Good afternoon, colleagues. Welcome back to the House. Orders of the day. Ministers' statements. The honourable Minister of Health and Social services, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is no denying there is a substance abuse problem in the NWT. Northerners drink more and drink more often than southern Canadians. The 2004 addiction survey found that 36 percent of northerners over the age of 15 drank heavily at least once a month. More recently, crack cocaine and crystal meth are addictive substances turning up in northern communities. Substance abuse causes upheaval in the lives of our residents, from children to seniors.

My main purpose of speaking today is to highlight the various options available to NWT residents for assistance with addictions. The work we do with families and communities is essential to stop the cycle of addictions and underlying mental health issues.

The Department of Health and Social services continues to invest in programs and services that offer those experiencing mental health or addictions problems the most appropriate care.

Through the client-focussed approach of the integrated service delivery model, northerners have access to primary community care teams who can empower them to address their addictions or mental health issues. There is also a range of high quality addictions programs, many of which are available at the community level. For other more specialized services, people have access to territorial programs.

The department is working to promote healthy lifestyles. We are developing a plan to launch a territorial addictions awareness campaign that aims to reduce and stop our youth from using alcohol and drugs. Prevention services offered at the community level include:

• • the "Friends for Life Resiliency" training program, where community group leaders are trained to counsel children on ways to prevent the anxiety and depression that may eventually lead youth to use alcohol and drugs;
• • the "Suicide Prevention" training program, where communities train their own residents in suicide prevention; and
• • community wellness workers who provide education, prevention, basic counselling, referral and aftercare services to local residents.

The foundation of the NWT Mental Health and Addictions Strategy are the resources being developed in communities across the NWT. In terms of community counselling, I would like to highlight the following improvements:

• • qualified mental health and addictions counsellors, who provide healing and counselling services at the community and regional level, are supported by clinical supervisors who ensure quality care;
• • programs like Alcoholics Anonymous and Crack Busters provide peer support in communities across the NWT;
• • non-government organizations such as Inuvik Family Services and the Tl'oondih Healing Society in Fort McPherson, provide community counselling;
• • Tree of Peace in Yellowknife offers a comprehensive day program for those recovering from addictions;
• • on-the-land prevention and healing programs are being developed by communities and health and social services authorities; and
• • the NWT Helpline is answered by trained volunteers 365 days a year to help those in distress or direct them to find the right resources.

For those already dealing with addictions, often the first step toward recovery is through detoxification. Medical detoxification beds at Stanton Territorial Hospital and the Social Withdrawal Management Program at the Salvation Army are important services provided in the NWT for NWT residents on a referral basis.

A critical service for many people dealing with addictions is residential treatment. Each year over 150 NWT clients are referred to the Nats'ejee K'eh Treatment facility. So far this year, an additional 39 clients have been referred to southern facilities for more specialized treatment.

I must also stress the importance of ensuring clients returning home after treatment have access to support services within their communities to help them in their recovery phase. Mental health and addictions counsellors and community wellness workers support clients and their families once they graduate from a treatment program. Groups like Alcoholics Anonymous and Alanon also play an important role in the aftercare of our residents.

Mr. Speaker, addictions affect many of us and this government continues to place a priority on offering programs and services to prevent, treat and follow up with people suffering from addictions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Ministers' statements. The honourable Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the polar regions have profound significance for the Earth's climate and ultimately environments, ecosystems and human society. However, we still remain somewhat unaware of many aspects of how polar climate operates and its interaction with polar environments, ecosystems and societies.

International Polar Year, which started on March 1st, is an opportunity to add to this knowledge. During this two-year program of science, research and education, Canadian and international researchers from universities, northern communities and governments will work to advance our understanding of the cultural, social, economic and health dimensions of the circumpolar north. They will also examine the geophysical climate and biological processes in both the Arctic and Antarctic polar regions. This is the fourth International Polar Year. The first was held in 1882, the second in 1932 and the third in 1957.

