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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm pleased to report to you that the Women's Leadership Conference over the weekend was a resounding success, but the topic I would like to speak today about is one overwhelming theme that emerged from the conference which, in one way or another, really underlined and overshadowed the entire event. That has to do with how much the people of the North -- women, children and men -- are suffering from and affected by family violence in all of our communities, big and small.

Mr. Speaker, we know in the North that we have taken a number of measures to address these and prevent them from happening, but whatever we are doing appears simply not enough, Mr. Speaker. We had women endlessly talking, and often crying, about what they are dealing with. Even the entertainment during the Saturday night banquet resulted in an impromptu but powerful singing by Ann Kushuk from Inuvik that speaks about the pain of family abuse. Everyone needed her to sing this song because it is so healing.

Mr. Speaker, we were especially struck by two young women from one of our smallest communities who tearfully told us how they're doing all they can to help a mother of four get away from a very physically and mentally abusive situation she is in as we speak. They have so little resources to help her with. There is no police, there is no shelter, there is no nursing station, and they're helplessly watching. They're discouraged and they're heartbroken watching this woman giving up, so distraught that she has given up asking or taking any help from authorities and social agencies. Her mental and physical health has deteriorated to such a degree that she has no strength or resolve to do anything that would help her in the long run.

Mr. Speaker, I was asked by these women to tell the House that there is still deafening silence in many of our communities and deafening silence from those who are in a much better position to help these women and much more so than any government agencies or law enforcement authorities.

Mr. Speaker, we know there's a lot of people, women and men, who are working on this issue tirelessly in our communities, but we have to ask all our people -- women, men, elders, youth and the community leadership...Mr. Speaker, may I seek unanimous consent to finish my statement?

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.

Mr. Speaker, we know that we need to have, we have to ask all our people -- women, men, elders, youth, and the community leadership -- to look around and listen to each other. We have to ask everyone. If you know that somebody's being abused by another person, even if that person comes from a good family, we have to speak to him and his family or his leaders. We have to tell them that it is not right to abuse someone or watch someone being abused and stay silent. We have to tell them that we have to do this, otherwise we will suffer, especially our children will suffer in the long run. We need to tell the one that is abusing that there is help if he wants it, that there is a much better way of living this life than this way. We have to ask everybody to do everything they can to help the women who are suffering from violence. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Members' statement. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I wanted to talk about health coverage for certain medical conditions and the problems facing northerners without health insurance who cannot afford their course of required treatment.

Mr. Speaker, when we look at the differences between what is covered for treatment for children born with cleft palate and one who's born with club foot, you'll get a sense of frustration being experienced by one of my constituents in them trying to get treatment for their child. Either situation is very unfortunate, Mr. Speaker, but if you were born with a cleft palate, you would expect the government to pay the cost of surgeries, any required speech therapy, and any subsequent dental costs or devices related to this diagnosis. If you were born with a club foot, however, Mr. Speaker, the government will pay the cost of surgery and hospital stay and they will start to cover the cost of your cast. However, that's where it ends, Mr. Speaker. They will not pay for the cost for the braces or shoes that are required down the road for that treatment surgery to work.

I have to ask, at what point of being involved is it really worth it, Mr. Speaker, because we should cover this treatment from start to finish. This situation points to the need for the Supplementary Health Benefit Program which, I understand, a review is currently under way, Mr. Speaker, to be addressed and to start to look at the seriousness of conditions being left out, Mr. Speaker. We need to be supportive of all medical treatments that are being left out.

I am probably not painting the picture of the department in the best light on this issue because there are gaps in our system, but I have to admit that the health officials are

trying to work with this family to recover, to fill in those gaps to cover the cost of the situation. For this I'm very grateful and I hope to hear soon of a satisfactory resolution on the family's process.

This Assembly has a vision of self-reliant individuals, families sharing the rewards and responsibilities of a healthy community and a prosperous and unified Northwest Territories. To accomplish this we need a government who needs to help their residents when required support is definitely needed.

Mr. Speaker, we tell our children out there that the world is theirs for the taking, but government policy is holding them back. Mr. Speaker, in closing, we need to put people first before paperwork, Mr. Speaker, especially when it comes to our children. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Members' statements. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As Mrs. Groenewegen pointed out, as we gather here, people are gathering in Tuk to celebrate Vince Steen's life. I want to take a moment just to reflect on some of the more memorable things that we used to laugh about as ways of getting through some of the pressures here.

When I first knew Vince I thought of him as kind of a gruff, grouchy kind of man. But I soon found out that there was a very compassionate, very kind, very much a man of the people, a very warm, caring individual.

Vince used to come to my office early in the morning and we would sit and sort of assess what happened the day before and what was going to happen the rest of the day. I got to know him very well. He's very much a man of the people. I used to tease him, because I remember in going to his constituency meetings and he would go and sit with his constituents and grill us. Sometimes even grill his own department.

