Good morning, colleagues. Welcome back to the House. Orders of the day. Ministers' statements. The honourable Minister of Justice, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, community safety is a shared responsibility. We all have a role to play in this; the RCMP, governments at all levels, and residents.

During the community policing consultations in 2004 and 2005, the department heard from people in every community. Every session, participants talked about property crimes, alcohol abuse, drug trafficking, illegal drug use, domestic violence, sexual assault and dangerous driving. Later today, at the appropriate time, I will table the final report on these consultations.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank NWT residents for participating in these consultations. This government heard their concerns and intends to respond to them.

Over the last three years, this government has created 28 new RCMP positions in communities, including a police dog and handler. Government has also secured the funding to establish a new detachment in Sachs Harbour and worked with the RCMP to create new ways of responding to community needs, like the Gameti winter road project.

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Mr. Speaker, the most recent example is the command restructuring in the Tlicho region. Behchoko is now coordinating policing activities for the entire region as a piloted approach to improving police services.

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But, Mr. Speaker, as we know, the RCMP can't do this alone. Communities have developed their own alternative justice systems and they are active in crime prevention, on-the-land activities and diversions from the courts to community justice committees. I am pleased to say that victim support services have recently been expanded to Fort Simpson and additional funding for victims have been included in our 2007-08 budget.

Residents are taking action by developing neighbourhood watch programs. In Yellowknife, this has expanded to the Citizens on Patrol program where volunteers tour the city

and report illegal behaviour to the RCMP. Residents of Inuvik have also expressed interest in setting up a similar program, Mr. Speaker.

This government is also hard at work on a variety of initiatives designed to help victims. The Protection Against Family Violence Act has been in effect for almost two years now and it has provided protection for almost 200 families who are suffering from violence in their own homes. The department has toured the territory giving presentations to community groups and providing information about this law in eight of the NWT's official languages.

As Members know, we have also been exploring new ways of making communities safer through safer communities and neighbourhoods legislation. This proposed legislation gives residents a way to take back their communities from bootlegging, drug dealing and other illegal activities that are habitually disturbing the neighbourhood. We've all heard stories about bootleggers who take over elders' homes or drug houses that make young families fear for their safety. Mr. Speaker, this government believes this behaviour is unacceptable. We cannot let illegal activities consume our communities.

In January, the department completed preliminary consultations on proposed safer communities legislation for the NWT. Later today, at the appropriate time, I will table the results of those consultations.

Mr. Speaker, I have also asked the department to investigate the possibility of developing involuntary detoxification legislation similar to laws that are in place in Saskatchewan and Alberta. This legislation is a last resort for teenagers with severe drug or alcohol addictions who need to be detained in a safe place to ensure their own safety or the safety of someone else. It allows the teen to undergo medical detox to prepare for addictions treatment and could be an effective way to help young people. Mr. Speaker, given our full legislative agenda, I am planning to provide options for consideration of the next Legislative Assembly.

Mr. Speaker, all of these efforts are being made with the primary goal of making our communities safer and healthier for ourselves, our children and our elders. Strong, vibrant communities are the cornerstones of our territory's self-reliance and a goal that is fundamental to the vision this Assembly has been working towards since we all took office nearly four years ago. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Ministers' statements. Members' statements. Honourable Member for Thebacha, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the issue of resource revenue sharing has taken up a considerable amount of time in this House and the sense of frustration is clear. It's almost palpable at times. The circumstances we have in the three terms I have been here is that we are still negotiating. Ottawa gets the gravy and, as the Premier said in this House a couple of days ago, we get shafted.

Mr. Speaker, this is an issue of unresolved concern. It's clear now that the issue isn't going to be addressed in the budget, that we are going to have to continue to negotiate. But as we negotiate, one of the flaws has been we continue to have billions of dollars of revenue extracted through resource development and the results, the goods, going south, and that continued to happen. There is no incentive for the federal government to resolve or come to a deal with us because we keep approving development projects. So we are in a situation where we talk about this, we complain about it, we have all sorts of heartburn and angst. We vent our spleens in this House. We pound the table. But millions keep going south and we stand by in our own land as humble mendicants, tugging our forelock and shuffling our feet, asking for a piece of the pie; so far unsuccessfully.

The other great concern, Mr. Speaker, is these are all non-renewable resources. Every carat, every barrel of oil, every cubic foot of gas, every ounce of gold, once it's gone it's gone. The people of the Northwest Territories will never get the long-term benefit. This is a very difficult situation and not sustainable.

We talk about a heritage fund. The concern will be that by the time we get a deal, there won't be enough left to create a heritage fund for those northerners who are yet unborn who we're planning for.

Mr. Speaker, I would suggest that as we move into the 16th Assembly that it is time for us to look very clearly at what should we do as a plan B to try to improve the negotiations. To me, what we should be clearly considering is that, in the 16th Assembly, any new resource development be put on hold, that there be a moratorium. Those projects currently underway in the development process application process, fine. But we should not continue to give away our resources...