International Polar Year will have a significant impact on the Northwest Territories, particularly once Canadian and foreign scientists will begin their research here. These scientists will be working through our research facilities including our Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, Aurora College and the Aurora Research Institute. Several GNWT scientists and researchers are expected to be involved in these research projects.

Mr. Speaker, the Government of Canada has pledged $150 million towards International Polar Year. We expect to hear shortly how and where this federal funding will be used. We also expect to hear details on national research projects that have been approved by the federal government.

Our government has taken steps to prepare for the influx of scientists and researchers to ensure that the results of the polar research directly benefit our communities.

This week, representatives of aboriginal governments, regional aboriginal organizations, Government of the Northwest Territories departments, the national International Polar Year office and communities are meeting in Inuvik to discuss community capacity and opportunities to participate in this two-year event.

In addition to enriching our knowledge about the circumpolar north, Mr. Speaker, International Polar Year will generate benefits for our communities. Some of these benefits will flow from providing goods and services to the scientists, researchers and their teams; others will flow through involvement of residents in the research activities. The research projects should also provide training and development for the next generation of NWT Arctic researchers and educational materials for our schools.

The greatest legacy of the International Polar Year will be its ability to provide more information about the circumpolar north including the possibilities of new scientific discoveries. Learning more about our North, its processes and how it is changing is invaluable to all of us as we deal with issues like climate change and contaminants.

Mr. Speaker, the Government of the Northwest Territories supports this valuable work. We will work with communities to ensure they have the opportunity to participate and benefit from it as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mahsi cho.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Ministers' statements. Members' statements. The honourable Member for Thebacha, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, every country in the world is facing pressures on water, on fresh water, including Canada, including the Northwest Territories. We know that. We can see that around us. We know that river levels are dropping. We know that groundwater is disappearing. We know there is enormous pressure south of us for research development that has a direct impact on what comes flowing through into the Northwest Territories.

Our concern about water is fuelled by climate change, which in turn is fuelled by a burgeoning population which is now about six billion people, which is expected to reach over 10 billion people in the next decade or so. That, in turn, fuels an insatiable demand for resource development and the pressure on us is to balance the resource development with a sustainable environment, a healthy environment, which his built on water.

Climate change is manifesting itself to us most fundamentally by water and what is happening to the water that comes into our territory and flows through into the ocean.

Mr. Speaker, there is a need for us, as a territory, to coordinate our efforts, internally first with the aboriginal governments and with the other stakeholder groups as we did with the Caribou Summit to plan out how we want to address the pressures that are tied to us and coming to us from water. Internally, we have to organize ourselves as a government and as a territory about how we use water ourselves, but of equal importance is how do we address the pressures in other jurisdictions, the transboundary issues, specifically in Alberta.

Right now, we have bands like Deninu Kue going on their own speaking their concerns about the tar sands development. We have the Dehcho people going to northern Alberta to talk about their concerns with the other aboriginal governments. Clearly there is a need for a united northern front which does not yet exist. Our obligation as a government is to coordinate that in the

coming months as we look forward to life past the 15th Assembly about how we are going to organize ourselves to deal with that particular issue which, in turn, will lead to that fundamental discussion about resource development, what is our best interest, how fast do we move and how fast do we exploit all the resources we have at our disposal. Mr. Speaker, I request unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as we will hear today, the issue of water and climate change is fundamental to the Northwest Territories and our survival, and I think, as a government, we have to take better steps to strengthen the processes we currently have to deal with those issues. Thank you.

---Applause

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I want to talk about climate change and the impact it's having on our wildlife. Mr. Speaker, if you have lived in the North like I have for the past 25 years, you can't help but notice the changes in our climate. As a young boy in the early 1980s, I can remember when winter was a solid block of 10 to 12 weeks of minus 30 or colder. Sure, today as you look outside, we do get some cold weather, but it certainly isn't the same in duration as it has been in the past. Our winters, undeniably, are getting milder.