---Laughter

That was his way of saying, okay, I'll represent my people. Even if I am a Minister, I'm not going to let it go by. I remember him once sitting over here and even grilling a Minister in Committee of the Whole.

---Laughter

---Applause

He always had a very practical solution to any complex issue, and he had an incredible ability to be able to get right to the core of an issue. We would discuss things around and around in a circle in Cabinet and Vince, in one statement, would get right to the core; and usually, 99 percent of the time, he's right.

I remember one time the Member from North Slave, or now Monfwi, giving Vince a hard time as Minister of Transportation about the condition of the highway between here and Behchoko and telling him you can't even drive up to the speed limit. "What are you going to do about it, Minister?" Well, two days later Vince lowered the speed limit.

---Laughter

So, yes, he always got a bit of a trick to him, as well. More than anything else, except Betty and his family, Vince loved Transportation. I remember him being very devastated the day Transportation was taken from his portfolio. He really wanted to make sure that I was going to look after it in a way that he felt about it. I visited him in Tuk several times after he was no longer in politics and you'd see his eyes light up when he talked about opening up the airport after a blizzard or doing things with equipment. He loved being an equipment operator and was a great one.

He loved to play bridge. Whenever he could find a partner, he would come to my house and play bridge with my wife and I and sometimes he'd have a glass of wine. He's very honest and very candid man. He never minced words. I gave him a glass of my homemade wine one day. He looked at me after he took a sip and said, "What animal peed in this?"

---Laughter

That was Vince. He's a formidable bridge opponent and...

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

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

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As in this House, Vince knew all the strategies, all the rules in bridge; even had a few tricks of his own. Let me say, Vince, my friend, I know that where you are now, transportation is well looked after and you're in charge and I'm sure that you've even lined up a few bridge games. We miss you here but, more than anything else, we're thankful that we've known you as a friend and a colleague. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Very well expressed, I'm sure, to a number of Members from this House.

Speaker's RulingMembers, before I proceed to the next item on the Order Paper, I would like to provide a ruling concerning the tabling of unsigned documents in this House.

The House will recall that on Friday, February 9, 2007, the honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre tabled an unsigned, unidentified copy of an e-mail correspondence.

The question of unsigned tabled documents is not addressed in the rules of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories. However, I refer Members to the 12th Assembly of this Legislature and to a ruling made by Speaker Samuel Gargan on March 27, 1995.

Mr. Gargan undertook a meticulous examination of unsigned tabled documents reviewing rules, precedents and authorities. I quote from his ruling found on page 612 of Hansard, March 27, 1995, which states:

After reviewing parliamentary precedent and rulings from other jurisdictions, I have become clearly aware of the requirements and limitations as to the content for petitions and tabled documents, including the concern as the verification and authenticity of letters and any facts contained therein. It is my ruling that it is not an acceptable practice to table unsigned letters in this House. Therefore, all letters tabled, whether it be by the government or by Ordinary Members, will have to be forthwith directed from a specific individual or organization, dated and signed.

Speaker Gargan also quoted from Beauchesne's, 6th Edition, citation 493, subsection (4), cautioning Members to "exercise great care in making statements about persons who are outside of the House and unable to reply."

Speaker Gargan once again ruled on the tabling of unsigned documents on January 28, 1998, during the sitting of the 13th Assembly, and found his former ruling to be "clear and concise with respect to the issue."

I agree with Speaker Gargan on both of these counts and it is, therefore, my ruling that the document tabled in this House on Friday, February 9th, 2007, does not meet the requirements as set out for a tabled document. The document is considered not to be in the acceptable format and should not have been tabled in this House. I direct the Clerk to remove the item from the tabled document list and to amend Hansard to reflect this change. Thank you, Members.

Orders of the day. Returns to oral questions. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Yellowknife South, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Monfwi, Mr. Lafferty.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I, too, would like to recognize Gary Jaeb, formally out of Behchoko, a well-established northern outfitter within the Monhi Gogha D'e Niitl'ee area. Welcome.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to have special recognition for Amanda Peterson, resident of Weledeh and Madeline Lake. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Ms. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is my pleasure today to recognize in the visitors' gallery counsellor Kevin Wallington, a very popular counsellor who topped the polls in Hay River. Very popular guy in Hay River, and seemingly very popular in Yellowknife lately; he's over here a lot. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Groenewegen. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to recognize a constituent, Mr. Gary Jaeb from True North Safaris, a Kam Lake resident. As well, the president of the Barren-Ground Caribou Outfitters Association, Mr. Jim Peterson; his wife, Margaret, and Amanda Peterson, as well. Mahsi.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Villeneuve.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize one of my constituents, a mentor, a band counsellor, a good critique of government, my father, Mr. Jim Villeneuve.

---Applause