaker, the next Health and Social Services Authority board meeting will be held in Fort Resolution this Monday on October 23rd. I encourage the Minister to direct board members to provide some assurances that it is working to address these matters and provide timelines, deadlines and recommendations from the two reports that have been drafted since March 2006 that hopefully will address and rectify problems in this area. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Members' statements. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Pokiak.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, for the past two and a half years, I have been talking about the RCMP presence in Sachs Harbour, but today I would like to go through a little different process.

Last night, on CBC North, there was an interview with Corporal Violet Pokiak of "G" Division of Yellowknife here regarding the recruitment of people for RCMP programming in Halifax. I understand Corporal Pokiak will be travelling to all the communities in the Northwest Territories over the next four years, trying to recruit people in the Northwest Territories. I think, on behalf of the RCMP, that is a good process out there that they are working towards. I hope that during the travels of Corporal Pokiak, that she will be able to draw all the young people into the communities and look at the workshop that she's having. I hope that at some certain point they will be able to encourage all the young people that we do need the RCMP aboriginal people in the Northwest Territories and I hope they can take advantage of this process.

Mr. Speaker, I just wanted to recognize that the RCMP and "G" Division are doing a good job in trying to recruit people in the Northwest Territories to go south to try the RCMP Access Program. I wish them very well in their endeavours to recruit these young people .Thank you.

---Applause

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, over the last few months, the GNWT introduced a policy where across the board, with very few exceptions, the GNWT employees cannot bank any more than 75 hours of overtime. Not only that, once an employee has reached that in any fiscal year, they cannot refill it again. Mr. Speaker, this means that most of your overtime, above and beyond that, is paid out in cash. This is a problem, Mr. Speaker, because, believe it or not, money is not everything to our people. They want to have the choice of being able to take the time off instead of getting cash, but the shortage of workers sometimes does not make it possible, Mr. Speaker. For all the positions in the GNWT that are required to perform clawback and travel duty, the bulk of which are in the health care field, this policy has been detrimental to the morale of these employees, Mr. Speaker. The fact that some sections of the Stanton Territorial Hospital, for example, are allowed to bank more than this is a problem as well.

Mr. Speaker, I have been receiving correspondence from the workers who say they feel that they work so hard and they do many hours of overtime and are on call, some by choice and some not by choice. These extra hours of work are necessary because there is a shortage of allied health care workers everywhere and the patients deserve access to health care services in the Territories 24/7. It is our public right, they say. But as a result of these restrictions, they feel penalized for providing the quality care northern patients deserve. The loss of the ability to refill their

overtime banked means they have lost their freedom to choose when and how their time in lieu is taken. Until the GNWT takes responsibility of this serious retention and recruitment issue and provides the money necessary to fill those vacant intermediate positions in hospitals and in all health care offices and facilities in the territory, Mr. Speaker, this seriously affects the health care services in the North. I would like to take this moment to ask the government to revisit this issue and scrap this policy that is demoralizing all of the health care workers who are working tirelessly because of the shortage of labour and the importance of the health care services. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Members' statements. The honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, just recently my colleagues were making a statement on residential schools. I would also like to make a statement, Mr. Speaker, to that effect.

Growing up in Inuvik, I was one of the town boys. There were the town boys and the hostel boys. I grew up beside these boys. I went to school with them, but I didn't realize, Mr. Speaker, the conditions that these boys had to live in. Lately, with all the research that I have been doing and questions I have been asking, I had a chance to reflect on the conditions that they put up with. I have a whole new admiration, Mr. Speaker, for the many boys who went to residential school and the way they are doing today.

I hear them talking about the term survivor and that's a real appropriate term because, Mr. Speaker, I believe that's what they are. They are survivors. To hear comments being made questioning some of that has upset me that much more. It's hard to imagine the frustration that a lot of these survivors felt when they heard the comments coming from the Premier to the media. Have these people not suffered enough, Mr. Speaker, without having the head of the government make such comments and open old wounds?

