Please be seated. Welcome back to the House. Orders of the day. Ministers' statements. The honourable Premier, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have assigned the following portfolio responsibilities until such time as this Legislative Assembly appoints a new Member to the Executive Council.

The Deputy Premier, the honourable Floyd Roland, will take responsibility for Health and Social Services and will be the Minister responsible for Seniors, the Minister responsible for Persons with Disabilities and will assume lead responsibility for the homeless. I will assume responsibility for Environment and Natural Resources. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Ministers' statements. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Good morning. Mr. Speaker, later today, I will table the Workers' Compensation Board of the Northwest Territories' and Nunavut's 2006 summer issue of the magazine Reflections. This publication is intended to provide both employers and workers with an overview and deeper understanding of the various activities the WCB has undertaken in the last year.

The cover story of this magazine features the inspirational journey of Les Rohac, a man who came from Czechoslovakia to Canada seeking a better life, but who instead found himself faced with the challenge of overcoming a serious work-related back injury. His story chronicles the struggle to understand and overcome his injury and it reveals how sheer determination helped him return to work and fulfill his dream of making a better life for himself and his family in the North.

Mr. Speaker, this issue of Reflections also contains a number of articles outlining the upcoming Go Safe Program for northern businesses, how assessment rates are set, how employers can invest in safety instead of paying the price for accidents, the general process behind an injury claim, how social marketing is being used to heighten safety awareness in the North, and the importance of getting employees back to work.

This publication is more than a means of publicity, it's a safety tool. I believe that employers will find a number of useful ideas on how they can better incorporate safety into their day-to-day affairs. As part of the effort to focus on workplace safety, the WCB intends to release Reflections twice a year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Ministers' statements. Members' statements. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my Member's statement is on the high cost of living for seniors. Throughout the Northwest Territories, there are seniors on a fixed incomes living in their homes struggling to make ends meet. For those elders living in smaller communities who do not live in free social housing, their standards of living is decreasing with each passing day and year. Mr. Speaker, I know of elders in the Sahtu that are forced to save $250 from each of their pension cheques just so that they can afford the cost of heating fuel and electricity in the cold winter months. There is no money left, Mr. Speaker, for any comfort or to spend on their grandchildren. So much for freedom 55.

Many of the elders I am speaking of have served the people of the Northwest Territories as teachers, community health representatives, tradespersons or even just keeping the local schools clean and safe for the children. Now it's time for us to serve them.

Those government programs like seniors' home heating fuel subsidy and the repair programs offered by the Housing Corporation are sometimes tested and there are very little funds to serve them and are not always available to our elders. I would just like to ask the Members of this Assembly to consider the day when you are retired from public life in the wage economy and are forced to live off your savings and fixed pension. Do you want to be scrimping and saving throughout the years just so that you can make it through the next winter with a roof over your head and heat in your home? Probably not.

Mr. Speaker, this government has acknowledged the development of a Home Care Program, the Seniors' Fuel Subsidy Program and the Seniors' Housing Program, the value and the economy of helping seniors be independent and remain in their own home for as long as they are able to, as a matter of respect. Putting money into programs to support independent living for seniors is cheaper for the

government in the long run. We need to do more for the elders to live in their homes and be dignity free from the stress and worry about whether they can afford electricity and heat. I will have follow-up questions at the appropriate time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. This morning I would like to speak about health care plans, Mr. Speaker. It's something that every employer, including this government, counts on very heavily to be a major benefit and a part of recruiting and keeping people and helping them through their lives.

Mr. Speaker, up until this summer, when employees of this government needed doctor-prescribed medical supplies, there are things like materials that help them manage diabetes or perhaps walkers or mobility assists or specialized dressings, they were able to get good service through our life insurance or our medical insurance provider and pharmacies. In other words, they paid 20 percent upfront and the rest of the bill was looked after through direct billing. However, a change in service this summer, Mr. Speaker, has caused considerable inconvenience for some employees and their families who need these medically prescribed supplies. It's a large inconvenience for some of them when the cost of these supplies runs into several hundred dollars a month. They have to front this cost and then apply to our Inuvik office for reimbursement. All of this takes time, Mr. Speaker, and adds a considerable new paper load on our own health care system.

So I wanted to bring this to the attention of the Assembly, Mr. Speaker, because our health care plans are something we value very highly and when we get this kind of interference or inconvenience, it's something we need to put our attention to because it does have such an impact on some families. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Members' statements. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last June I urged Justice Minister Bell to follow the lead of other Canadian jurisdictions and bring forward a Safe Communities and Neighbourhood Act for the NWT, along with effective enforcement tools.

I proposed this new initiative so we could bring community empowerment back to folks and take it away from those drug dealers and crack houses from trying to take over our communities. Mr. Speaker, I asked the Justice Minister to move quickly on this discussion paper and to bring a bill with the hope that new legislation could be implemented in this Assembly in a timely way. I, therefore, welcomed the Premier's announcement in the sessional statement given a few days ago that the GNWT will embark immediately on public consultations bringing forward this issue during this session. The legislation is needed because it gets drug dealers out of our community. It empowers the neighbourhood to say we belong here, get out of our community, quit trying to destroy our good, lawful livelihood, Mr. Speaker.