The increased evidence of evasive species into our territory is something that our government must pay close attention to: white-tailed deer, coyotes, cougars and, with these new species, there are also worries about new insects. Speaking from personal experience, just last summer out near Long Lake here in Yellowknife, I saw at least 20 to 30 frogs. I am not a biologist but having grown up here, it was something I had never seen before. These were not the small, typical brown frog that I had seen as a young boy, but rather they were green, aquatic looking frogs that were well over six inches in length and there were many of these frogs there.

The environment is changing. That is a given. What we have to do as a government is ensure that we have enough resources to study and track our wildlife and how it is being impacted by climate change. I listened closely to the Minister about the $150 million that is earmarked for the International Polar Year. I would like to know when we can sign up to get some of this funding.

The Bathurst caribou management plan calls for an additional $8 million necessary to carry out the work to manage, count and track our caribou. We've had many discussions in this House about caribou during the past year. I believe that climate change is having a direct impact on migration routes, calving grounds and on our ability as a government to get accurate data on their whereabouts.

Mr. Speaker, we need additional resources and the reality is we aren't doing enough to manage our wildlife through this era of climate change. Mr. Speaker, as the latest grappling over the caribou numbers has shown us, we need to do much, much more. Mahsi.

---Applause

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Among the many issues that face governments today, one stands out with glaring importance and that is the sustainability of clean, fresh water. It is our most precious resource; the very essence of life on this planet. In all of Canada, in all of the world, Mr. Speaker, Canada -- and especially our part of Canada -- is blessed with a ready abundance of clean, renewable water.

Great Bear and Great Slave lakes alone are listed as the seventh and ninth largest in the world by area. So it's little wonder, Mr. Speaker, that we northerners have taken this tremendous gift for granted for so long. But the signals are undeniable. Clean water is a gift that we can no longer count on as a given. It is under enormous threat due to our warming climate and the disappearing glaciers and snowfields of the South that feed the rivers flowing north.

Mr. Speaker, our northern waters are virtually under attack from the voracious pace of development in Alberta and British Columbia, the devastating effects of the Bennett Dam on the Peace-Athabasca delta after more than 30 years of impact are all too well known. They were followed up in more recent years by major pulp and paper development in northern Alberta and today the insatiable appetite for fresh water from the tar sands development. Tomorrow, Mr. Speaker, it may be an enormous hydro development virtually on our doorstep on the Alberta side of the Slave River near Fort Smith.

While there are many things that we can do as individuals, and communities, and territorial governments to manage and conserve water at our local levels, it is the threats from outside that we must heed. It is imperative, Mr. Speaker, that we use every resource available of research, traditional knowledge, treaty and modern day agreements, national and international law, to protect our rights to clean, reliable, uninterrupted waters. We must be at the legislative and regulatory tables that are now deciding what they will do tomorrow with the waters that we will inherit from them. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We must not be timid, we must not be coerced. This is one legacy that we, as northerners, must be unified on for the survival and the prosperity of our children. Mr. Speaker, we must not allow ourselves to be sidelined by a national government that has already signalled that it values Canada's reputation as a new energy superpower more than it does as a

sustainable place for Canadians to live. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

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

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker...(English not provided)

Mr. Speaker, over the years, there's been ongoing discussion and meetings on preserving fresh water here in the Northwest Territories. Mr. Speaker, we just heard over the news that the oil sands in McMurray is about to get a green light to expand the oil sands, or has it already been given a green light from the federal government? I may be a bit too late on the newsflash. The Fort McMurray oil sands is of interest to all of us here in the great north. The water passage, the water flow system from McMurray to the NWT are all interconnected to the communities, however you want to look at it, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, water is sacred to us, the people of the North; especially those that oversee the management of water, land and wildlife: the aboriginal governments. We have always protected and preserved the clean, healthy water for our consumption, and for the respected neighbouring species and wildlife.