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

Thank you, 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. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, we should be looking at, as we move into the 16th Assembly, a moratorium on any new resource development to help until we can conclude this deal and give enough incentive for all parties to actually make this deal, once and for all, finally, for future generations of northerners yet unborn. Thank you.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, today I would like to talk about post-secondary education in my region. As we have talked about in the House on a number of occasions, there have been great successes in the Monfwi region over the past decade related to education. From 20 years ago when a few people graduated high school education from our region, our Tlicho Community Services Agency have implemented great extensions in two of our communities: Behchoko and Whati. It's been a great success to date, Mr. Speaker.

Today, as a region, we are graduating more aboriginal graduates than any other regions in the Northwest Territories. Our high school, the Chief Jimmy Bruneau School, has recently been chosen as one of the 10 best aboriginal schools in Canada.

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We'll shortly be celebrating a book about these schools and segments on APTN, Mr. Speaker. Our agency, too, has won an award this past year; the National Innovation in Management Award for Institute of Public Administration of Canada.

Our Tlicho Government has also contributed a great deal to this process as well, pleased with the number of graduates coming through our school system. A number of years ago they implemented a post-secondary scholarship program delivered through agency; in intervening years have given millions of dollars to our graduates who have gone on to post-secondary education. Indeed, this year we have over 120 students attending post-secondary education across Canada and receiving thousands of dollars from each of the Tlicho Governments. We're proud to see their achievement, Mr. Speaker.

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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. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mahsi, colleagues. Aurora College and the Department of Education have helped where they could and have worked hard to implement special programming in the communities, such as teacher education programming.

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However, Mr. Speaker, it is not enough. On a regional basis, in our four communities we have only one full-time permanent college instructor. One, Mr. Speaker. We used to have more, but over the years these resources have been cut. Other instructors in the communities are on a short-term basis. However, we still have many, many adults in the communities who want to finish their high school education so they can go on to further, training and post-secondary education. Mr. Speaker, however, I understand that Minister has plans to remove the funding for the attendance of these 22 years of age adult students in our schools. Those are the questions that I will have for the Minister at a later point. Mahsi.

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

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, just today I want to use my Member's statement to talk about the federal government socio-economic impact funding of $500 million, which does not include the Akaitcho territory or the Tlicho territory. Mr. Speaker, in the socio-economic baseline study, the area, and I quote, in the study it says "includes all the communities in the NWT in which the direct or indirect effects of gas production and pipeline construction may affect permanent residents." Also, Mr. Speaker, this study even included north-western Alberta. Mr. Speaker, the exclusion of the Akaitcho territory and the Tlicho territory in the ability to access this large funding source from the federal government is just another blatant display of disrespect and disassociation of fairness and unity towards many northerners by the federal government and Mackenzie gas proponents, and especially by this government, the government of our people, for not being the first ones to raise the red flag on this type of injustice.

We have all heard many times in this House and many other forums that on this Mackenzie gas project that this ripple effect of such a massive development will be felt by all communities in the NWT and others beyond our borders, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, although the Mackenzie gas development impacts may vary in severity depending on where you're living, does not exclude the fact that this socio-economic impact funding should be distributed amongst all communities in the NWT. Implore that this government should negotiate a similar socio-economic impact fund for communities that were left out of this agreement and raise the seriousness to the federal government of this issue and let them know that we cannot, and will not, take this kind of treatment lying down. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Mahsi. Good morning, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there have been a couple of media accounts in the last couple of days about ongoing discussions and negotiations for devolution and moving northern programs now vested in Ottawa actually into the North. What a radical concept, Mr. Speaker. But it seems that, as in past attempts to transfer these programs, we are again running into the issue of the transfer of employees now based in southern Canada into the North and coming into the family here with the GNWT's workforce.

Mr. Speaker, that stalemate is quite understandable. These are people who have lives, and careers, and families, and investments, and homes in other parts of Canada and it is not something to be taken for granted, or taken lightly, that they would simply pick up and move. But it's been characterized that we have this I think 20 percent differential in our pay packet that we have to resolve.

Mr. Speaker, we're talking about a landmark evolution in the future of the Northwest Territories and yet, as we have experienced and seen in the past, we are hung up at least in part on the situation involving, we understand, about 170 federal employees. I want to sympathize with their concerns, but I also think, Mr. Speaker, that this is about more than money. It's about the challenge, perhaps, and the fear of moving to a new part of Canada.

When my family moved here from Saskatchewan in 1964, I know that our relatives and neighbours in the small town that we came from figured that we were going to fall off the edge of the earth. Well, we're still here. I also remember, Mr. Speaker, in 1967 being at the airport here in Yellowknife and watching a chartered plane from Ottawa filled with federal southern bureaucrats who were ready to take on the job of helping to build the North. That, I think, is where we should go today.

Mr. Speaker, I'd like to issue a personal invitation to the people who are considering or having this option to move North to think about...

Your time for Member's statement has expired, Mr. Braden.

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.

Mr. Speaker, the NWT is an exceptionally terrific place to raise a family. I think we can all attest to that. Offices and jobs can be created here in Yellowknife, but also in many of the other communities of the NWT -- Fort Smith, Hay River, Norman Wells, Fort Simpson, Inuvik -- all of which we know we want to create these positions, see these jobs, these very valuable jobs, come. I'd like to extend that invitation to any of those employees and their families in Ottawa who might be just a little bit worried about coming North. I understand. Call us. We have a 1-800 number. Get in touch with us. We'd like you to come up here and we'd like you to help us continue to build the NWT. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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