Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Let me say that no, I was not aware of a commitment made in that regard, if one was made. A little bit of history, Mr. Speaker. I think in the mid-90s there were 17 communities who had community freezers and I think some of them had more than more, but certainly not more than two. At that point, the government made a decision to get out of funding the O and M for these community freezers for a variety of reasons. Cost was one of them. Upkeep was another. When freezers fail, obviously the entire community's subsistence harvest can be lost, Mr. Speaker. So we looked at a number of arrangements and they varied by community. As we've heard earlier, in Paulatuk and in Holman a commitment was made to move to chest freezers that individuals would take care of. In other communities, the facilities were sold to the community. My understanding is, Mr. Speaker, that in Tulita an arrangement was made with the community to sell the freezer for $1, but I don't have all of the history on this. I'd certainly be willing to instruct my officials to sit down and go back and revisit this if there's a feeling there was some commitment that was made and not lived up to. Thank you.
Brendan Bell on Question 194-15(5): Community Freezer For Tulita
In the Legislative Assembly on October 25th, 2006. See this statement in context.
Return To Question 194-15(5): Community Freezer For Tulita
Question 194-15(5): Community Freezer For Tulita
Revert To Item 6: Oral Questions
October 24th, 2006
Page 472
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