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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I sat in this House and listened to many Members who support the aboriginal hunting rights but not the outfitters, and to those who support the outfitters but do not support ENR's numbers. In January, I had the honour of attending the Caribou Summit in Inuvik and have to say that I was very impressed by the aboriginal groups who said that they were willing to temporarily set aside their traditional hunting rights if they had to in order to make sure that the caribou populations rebounded. Mr. Speaker, they did say not give up, but were willing to set it aside. That was a bold statement, Mr. Speaker. I was glad to see that they were truly willing to make great sacrifices.

I can also empathize with the outfitters. They've contributed to our economy, our tourism industry, and they've established great livelihoods here in the North. I can only imagine what it must feel like to have their livelihood threatened. As I see it, government needs to tread lightly when taking a position that could lead to the elimination of someone's livelihood.

As we all know, the caribou are under tremendous pressure from the cumulative effects of climate change, hunting predation, and pollution. They are literally under siege in their own environment, Mr. Speaker. It's my hope that the outfitters can stay in business, even if it means adapting some of their business to a more eco-friendly style with adventure tourism and cameras, not guns. If they need to halt some of their hunting, we need to make sure that we have a plan and we can help them diversify. We need to help our outfitters and all our northern businesses by investing into the tourism industry. I have advocated for tourism in the past on a number of issues and this, our outfitters, are no less important and they deserve respect for what they mean to our economy.

No one in the territory wants to see the caribou go the way of the buffalo, Mr. Speaker. Our thundering tundra is replaced by the echoing silence. We all want healthy viable numbers in all of our herds, and we want traditional ways of life to continue to flourish and be passed through to many generations that follow.

But before any drastic action is taken, all survey data must be up to date and beyond any question. Unclear numbers leads to unclear decisions. If we put the caribou first, as we should, we need to be totally clear on what the numbers are and to make sure we have measured decisions, not best guesses. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

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

Mr. Speaker, a well-known saying about history is that those who do not pay attention to historical events are destined, perhaps doomed, to repeat them. Truer words have never been spoken, Mr. Speaker, as we look at the track record of this territorial government and the federal Government of Canada in negotiating resource revenue deals for the people of the North.

What are the legacies of major developments in the NWT? To cite a couple of them, Mr. Speaker, for 80 years now Norman Wells has pumped enormous wealth into the coffers of Ottawa. Since 1985 alone, $4 billion worth of oil has flowed out past the communities of Tulita and Wrigley.

What's in it for those communities? Mr. Speaker, the Yellowknife goldfields, the greenstone belt here has generated enormous wealth, too. Some 12 million ounces of gold were recovered since 1938 and what is the legacy of that wealth? Two hundred thousand tons of arsenic sitting on our doorstep.

Mr. Speaker, if we look at the future with the resources that we know of, natural gas in the Mackenzie Delta at current prices, that will generate $100 billion in product and $700 million in royalties every year for a quarter of a century at least. Let's look back at the history lesson and match it up with what we know is the biggest potential project yet, the Mackenzie Valley pipeline. What's in it for us? Well, so far we've seen letters of comfort, we've seen more deals negotiated in secret with proponents, and we see yet more unfulfilled promises from Ottawa. Such is the legacy that will continue for northerners until we have the resource and devolution deal in hand. Why do we continue, Mr. Speaker, to sign away our heritage, and our future, and our legacy on deals such as the recently signed socio-economic agreement?

---Applause

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to take this opportunity today to speak about the issues pertaining to the Stanton Territorial Hospital. Mr. Speaker, over the years as an MLA for Range Lake, where the hospital is located, I have witnessed the facility coming under increasing pressure from limited resources, financial and otherwise. We are constantly hearing from the staff in various units and facets of the operation at the hospital, which we have been trying to work through by means of the latest human resources review at the hospital. I'm hoping that we will be able to identify the concerns through this review and address them as soon as possible.

Mr. Speaker, we have also been hearing about the hospital's cleanliness lately, and I've also received concerns about the big-name products being used at the cafeteria, pushing out the local and northern suppliers. Mr. Speaker, my family worked at the old hospital and the new hospital and the changes in service from lack of resources at the hospital is very concerning indeed.

Mr. Speaker, I believe the most critical issue has been the dissolution of the board and there being no attempt to replace it over the last three years. While I appreciate that the hospital is a public funded agency, that doesn't mean you shouldn't have an independent management voice of the public apart from the direct involvement from the department. Mr. Speaker, such a board would be able to set longer-term goals and vision for the hospital, work on the details of the master plan, and push it along with the partners, as well as addressing some of the human and financial resource issues that ends up so often on MLAs' desks and Ministers' desks.

Mr. Speaker, the hospital needs a medium for public voice and the concerns to be addressed directly at the hospital. I support the Minister's initiative to start with an advisory committee at the hospital. I hope that this will succeed and that we will be able to move toward a full advisory board made up of representations from all the Territories, because I do appreciate that it is a territorial hospital. But I do believe that such a board would go a long way in addressing some of the issues that we're talking about lately. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Members' statements. Returns to oral questions. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. I would like to take this opportunity to welcome everyone in the gallery today. It's always nice to have an audience in here. Hope you're enjoying the proceedings.

---Applause

Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. As mentioned in my statement, the use of aboriginal languages is declining in the Northwest Territories. Some of the aboriginal groups in North America, including the Siksika in Alberta, are working with a new device known as the Phraselator to reverse this trend. Has the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment made any inquiries about the possibilities of using such a device such as the Phraselator in the Northwest Territories communities? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member first mentioned this item to me and I immediately went onto the web and tried to find it. Unfortunately, I was spelling the word wrong and all the sites that I could find were in Chinese and there was no machine to help me translate that. But since then I've managed to get the spelling right and, yes, with the assistance of my officials we have become more aware of these machines and are having a look at them. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are more reasons why we need a Phraselator in the Northwest Territories. Mr. Speaker, would the Minister consider such a pilot project for such a device, perhaps in one of our schools, to see the potential of having this device used to serve our languages in our communities? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I've asked my officials to get in touch with the region southeast of Calgary where these are in use to discuss with them how they're being used and what benefits they're finding. So rather than just going out and ordering the machine, we're going to do some due diligence and find out what they're like. The website for the units clearly states that these units cannot replace native speakers. It's still the native speakers that we need to have and we need to make sure that it's families that are involved in education. But we're going to take a look at the devices.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Final supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Minister makes a good point that you can't replace our aboriginal languages and you need the real people there. Mr. Speaker, I want to ask the Minister, would the Minister look at having one of these Phraselators in one of his departments to use them as a pilot project, if not in our communities? The common phrase, hopefully, will be do you have your Phraselator on you? Where is your Phraselator? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We'll certainly move quickly to take a look at these devices and see whether or not they could be useful and whether or not they should become standard issue for government employees. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Monfwi, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, last February I raised the need for traffic lights at Behchoko junction, and the Minister at that time advised that his department would look into this issue and consult with the community and leadership. My question is to the Minister of Transportation. Mr. Speaker, has the department consulted with the community and looked into the need for traffic lights at the Behchoko junction and what were the findings? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. There are still ongoing discussions between our Ministry, the Tlicho Government, and the NWT Power Corporation on having the lighting at the Behchoko access. It is a $90,000 project and we're working towards that, Mr. Speaker. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Supplementary, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I certainly would like to see this project go ahead and I appreciate the Minister's response on working together on this.

These are my next questions to the Minister. Would the Minister also instruct his department to consult with the community and leadership on the need for lighting on the Frank's Channel Bridge and report back this spring? Mahsi.