I think we can go back and forth and dispute facts, but it’s more useful to me and my constituents that the Minister of Transportation be aware of this. I look forward to a better prepared communication strategy for the next event.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. [English translation not provided.]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday I spoke about the impact the diamond mines have in my Tu Nedhe riding. One of the positive impacts is increased employment for Tu Nedhe residents. Though there are some opportunities for the diamond mines when you look the big picture, the community is very marginal.

Mr. Speaker, the reality is that a good majority of the residents who wish to remain and work in their communities are faced with bleak employment opportunities. I know that employment activity in the communities is a function of natural market and economic forces, but I believe the government has a role to play not only as a regulator but to facilitate and initiate employment opportunities.

Mr. Speaker, according to the most recent stats from the 2006 statistics, the employment rate in Lutselk’e is only 48 per cent, with a 30 per cent unemployment rate. In Fort Resolution the employment rate is a low 44 per cent, with a 24 per cent unemployment rate. By comparison, the employment rate for the NWT is 69 per cent, with a 10 per cent unemployment rate. As you can see, the unemployment rate is two and a half times as high in Fort Resolution, and in Lutselk’e it’s almost three times the rate of the NWT.

Education levels look to be a large factor if unemployment rates are examined further. Eighty-six per cent of the unemployed people in Lutselk’e and 50 per cent of those unemployed in Fort Resolution do not have high school diplomas. Currently in Fort Resolution and Lutselk’e, industry

and local government are the two main agents providing employment. Perhaps the GNWT could play a bigger role in this area.

Later today I’ll have questions for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment on career and employment development for Tu Nedhe communities.

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

Mr. Speaker, I was going to talk about something different today, but after hearing the lead Minister responsible for the Refocusing Government Strategic Initiative Committee, I thought I would talk about his statement instead. I’m happy to see the government is moving forward with refocusing government. I’m happy to hear that the government is planning on conducting program reviews. I’m happy to hear that the government is planning to change the GNWT’s approach to infrastructure. I’m also happy they’re going to be improving human resource management, improving service delivery and managing the cost of the government.

Unfortunately, I think these things should have been done before this budget came forward. These are the types of things we were hoping to hear and hoping to see prior to the budget coming forward. When the Premier came and talked to us about the need to change the way we do business, change the way the government operates, we were hoping to see that.

What we see with the budget that has come forward is cuts, cuts, cuts, and we don’t see these types of things. It would have been better for all of us — it would have been better for the people of the Northwest Territories — if we had held off on many of the budget cuts we’re proposing now and gone through this process the Minister was talking about today rather than jumping into cuts immediately. I would love to see this government take back this budget and give us a status quo budget for the next couple of months, another interim budget so they could have the opportunity and the time they require to actually follow these processes and come forward with a decent, responsible budget that will allow the Northwest Territories to prosper.

Ultimately, though, I’m quite happy to hear what the Minister had to say. I think it’s just a little too late. I think this needed to happen before the budget came forward. I’ll stop repeating myself. I’ll now sit down.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

Mr. Speaker, I’d like to discuss the availability of housing policies at both the community and the territorial level. Like most MLAs, the interactions I have with constituents very often centre on housing issues. By the time the constituent gets to their MLA, it’s usually difficulties they’ve encountered with their housing, not happy occurrences, they want to discuss. We’ve heard references previously from members of the Auditor General’s office that applications for housing from NWT residents are not always fairly dealt with by local housing authorities. In these situations, when faced with trying to find some answers, I discovered there are no housing policies or guidelines I can reference. Yet constituents are routinely advised by the LHO, the local housing office, that their requests are being denied because of a policy.

Inquiries to both the LHO and the NWT Housing Corporation offices have provided me with minimal information. I asked for a copy of the policy book — the policies that govern the LHO. I wrongly assumed that an organization such as an LHO would be able to articulate the policies and the guidelines on which they assign housing. I was advised, and I quote, “that they have as few policies as possible, because they want to provide service based on individuals and do not want to spend their time quoting or debating policy.” I asked for any policies they have and was advised they couldn’t provide them. I was advised by the LHO that they follow national standards. To their credit, I did receive a list of the National Occupancy Standards on which the LHO bases their decisions for assigning housing. That information came to me by an e-mail.

Housing is a basic human right, Mr. Speaker, and the GNWT spends some $40 million annually to ensure the NWT residents have proper housing. We should be able to articulate just how housing needs for families, disabled persons, single persons and so on are determined. We should be able to articulate the restrictions that exist for some of our residents who apply for public housing, yet I can’t access these or any other policies that govern decisions made daily by our LHOs. It is no wonder the Auditor General found unfair allocations of housing. How can it be fair when each LHO operates on a case-by-case basis? How can it be fair when each LHO can set its own rules and guidelines? No wonder we, as MLAs, get so many complaints about housing from our constituents. I hope my experience is an aberration, Mr. Speaker, not the norm.

At the appropriate time I will have questions for the Minister Responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.

