Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. These wood pellet furnaces or boilers...Does the Minister have some indication as to how much these boilers are going to be needed for the school that’s going to be built here in Yellowknife or other areas that are being used in the communities in terms of how much wood pellets would be required for just one house using them? Is it economical and feasible for the amount that’s going to be required for houses or schools?

I don’t have specific information as to how much is actually being utilized with regard to wood pellets, but anecdotal information from people who are using it to heat their homes would indicate it is very feasible to use wood pellets to heat their homes.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Item 8, written questions. Item 9, returns to written questions. Item 10, replies to opening address. Item 11, petitions. Item 12, reports of standing and special committees. Item 13, reports of committees on the review of bills. Item 14, tabling of documents. Item 15, notices of motion. Item 16, notices of motion for first reading of bills. Item 17, motions. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

WHEREAS the federal government implemented a national policy to educate aboriginal children through establishing residential schools, mission schools, and federal day schools in Canada;

AND WHEREAS the federal government acknowledged the wrongs these residential schools, mission schools, and federal day schools have done and the significant impact there has been on aboriginal people in Canada;

AND WHEREAS the federal government has established a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to hear directly from survivors and communities on their experiences at these residential schools, missions schools, and federal day schools;

AND WHEREAS the Truth and Reconciliation Commission has not yet held any hearings and residential school survivors are waiting to tell their stories to the commission;

AND WHEREAS elders in the Northwest Territories need to have the opportunity to tell their stories;

NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, that the Government of the Northwest Territories urge the federal government to implement the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and have the commission schedule commission hearings in the Northwest Territories;

AND FURTHERMORE, that the Government of the Northwest Territories work with the federal government to establish a Northwest Territories Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. A motion is on the floor. The motion is in order. To the motion. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Over the period of a number of years this government in the Northwest Territories has been a leading force in the residential schools. The significant historical landmarks have happened here in the Northwest Territories in terms of urging the federal government to move ahead with this very issue here. This is another point I’d like to make with this motion here. There will be other Members speaking on it, but I think this is another point where this government and the people of the Northwest Territories need to push the federal government to do the right thing for the residential schools not only in Canada, but more importantly, for the thousands of members and survivors in the Northwest Territories. That’s all I’ll be saying. I would have the other Members who wish to speak on it and I’ll be closing with my comments.

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

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Truth and Reconciliation Committee is mandated under the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement negotiated by former students, the Assembly of First Nations and other aboriginal organizations, churches, and the Government of Canada who will create an accurate and public historical record, support meaningful community events, and guide and inspire aboriginal people and Canadians in a process of truth, healing, and reconciliation. As specified in the mandate, the process is a sincere indication and acknowledgement of the injustices and harms experienced by aboriginal people and the need for continued healing.

There are good reasons for wanting to see this commission get off the ground and started on their important work. Speaking your truth, voicing your experience is an important step on the road to healing and reconciliation. In fact, it is well established that it can be the most important step for many. With this step comes the opportunity for reconciliation, for the ease of pain, for the increased engagement in family and society and, most importantly, for peace.

As we know, many survivors of residential schools are elderly or ailing and their chance to experience healing and reconciliation is narrowing. The need for peace for all survivors is great. The time for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission is overdue. I am in support of this motion.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Tu Nedhe that motion 12-16(3) be amended by adding the following wording at the last paragraph after the words “establish a Northwest Territories Truth and Reconciliation Commission”: “that will conduct hearings in each

regional centre within the Territory to assist the federal commission in the performance of its duties in bringing to light the stories of residential school survivors.”

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. There is a motion on the floor. To the motion.

Question has been called.

---Carried

To the motion as amended. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I thank my colleagues for amending the motion. It only speaks about getting our northern story told. But in terms of the federal commitment in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, this part of the healing process is not to have unfinished business. This federal commission was about having a chance for people affected, people who lived in residential schools to tell their story to this commission.

I believe it’s important that our government urges the federal commission to pick up this work as soon as it can and also to go with them, to ask them for resources so that we in the Northwest Territories, who had many residential schools, to give us the opportunity to tell our stories in the regional centres. Then because they were only scheduled to have one hearing in the Northwest Territories this gives us a huge opportunity to tell our full story from the Northwest Territories at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearing. It may be slated for Yellowknife, I believe, but the way it’s structured right now it’s not going to have the opportunity for regions and our communities and the people who live there to make a presentation in person. So this is one way we can speak to that.

With that, I will be supporting the motion.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, will be supporting the motion. I attended residential school, but the greatest impact upon me in residential school has been the fact that my father attended residential school. I grew up as a kid listening to some incredible stories of abuse at residential schools. If my father was alive today he would be 80 years old. A lot of people who are in their late 70s and early 80s need an opportunity to tell about the incredible abuse that occurred in the schools.

My father went to St. Joseph Residential School, I think it was called St. Joseph, in Fort Resolution and he told us many stories about the amount of abuse that individuals in the school had. I just want to repeat one story very quickly here.

One time my father said that a young boy would work in the kitchen. They ate mostly fish. But when he went into the kitchen the smell was so great from bacon cooking in the morning that the kid stole a piece of bacon. When he got caught they drove holes in the bacon, strapped it to his back, put a sign on his chest that said “I’m a thief” and he had to walk around for one week with that bacon tied to his back. Just to give you an idea of some of the stories that we’ll hear from people who are in their early 80s that attended residential school. I think the people who ran the residential schools at that time felt they had the right and obligation to abuse the kids that were in school.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am in support of this motion. I think the commission is well behind in its duties and it’s unfortunate that it’s lost all its members and has to start again. I think this motion is an opportunity for us to encourage the federal government to make sure the commission gets started sooner rather than later. I note in some of the documentation that we have relative to the way the commission is supposed to lay out that it’s intended that community events will be designed by communities and respond to the needs of the former students, their families, and those affected by the legacy.

I think the amendment to the motion encourages the federal government to allow the Territories to have far more than the one national event that’s currently scheduled. We have an awful lot of our residents who were affected by residential school and to expect them to travel to Yellowknife for one particular event is just not on, in my estimation.

I just think it’s good for us to do this. One of the other things that is in here in the documentation as well is it’s part of the commission’s responsibility to support community events designed by communities to meet their unique needs. Certainly the needs in Yellowknife are far different than they are in, say, Fort Resolution or Fort Simpson. I think we need more than just the one event.

Apart from that, I’m totally in support of the motion. It is time that the commission get started and do its work sooner rather than later.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Premier, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was put in place by the federal government to establish an independent body to do the work. Unfortunately it did run into some problems, but I’ve been informed that Mr. Frank Iacobucci, who is chair right now, is in a process that is going to select a new chair and two new commissioners. There will be representatives from the aboriginal community, survivors represented, churches and the federal government. Within a matter of weeks they should have named a new chair and commissioners to that truth and reconciliation commission and be ready to do their work and start up again.

I would say with this motion when that new chair and commission get underway that we would send our comments on to that new commission as it operates as an independent body.

As to the reference to the Government of the Northwest Territories and the work we need to do, as our protocol is, Cabinet will be abstaining from the motion.