Thank you, Mr.

Menicoche. The

honourable Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the question from the Member, in terms

of the source 15 — what we’re going to be calling it — into Trout Lake.

Certainly, the gravel issue down the Mackenzie Valley to all the communities has become an item for Transportation, and we’re working with other departments in terms of dealing with certain issues of gravel into the communities.

I

believe we should do it

numerically. Source 15 is way before 177.

But with that, Mr. Speaker, part of the strategy includes, I

believe — maybe the Minister can

correct me — doing class D estimates on how much the roads are going to cost. Has there been any work done in Nahendeh riding, and most particularly in Trout Lake?

Mr. Speaker, I agree with the Member. If we were to do it numerically, we would have 14 other sources before Trout.

I appreciate the question from the Member. The report in terms of the gravel sources: we’re certainly working closely with our colleague here from Public Works, in terms of working with the community and Public Works, in terms of the gravel sources for each community.

As Mr. Menicoche noted, last week in the House Mr. Krutko asked a question on the Aklavik gravel source and working with the department in terms of how we deal with this issue. It’s a government-wide issue, because this issue will become very important in the coming years, in terms of developing and investing in our communities and in our transportation system.

Mr.

Speaker, the reason I’m

raising it in the Assembly today is that it has been a couple of years since Trout Lake was able to access gravel. In fact, they had it hauled — I think it was from 60 kilometres away — this winter just to meet that urgent need.

Part of the strategy was to get readily accessible gravel to the communities. I’d just like to ask once again: how much work was done towards the Trout Lake gravel access?

Mr. Speaker, I would be very happy to sit with the Member sometime today or tomorrow and go through the details in terms of the amount of work, but I don’t have it available right in front of me to answer some of the specifics, in terms of the work. We had done work on the gravel sources down in the Mackenzie Valley communities. I’ll be happy to sit with the Member in terms of going through the details with him.

Thank you, Mr.

Yakeleya. Final

supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I’ve made reference to the gravel strategy from the 15th Assembly. Is that document

public, and can I see a copy of it once again? Mahsi.

Yes, it’s public, and certainly I will make sure that he gets a copy.

Thank you, Mr.

Yakeleya. Oral

questions. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Today I talked about the importance of involving community First Nations groups in the design and delivery of mental health and addictions programs and services.

Mr. Speaker, I’d like to ask the Minister: in light of what has happened in the last couple of years in Lutselk’e, what is the Department of Social Services doing to specifically respond to the suicides?

Thank you, Mr.

Beaulieu. The

honourable

Minister responsible for Health and

Social Services, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Member stated in his Member’s statement, I and the department are in the process of reviewing our mental health and addictions strategy, and I will make sure that we put focus on consulting with the communities and putting in culturally appropriate programming.

Secondly, Mr.

Speaker, our front-line staff are

trained, in working with the communities, to be aware of and prepared to deal with suicide potential. Specifically to what the Member is speaking to, which are the three suicides that happened in the community, I

have asked the

deputy minister to send a team of specialists there to address that situation in the short term.

Mr. Speaker, I understand there is an MOU between the community and the department. Can the Minister tell me what the MOU entails?

Mr. Speaker, I wasn’t aware that there was an MOU, and I’m not aware of the details, but I’m happy to look into that and have further discussions with the Member.

I am aware that the department, through Yellowknife Health and Social Services Authority, is much in touch with some of the challenges and needs of the community, so I’m happy to make the commitment to undertake that and see what we can do to work on this.

Thank you, Ms.

Lee. Final

supplementary, Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr.

Speaker. I

understand that it’s difficult for us until we’re meeting with YK Health and Social Services to bring anything here on the floor that it has to do with. My question to the Minister: is there any local person, a local Health and Social Services person that speaks the language that has the potential to be working for Health and Social Services at Lutselk’e?

I don’t have that detailed information. We have a lot of people working in the Health and Social Services system who are from the North, who are from the community, but I don’t have that information for Lutselk’e. I do make the commitment to the Member that I will undertake to look at that MOU, which I understand speaks to the working relationship between the department and the community of Lutselk’e and then to build on that to strengthen the programs available and active for the community of Lutselk’e. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of Transportation in regard to my Member’s statement on the condition of the Dempster Highway. I’d just like to ask the Minister exactly what it is going to take, from this government and from the Minister’s department, to realize the condition of the Dempster Highway. Is there a process in place to ensure that the public’s safety is paramount in regard to anything that happens to avoid accidents and death on that highway?

Thank you, Mr.

Krutko. The

honourable Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to state to the Member that I certainly agree with that. It’s this government’s first priority, in terms of the safety of the roads for the travelling public, and this department has, significantly over a number of years, invested heavily in terms of the maintenance and the reconstruction of the Dempster Highway. We continue to do that in terms of providing a safe road for the travelling public, helping the area of the Member’s riding.