Mr. Speaker, I can only speak specifically to the Tlicho Agreement, an agreement that was signed off by this Government of the Northwest Territories. There are some important chapters we must keep in mind when dealing with the water and land management. First is chapter 21 of the Tlicho Agreement, since the water is of high importance here in the North. Chapter 21 explains the water rights and management. Also chapter 22, land and water regulations. Mr. Speaker, we have to respect these important chapters. The word, R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Mahsi.

---Applause

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

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd also like to raise the issue of climate change and water here in the House. I'm aware that the general public and many Members of this House, note the direct correlation between these two very important issues facing northerners, Canadians, and basically all humankind over the next hundred years if no steps to address these concerns are taken today.

Mr. Speaker, we often hear of many countries holding many conferences every day and many meetings on climate change and clean water management and the impending doom of humankind if we do not make a concerted effort to deal with the world's rising temperatures because of CO2 emissions and the looming water crisis that both developed and non-developed countries will experience. I can go on and on about all these issues, Mr. Speaker, but there are many books on these issues and I encourage many people to pick them up and read them as they've become more important to many young folks today.

Because I am an aboriginal northerner, Mr. Speaker, I will keep my concerns raised on issues related to my constituency of Tu Nedhe and how climate emissions and water quantity and quality and, in particular, the use of are raising many eyebrows in my constituency and the lack of acknowledgment and support by our government to adamantly defend our First Nations' stand on proposed changes on our water supply systems due to increased development in the Mackenzie River water basin.

Sole responsibility to protect our major water supply in the NWT should not, and does not, lie in the hands of one First Nations band here in the NWT, in particular the Deninu Kue First Nations. But it seems like they are the only ones who are standing up to address and defend our water supply when issues of large expanded oil sands development within the Mackenzie River water basin are being addressed at an inter-jurisdictional forum of this importance.

Mr. Speaker, we all have to be united on issues of a global nature and importance, like this water and climate change. Our unity has to begin with a government and the people they represent stepping up to the plate together at all times to ensure that everyone's rights to clean water and pristine environment are paramount to our survival and our spiritual integrity. Mahsi.

---Applause

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

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, globally, 2006 was the sixth warmest year on record, continuing a trend of increasingly hotter years. According to scientists, the 10 warmest years since climate data started being collected on a global scale in 1961 have occurred since 1995. Since the start of the 20th Century, the global average surface temperature has risen almost approximately seven degrees Celsius. However, warming has accelerated dramatically since 1976 and is now at a rate that is approximately three times higher than that of the century scale trend.

Through the burning of fossil fuels and other activities, humans have pumped large amounts of the greenhouse gasses, such as carbon dioxide, into the atmosphere trapping the heat at the earth's surface and causing widespread warming worldwide and this is profoundly changing the earth's climate.

Mr. Speaker, I'm talking about things on a global issue, but here we are in the Legislature, the 15th Assembly of the Government of the Northwest Territories, sitting here in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. We are the leaders. We have a role to play. This is not an activity for us to take a spectator's role. This is for us to get in the ring and start fighting because this has to do very much with us. We have a greater role and a greater opportunity to influence policy and legislation, with regard to greenhouse gas emissions, than anyone else. If legislators don't have an opportunity to affect the outcomes with respect to these issues, who does? I think it's high time that we stopped taking a sideline approach to this issue and get more active and more outspoken about this.

I, for one, as a Member of this Legislature, do not know what our government's position is on the incredulous expansion of the Alberta Athabasca tar sands project just south of us. I don't know what this government's position is on the creation of a hydro dam on the Slave River. I don't know who goes to the meetings and represents us except, perhaps, some senior bureaucrats when these kinds of issues are being discussed. I think they are too important to leave to our staff, as good as they may be at communicating our position. I believe that these issues need to be elevated to the position of Premier and the highest level of discussions in our land, because Canadians expect that of us...

The time for Members' statements has expired, Mrs. Groenewegen.