Good afternoon, colleagues. Welcome back to the Chamber. Orders of the day. Colleagues, before we begin, I would like to draw your attention to the gallery to former Members of this House, former Speaker Mr. Sam Gargan and a former Minister and Premier, Mr. Jim Antoine are in the gallery.

---Applause

I would also like to welcome all our other guests in the gallery today. Orders of the day. Item 2, Ministers' statements. The honourable Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Caribou herds in the Northwest Territories (NWT) and across the circumpolar Arctic are declining. A recent global survey by researchers at the University of Alberta found that 34 of 43 herds being monitored worldwide are in decline.

Barren Ground caribou herds in the Northwest Territories are experiencing the same downward trend. Recent surveys and trend information show declines in almost all these herds.

The Porcupine caribou herd, which we share with the Yukon and Alaska, has dropped from a high of 178,000 in 1989 to 123,000 animals in 2001. Biologists who study this herd have not been able to do a population survey since 2001 for weather-related reasons, but indicators and recent monitoring efforts show that the decline in this herd is continuing.

The only bright spots in the surveys completed this year were the Cape Bathurst and Bluenose-West herds. After post-calving surveys of both herds this July, the Cape Bathurst has remained stable at

1,800 animals while the Bluenose-West herd has remained stable at just under 18,000 animals. This can be attributed in large part to harvesting restrictions put in place by recommendations of the co-management boards in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region and the Gwich'in and Sahtu regions. In the Cape Bathurst range there has been no harvesting allowed since 2007 and in the Bluenose-West range commercial and resident hunting was closed and recommended harvest for aboriginal hunters was a maximum 4 percent harvest with at least 80 percent bulls.

Unfortunately, the post-calving survey of the Bluenose-East herd could not be conducted due to poor weather. Like the post-calving survey used for the Porcupine herd, this survey depends on the caribou bunching up in tight groups in response to insects and suitable for photography. If the weather is cool or wet and windy the caribou don't group up enough for photos.

Mr. Speaker, the most dramatic declines in the last three years was been in the Bathurst and Beverly caribou herds. In 1994 survey results indicated that the Beverly population was estimated at 276,000 animals. Systematic reconnaissance surveys on the Beverly calving ground in 2007, 2008, and 2009 indicate that the Beverly herd has all but disappeared. Limited collar information suggests that some of the last Beverly cows have shifted to the range of the much larger Ahiak herd. The Bathurst herd has dropped from a little over 100,000 animals in 2006 to 32,000 this summer. Because the Bathurst herd is so important to NWT communities tough management actions will be required to give the herd a chance to recover.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources is working with the Tlicho Government to develop a joint proposal on recovery options for the Bathurst herd that will go to the Wek'eezhii Renewable Resources Board. This joint proposal and a technical report are expected to be submitted to the board at the end of October. We have also held a number of information-sharing workshops and there have been meetings in all the communities that value the Bathurst herd. The Tlicho are holding their own workshops and meetings as well. I anticipate the board will hold a public hearing on the proposal in December. During November the Department of Environment and Natural Resources will be consulting with other aboriginal governments, harvesters, and stakeholders on the recovery options in the joint proposal since the Wek'eezhii Renewable Resources Board management is restricted to the Tlicho region.

The GNWT is responsible to all communities and aboriginal governments that hunt the Bathurst herd, such as the Akaitcho communities, the Metis Nation and other communities south of Great Slave Lake.

It has been very encouraging to hear the chief of the Yellowknives Dene, Edward Sangris, speaking out about cancelling a fall hunt of the Bathurst herd this year. They are not waiting for our management proposal. When we announced the Bathurst survey results a few weeks ago all the Tlicho chiefs and Dene Nation Chief Bill Erasmus were there and pledged to work with us on making difficult decisions for the sake of future generations.

All partners involved in the management of this herd want to have management actions agreed to and ready to be implemented by the end of December before the winter hunting season starts. As we have seen from the Cape Bathurst and Bluenose-West herd, tough measures are making a difference in helping the herds stabilize and hopefully in the next couple of years start gradually increasing.

There is no easy answer to the problem of declining herds. We can only deal with those impacts we have direct control over and hunting and access to herds are the main ones we can control.

Mr. Speaker, some people may believe the Ahiak herd is immune to this decline or even increased. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Ongoing reconnaissance surveys of the herd's calving grounds indicate a substantial but declining herd. Additional data on caribou condition and pregnancy rate indicate that this herd is not doing well. We are currently planning the first calving ground survey of this herd with the Government of Nunavut. The area is remote and the calving ground is large and has chronically bad weather, so the survey will be challenging.

