Mr. Speaker, we do a version of that already. There is a needs survey going to be taking place in 2009. As I’ve indicated to the Members of this House, there are issues where we need to review how we do business. We have to keep allocating and growing our resources, which are becoming more and more scarce. We’re going to have to look at how we do that so we get to the areas of highest need.

That’s an issue, I think, that is going to bear discussion as we move forward with the business-planning process.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final supplementary, Mr. Beaulieu.

Mr. Speaker, we’re interested in working with all the components of the northern housing construction sector. We’re interested in building the most fuel-efficient, energy-efficient houses we can to cut our costs and to lower the cost of construction.

There are significant challenges before us, but very clearly, the more we can work with northern industry, the better. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my statement I mentioned the short-sighted policy of turning fish-bearing lakes into mine tailings dumps. I’m wondering if the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources is aware of this and, if he is, if he’s trying to influence the federal government on this policy. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Bromley. The

honourable Minister responsible for Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I watched a news article on CBC last night, where that issue came up, with some concern. They were talking about a lake, I believe, in northern B.C., right in the middle of some aboriginal land. They indicated that this is a practice across the North, so I have added that to my list of things that I want to check with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Very clearly, for us as a government it’s not going to be a practice that we’re going to be supporting, given our concern with water. The water strategy that we’re going to be tabling in this House is going to, hopefully, allow us to better address those types of issues.

Mr. Speaker, this sort of policy is obviously short-sighted. It ignores the fact that we’re having a lot of problems with our food and water but especially with our water. How can we be treating pristine examples that we have here, these resources, in this manner?

I’m interested in what the holistic approach, the broad strategy, of this government is to address the whole way we are treating the environment and how we’re going to pull ourselves into the New Age.

We’re doing a number of very critical policy pieces. We’re working to bring into this House tomorrow a framework document that’s going to lay out a plan for a water strategy.

Very shortly thereafter we want to bring forward a land-use framework that’s going to, as well, allow us to better deal with the issue of resource development — how, where, when — for maximum benefit for Northerners.

We have also set up a joint committee on climate change that’s going to allow us to look at the Energy Strategy and the Greenhouse Gas Strategy to see what we can do better. We’re working with the Energy Committee to look at biomass and the Hydro Strategy.

We have a number of initiatives across the whole spectrum of this area that are going to allow us to move forward, we believe.

Mr. Speaker, clearly we have many governments in the North. If people have been following the water conferences that have been happening in Fort Smith and Fort St. John and so on, there is major interest and major concern, especially in the area of water.

How are we going to ensure that all these responsibilities...? It’s getting to be a complex system out there, where there are various mandates and so on. Who is going to play a lead role in getting all these people together and on one page to effect the systemic change that we need to address these issues?

Mr. Speaker, the Government of the Northwest Territories has made it clear from the start of this Assembly that while the federal government has a significant amount of legal authority, we believe we have a significant amount of political and moral authority to move to occupy the field. We’re doing things like Species at Risk. We are going to bring forward the water strategy framework and the land-use framework. We want to build a strong northern voice on those issues, and we want to be ready to make all these northern decisions in the North for Northerners.

I would suggest to you that at this point the work we’re doing is going to, hopefully, bring forward a position that will allow us to consolidate all those voices to make one strong northern voice.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final supplementary, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr.

Speaker. It all

sounds delightful. I’m wondering how soon this can get off the ground and if there’s a way we can be sure that this side of the House will have lots of input into that process.

Mr. Bromley is eight months into his term, and he is already sounding somewhat jaded and cynical. We’ll have to work with him to make sure that that enthusiasm stays strong and that he will recognize that the work we’re doing — the climate change committee, of which he’s going to be a member; the water strategy framework coming forward in this House; the land-use planning framework; all the work that has to be done with the energy coordinating committee — are all pieces we’re all going to be engaged in. I believe Mr. Bromley will leave here in four years being able to point to some very proud accomplishments that he’s helped achieve in this Assembly.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr.

Speaker. My

questions today are actually to the Premier. I would ask the Minister responsible for the Department of Justice or the Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, but I think my questions combine both of those departments.

Today I made a statement about equal and shared parenting. Within the GNWT I think it’s important that we support equal and shared parenting. It’s in the best interests of the children, which is a clear tie to our strategic plan. First, I’ll focus a little bit on justice and then focus on health.

First, on justice. Within the current court system around divorce of parents it’s very adversarial, very confrontational. It’s in our best interests as a territory to support mediation and avenues within the justice system to encourage parents to talk rather than go through the process.

I was wondering if I can get the Premier to commit to work with the Department of Justice and have the Department of Justice and the Department of Health work together on a process that supports equal and shared parenting, especially around the court system and the divorce process.

Thank you, Mr.

Abernethy. The

Hon. Premier, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First and foremost, the best scenario would be that divorce didn’t happen and that families stayed together. Unfortunately, as the Member has pointed out, the realities are that there are divorces. The nature of divorce within families can be very difficult indeed and test all family members, especially the children. We have to recognize this first, I guess.

After that the recognition is with the judicial system. We as the Government of the Northwest Territories and Members of this Assembly will enact laws that become the practice, but it is the judicial branch that will in fact enforce and lay down the law, in that sense, and how it is interpreted. We feel, through the Department of Justice, that our legislation in place today doesn’t set a bias, but when you do hear most of the news out there, as the Member has pointed out, there is rarely discussion about men in family situations and what happens. We are prepared to sit down and look at avenues, as a Legislature, as to what can be done in light of trends in Canada. Just for the record, as we reviewed our family law statutes, there is no

wording or anything that is slanted or gender-biased in any way.

Mr. Speaker, this is why I was asking the Premier. I agree with what he has said. At the same time, I think it would be important for this government to work on having parents who are going through crisis and divorce avoid the court system completely. This is where the justice system can actually come in by requiring that parents who are going through divorce go through mediation. This is why I suggested that the Premier provide the answer rather than Health and Social Services or Justice. I believe it’s going to take real collaboration and partnership for those two organizations to work together to offer parents mediation before they go into the court system, which is what the court system is today.

I was wondering, again, if I can get a commitment from the Premier to work with the Department of Health and Social Services and work with the Department of Justice to establish a clear mediation process that will encourage parents to find reasonable solutions and maintain equal and shared custody in the best interests of our youth.

Mr. Speaker, in light of the new direction we’ve been taking as the 16th Assembly to break down the barriers and stovepipes between departments and work together to try and enhance the family and the situations that families fall under, that is something we would support. Yes, I know the departments of Justice and Health and Social Services work together. This will be another area that they can, as they have in the past, look to see how they can continue to offer a service to all family members to ensure that we have a fair system.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Item 8, written questions. The honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My written questions today are for the Minister of Human Resources.

1) What number of transfer assignment

opportunities existed within the GNWT over the past two years?

2) What number of aboriginal employees were

transferred?

3) What number of aboriginal employees were

transferred into management positions?

Thank you, Mr.

McLeod. The

honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.