Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have spoken often in this Assembly on the plight of injured workers in the Northwest Territories. One of them, Mr. Ivan Valic, came to this country as an immigrant and 19 years ago suffered an injury while working on a construction project here in Yellowknife and has been, up until recently, Mr. Speaker, battling our WCB in an effort to secure fair treatment and compensation for his injury.
Within the ranks of injured workers in the North, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Valic is an inspiration because of his enduring fight for proper treatment with the WCB and for compensation for his chronic pain condition. He persevered even though he lost everything except for his belief in his cause against an organization with
tremendous financial and legal resources, unlike his own. It was a tremendously unequal battle against a bureaucracy that trampled his rights and denied him justice, as shown last December when Justice Virginia Schuler of the Supreme Court of the NWT ruled that, indeed, Mr. Valic's Charter of Rights had been violated and his right to natural justice denied.
Mr. Speaker, part of Justice Schuler's ruling was that Mr. Valic should have a new Appeal Tribunal hearing. Ten months was taken to put that together for him. In early December, Mr. Valic invited me to attend this tribunal hearing, but the following day I was told that the issue was concluded. I can only take from this that a settlement was reached with Mr. Valic and I am pleased for him that his case had finally been resolved.
I understand that there is a confidentiality agreement in place. Of course, I will respect this agreement. However, other injured workers continue to have cases before the WCB and, in fact, before the Human Rights Commission in the NWT. I am very interested and concerned, Mr. Speaker, to see just what we have learned in the case and the example that Mr. Valic has set for us and how are we applying this to the case of other injured workers. There must be accountability, Mr. Speaker, for the actions of the WCB in pursuing these cases for those injured workers whose lives continue to be affected by their injuries. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
---Applause