When I heard this, Mr. Speaker, I have to ask myself a question; a very serious question. Have I not done enough to hold the Premier accountable for his remarks? Have I not done enough to show my support for these survivors and hold the Premier accountable for these remarks? Mr. Speaker, in speaking to a lot of them, some of them wish they were town boys, so they could go home at the end of the day, but that was impossible. To this day, Mr. Speaker, all they wanted was to be believed. Thank you.

---Applause

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

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. In the area of development and regulatory matters, the Northwest Territories does not have a great score card in the industry of mineral and oil and gas exploration, Mr. Chair. We often hear the statistic quoted that Alberta, on an annual basis, processes hundreds of applications for exploration of natural resources and, yet, a number of approvals here in the Northwest Territories, basically you can count them on a couple of hands.

The major deficiency that's been identified, a chronic deficiency, has been the lack of capacity in the regulatory boards established under the Mackenzie Valley Resources Act. Getting appointments to this board has been a chronic problem for our government, Mr. Speaker. We have allocated, as the GNWT, a number of seats on these boards and we have had some difficulty of late getting the Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs, who has the duty to appoint, to listen to our nominations. We have had refusal by the Minister of Northern Affairs to accept our appointments and now, with at least one of these vacancies running up 10 months, it certainly is easy to understand why the resource exploration and development industry sees the Northwest Territories as not a very attractive place to do business. At the real front end, we can't even process the paperwork. Getting the nominees on this board and having our voice at this critical decision-making point is an essential part of the way we do business. Mr. Speaker, I think we are being denied that opportunity by a Minister in Ottawa who's got some other agenda other than our best interests, which he has a duty to represent, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Members' statements. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have been a Member of this House for almost three years and I continue to enjoy the opportunity and privilege to stand in this Legislature and represent the constituents of the riding of Kam Lake, the city of Yellowknife and this territory. I take my job and this position very seriously.

Yesterday during question period, while my colleague Ms. Lee was questioning the Minister of Health and Social Services and this was in response to an off the record comment I had made that the Minister of Health and Social Services should perhaps ask his colleague Mr. Dent about what happens when you just solely listen to your top level bureaucrats in your department and you shouldn't perhaps accept for fact everything that your deputy minister or CEO may tell you.

Mr. Speaker, I have a message for the Premier and his Cabinet. Maybe they should all go for a tour of the various departments that they represent and are responsible for every once in awhile just to touch base with the employees who are there on the ground doing the front-line work, and discuss with them and meet them to see what their concerns are and make an effort to address them.

As a Regular Member, I take great pride in the fact that employees from all areas of our government's operation can call me and get me to address their concerns. Mr. Speaker, they should be allowed to continue to do just that. Mr. Speaker, I will stand up and continue to fight for their issues. Our employees should not feel scared or

intimidated to come forward because of reprisals of senior managers. Why is this such a touchy subject for this government? Are they afraid that they might be taken to task for something or might actually have to do something? It's a problem, Mr. Speaker. I believe what this government needs is some whistleblower legislation and the sooner, the better. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Members' statements. Reports of standing and special committees. Returns to oral questions. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Monfwi, Mr. Lafferty.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Premier, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize one of my constituents. It was an oversight yesterday, Arlene Hache. I didn't recognize her yesterday.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. If we have missed anyone in the gallery today, welcome to the Legislative Assembly. It's always nice to have an audience. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My Member's statement today, as well as on many other occasions, I speak about the need to ensure that we have a territorial dementia centre built sooner rather than later. Mr. Speaker, it is a serious concern that I have that there may not be funding in this upcoming capital budget plan for our next budget fiscal year. Mr. Speaker, my question to the Minister of Health and Social Services is, what is the current status of the territorial dementia centre facility that is supposed to be a partnership between the Yellowknife Association of Concerned Citizens for Seniors and his department? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I met with YACCS a couple of weeks ago and indicated to them that the dementia facility is not in the '07-08 capital plan. It is on our list should there be any new money that comes available, along with a number of other projects. We continue to do the work. There was $1 million allocated to the dementia facility planning last year. That money has not been fully expended. In fact, it's only been partially expended. So we are continuing to look at that. We have been in contact with YACCS. We are going to be much more actively involved to work with YACCS in terms of the scope of the project. We will keep the need clearly identified and make sure it stays on our business plan request for the coming year. Thank you.