Mr. Speaker, I’d like to reply — again I am changing my statement today to the Minister of ITI — to the Minister’s rather surprising announcement on the Advisory Panel on the Economy. This seems to be reflecting the ongoing and apparently typical modus operandi of this government to keep MLAs completely uninformed and certainly not to include their input. The vision this Caucus came up with was strong individuals, families and communities sharing the benefits and responsibilities of a unified, environmentally sustainable and prosperous territory. The Minister’s Advisory Panel on the Economy — well named as the Minister’s; certainly not anybody else’s that I know of — simply serves the community that is already benefiting from the roaring economy we already have. The basic principles of sustainability are to include economic development along with social sustainability and environmental sustainability. Those three pillars must be there for something to be sustainable — and to benefit all members of the Northwest Territories.

Let’s look at how this panel was formed. This Minister worked with the president of the NWT Chamber of Commerce — which I am sure has been enjoying the growth, as it should, but has a focus, as does all the development that has resulted in the homelessness, social issues and environmental issues this society is dealing with today…. Ten years ago and more there was an economic development strategy. A panel was put together that actually included representatives of the social and environmental community.

Mr. Speaker, we are regressing incredibly, and it obviously has gotten me very upset, because I know we can do so much better. There has got to be some basic understanding that develops here on this stuff. Let’s stop repeating the errors of the past. Let’s include representatives on these panels of all three legs of our stool here. Let’s try including the input of our MLAs and informing them so we can make sure such initiatives actually have some strength in them and aren’t destined to failure.

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

Mr. Speaker, today I will speak about the ongoing issue of Dene fonts. With the fast pace of computer technology and the loss of the ability to convert and print existing Dene language

documents, aboriginal language communities have difficulty producing new resource documents, because the Dene fonts are not compatible with present-day software.

The Gwich’in Social and Cultural Institute as well as the government urgently need Dene fonts incorporated into the Unicode system. That way, everyone who opens any computer program can read and write documents with the Dene language and with the appropriate spelling.

Mr. Speaker, we are running out of time. This government urgently needs to deal with the technical problems and create solutions to solving this problem.

With the government seriously stating their support for aboriginal languages, it needs to demonstrate action by helping to maintain and revitalize our Dene languages. The time of lip service is over. If we want to save our cultural heritage and Dene languages, we have to do it now.

The Dene font issue goes back some time. In 2003 a Special Committee on the Review of the Official Languages Act included recommendations with regard to Dene fonts in its final report — and I was a member of that committee.

The Gwich’in cultural institute is recognized for its quality work and its dedication to saving and revitalizing the Gwich’in language. The institution has made appeals and recommendations, providing names of experts to assist the government with creating Dene fonts with compatible, up-to-date technology, but with no response.

The Gwich’in Social and Cultural Institute had hoped that finally something would be done during this week, in which a meeting was scheduled for yesterday and today, and were dismayed this government had cancelled that meeting until later on in the summer. This would have included government experts and regional aboriginal language coordinators.

These groups are very disheartened to see the government back off again with this commitment.

Officials are trying to reschedule a meeting….

Mr.

Krutko, your time for the

Member’s statement has expired.

Mr.

Speaker, I seek unanimous

consent to conclude my statement.

Unanimous consent granted.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues.

Again, this shows how we end up year after year talking about an issue and saying, “Yes, it is important,” but at the end of it all you have nothing to show of success, achievement or results on these matters.

In the meantime, every day, technology keeps changing, and outdated existing Dene fonts become almost impossible for community organizations to use to develop resource materials.

I will be asking questions of the Minister responsible for official languages at the appropriate time.

Thank you, Mr.

Krutko. Item

4,

returns to oral questions. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery.

It is my pleasure today to welcome four of my constituents to the gallery today. We have Roy Courtoreille,

regional vice-president for

the UNW. Dawna O’Brien, Pam Jones and Leon Nason are in the gallery today. Welcome to the House.

Mr. Speaker, I can see a number of people from my constituency of Thebacha: Mr. Al Dumont, Mrs. Lynn Dumont, Paul McAdams, Loretta Laviolette, Marilyn Napier and Ethel Chalifoux. I’d like to welcome you to the Assembly.

I’d like to welcome to the Assembly two constituents of mine down from Inuvik: Val Robertson and Rosa Kayotuk. Welcome to the Assembly.

I’d like to recognize my constituent from Fort Simpson, also with the UNW here in Yellowknife, Ms. Candy Brown.

It’s not very often I get visitors in the gallery, so I’d like to recognize a couple of people from Fort Providence: Loretta Landry, who’s with the Housing Corporation, and Peter Canadien, who works for the hamlet in Fort Providence.

Also, a number of people from Fort Smith. Pam Villeneuve, Marion Napier, Ethel Chalifoux and a former instructor, Paul McAdams,

are joining us

today. Welcome.

I’d like to recognize Sheila Laity, Gayla Wick and Paul Goldney, all Yellowknife South constituents.

If we’ve missed anyone in the gallery today, welcome to the Chamber. I hope you’re enjoying the proceedings. It’s always nice to have an audience in here.

Item 6, acknowledgements. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The Minister of Transportation.