This is a new law, Mr. Speaker, that will improve our community's safety by targeting and, when necessary, shutting down residential and commercial buildings and lands that are habitually used for illegal drug activity as producing, selling or using illegal drugs, prostitution, solvents and other unlawful sales and consumption of alcohol, Mr. Speaker. This is a law that will do something.

I will continue my full support for the government on this initiative and I want to send a heartfelt congratulations to this government for recognizing the sense of urgency that citizens need action from this government. When Mr. Handley stood up on Tuesday and said this would be a lead initiative in this government, it was well received in my community by my constituents. They could see that this government is doing something innovative. So, Mr. Speaker, I will have questions later for the Minister of Justice and I appreciate this government's attitude to dealing with public safety first. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I would just like to talk about the community co-management agreement that the government, Municipal and Community Affairs, signed with the Deninu Kue Community Council two years ago. Mr. Speaker, this agreement has definitely lead to better financial management and better financial stability of the municipality as a whole. I commend the government on that, which was the true intention of the agreement in the first place, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, what has been overlooked, I feel, is the human resource aspect of this agreement. What I would like to see from this government is the responsibility which the government inherited by agreeing and signing this co-management initiative be followed up on. By this I mean, Mr. Speaker, that this government has responsibility to ensure that all aspects of municipal management are addressed on a regular basis, preferably on a monthly basis in conjunction with council meetings.

The government has the responsibility to hear what community members are concerned about and act accordingly. Areas of concern that are often overlooked are often those that are sensitive in nature, such as personnel, staffing and employment issues. I feel that the overall success of such co-management agreements are often overshadowed by the lack of attention to concerns related to staff or government officials. If this government investigates all inquiries into government actions or lack thereof towards some of the conditions of this agreement from an objective, mutual standpoint and take the appropriate measures to mitigate or resolve, residents would begin to trust the government- of-the-day and have more confidence in these agreements that ultimately are intended to build better working relationships between

municipal and territorial governments and build community capacity and also build a practice of fair community governance. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. (English not provided) Mr. Speaker, last week, the Government of the Northwest Territories gave out service awards in recognition of long-term employment. I correct myself; I believe that was a couple of weeks ago, Mr. Speaker. They gave out service awards in recognition of long-term employment with the various organizations and ministries. These contributions throughout the Territories from large and small communities enhance our communities to make them safer and healthier.

I am proud to have two 35-year long-term service employees from the Nahendeh; Ms. Diane Edwards and Mr. Alex Gargan.

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The experience, consistency and knowledge they contribute is truly remarkable. In addition, Mr. Speaker, I wish to take the time to acknowledge all of the workers in all of the communities all over the Northwest Territories in private industries, everyone who does anything for our communities and for the work they have done. As well, the awards that we give out are important because they build a culture of recognition which is critical to the capacity building of the communities and ensures progressive development in our territory. Once again, Mr. Speaker, I would like to convey to all of our workers that their contribution and hard work has not gone unnoticed. Mahsi cho.

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Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Members' statements. The honourable Member for Monfwi, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. (English not provided) Today I rise in the House to address the need for aboriginal bylaw or community officers in the community of Behchoko. Mr. Speaker, in 2004, the Department of Justice, in partnership with the federal government, had a two-year agreement in which 1.24 was given to the NWT as part of the Government of Canada/First Nation policing funding.

In Behchoko, we had two officers who were successful in training through this initiative in partnership with our government and the RCMP. These officers maintain a healthy relationship with our community members and reduce disturbance, which in turn created a better living environment for all the people of Behchoko. Since this funding was terminated, the officers have moved into other careers. Community members have expressed over and over that overriding crime rates, disturbances within the community and a lack of police to address these issues, Mr. Speaker.

The heavy RCMP workload is impacting on the service levels in our communities. Employing people from the community to enforce local laws will be ensuring a proactive role in community policing. An aboriginal community officer will change the way policing is thought of within the community of Behchoko. By increasing the number of aboriginal members and working with the RCMP, this will reflect and respond to the needs of our community.

Mr. Speaker, the people of the community of Behchoko want to work with the Department of Justice, Municipal and Community Affairs and the RCMP to start a community bylaw officer program that was established before.

Mr. Speaker, in closing, aboriginal community officers are much needed in the community of Behchoko. Together, with the support of the GNWT, in partnership with the RCMP, the Behchoko community government can work towards a safe and peaceful community. Mahsi.

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

...but, Mr. Speaker, let's just squash the bugs and go back to something that was working before. If you have something that works, stay with it and it benefits everybody. It benefits the tenants that have never run arrears in their life. They are going to do their payments and they are told you have credit, come back in a month. Mr. Speaker, we have a system that works and works fine and works for the people, then the government should stick with it instead of just transferring money back and forth. I will have questions for the Minister of ECE at the appropriate time. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I would like to extend condolences to families who had people who passed away in my riding from late August to early September.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to send condolences to Clarence Mangelana's family, Bernadette Capotblanc, Robert Jacobson and Persis Gruben from Tuktoyaktuk.

Also to Keith Dodge and the Wolki family in Paulatuk and the late Sam Oliktoak from Ulukhaktok. On behalf of the people of Nunakput, I send my condolences.

On the brighter side, Mr. Speaker, I would like to extend a belated birthday greeting to Joseph David Pokiak who turned 87 on September 14th.

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And also to Persis Gruben of Tuktoyaktuk who turns 88 today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. Members' statements. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.