Mr. Speaker, I, too, would like to join the discussions on the dust control in the Sahtu region. Several years ago, the community of Fort Good Hope, along with government, worked in partnership on how to put together a chipseal program in their community. At that time the government worked very closely with the communities in terms of what is the best, most efficient, economic way to put a chipseal program in our communities in the Sahtu. Once the Fort Good Hope project was underway and they were developing their programs, I understood from the then-Minister that the community of Tulita was going to be next in line in terms of the chipseal program. People there were very happy in terms of this initiative being led by the Government of the Northwest Territories. Later on, it was noted that this chipseal program will no longer be on the
books in terms of support to the communities. As a matter of fact, the government turned over the responsibilities to the communities in terms of if they want to chipseal or if they want to have another infrastructure in their communities, knowing from the small communities, there is so much need in terms of infrastructure in their communities. They had to make some big decisions. Because of the high cost of the various methods of how we control dust, it became apparent that there wasn’t going to be enough money in the pot to even do a proper job in terms of chipsealing the whole community.
Mr. Speaker, throughout my visits in the communities, I have been approached by a number of elders in terms of the chipsealing program and that it should be something the government should take a real serious look at and work with the various departments to see how creative they can be in terms of putting a program like this back into the system. That requires sitting down with the hamlets, the bands and the Metis organizations to come up with some solutions that would be beneficial to all.
Dust control continues to be an issue for my people, especially the older people who have to go out and buy filters to have clean air in their houses there. So, Mr. Speaker, I, too, will be joining my colleagues in terms of asking the Minister in terms of how something like this, the chipseal program, can be implemented back into the system where all the communities can work on a good solution to have chipseal in their communities. Thank you.