We are developing another five-year Barren Ground Caribou Management Strategy to cover 2011 to 2015. This strategy and future management actions to conserve our herds will be developed with our co-management partners and aboriginal governments over the coming winter. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Premier, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to advise Members that the honourable Michael McLeod will be absent from the House today and tomorrow to attend meetings with the Council of Ministers responsible for Transportation and Highway Safety in Vancouver. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to recognize a very remarkable constituent of mine, Mr. Robert Alexie Sr. who has been nominated for the Jim Bourque Award from the National Fur Institute of Canada.

This summer Rob would learn that he was a recipient of that award. Robert accepted the award earlier this summer on his commitment in preserving the traditional knowledge and passing it on to the young people. Robert has received this knowledge from his father, in which his young boy Robert would walk ahead of his dad's dog team with snowshoes and clear the way for his dad. Robert credits all his father's learnings have been passed on to him today in which he is now passing on to the younger generations.

The 75-year old gentleman from Fort McPherson has been hunting and trapping along the Peel River since he was a young man. Robert has contributed extensively to the Government of the Northwest Territories Environment and Natural Resources trappers program for young people. He brings them out to his cabin at the mouth of Trail River in the Yukon and shows them the traditional territory that his father and grandfather and his great-great-grandparents harvested in and also the importance of that territory to the Gwich'in people. He shows them the traditional ways to sustain yourself on the land, but, more importantly, how things were prior to the 1960s when people lived there year-round.

He makes the time to attend meetings, workshops and continues to strive for the protection of our land, the Peel River watershed, animals and, more importantly, our environment. He emphasized to the young generations, during the Trapper Training Program, how much of a challenge it is to trap these days and never to forget the importance of education.

Robert Alexie Sr. is a highly respected elder who passes on his traditional knowledge and willingness to all people. With that, I would like to congratulate Robert Alexie Sr. Mahsi.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Working against the odds, our resident filmmakers have achieved world acclaim, publicity and tourism promotion through films produced in the NWT with examples like Mad Trapper, Ice Road Truckers and Buffalo Airways series, Aurora Borealis and One River, Two Shores.

Unfortunately, however, productions about the NWT are infrequent and predominantly produced by southern-based firms. The Time Keeper, the story of the Great Slave Railway in the 1960s, was shot in Quebec. Richard Van Camp's the Lesser Blessed will largely be filmed outside the NWT. Producers say production is too expensive here and there is little government support. CBC's North of 60 was shot entirely in Alberta.

Unlike us, Yukon provides a comprehensive web of programs to support local production, attract southern productions and market films. Nunavut's film art is known worldwide, thanks to a full film development corporation providing incentives and support including the development of animation.

Mr. Speaker, the recent economic review of the Northwest Territories does not even include a section quantifying the value of NWT film performance and fine art industries, giving figures only for the value of arts and crafts production. We need to begin gathering this data.

Data elsewhere shows we will find that spending a dollar in the film industry multiplies its spending far more than spending on large resource developments. To develop our industry, we need to understand it and work with NWT filmmakers to design programs of support. A market study, assessment of the resident industry and a development plan are first basic steps. Ms. France Benoit, a local filmmaker, reports that the NWT is the only jurisdiction in Canada that does not offer financial incentives to producers.

In summary, Mr. Speaker, the NWT needs to take a much more aggressive approach to supporting our resident filmmakers and attracting southern partners to enjoy the benefits we currently forego. I will be asking the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment questions later during this session. Mahsi.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I'd like to talk about the performing artists in the Northwest Territories. Performing artists fall into a number of categories including actors, musicians, dancers, and the list goes on and on.

To begin, I believe the 16^th Legislative Assembly has done a good thing in increasing our support to the arts in the NWT. Our budget in this area has increased by almost $2 million since we began in October 2007. This is a positive step and acknowledges the value that arts play within the Northwest Territories.

However, with respect to performing artists such as musicians I don't believe that we are taking advantage of the good work that is being done. We haven't taken steps required to form partnerships with our northern musicians to promote themselves and the Northwest Territories at the same time. Through ECE we provide money to northern musicians who apply to help them produce their music. Once produced, this government is done with the artists. There is no follow-up. There is no further cooperation or partnering. This is a missed opportunity. I believe that the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment should work with Education, Culture and Employment to identify these musicians and see if they can find ways to work with them in a mutually beneficial way to promote the NWT as a tourist destination.

I have looked through the GNWT Arts Strategy as presented by ITI. There is one brief mention of performing artists. The majority of the focus is on commodities such as crafts. Northern musicians produce a product and are a commodity in and of themselves. ITI should pay greater attention to performing artists as part of their Arts Strategy.

I have also spent a lot of time reviewing our Spectacular NWT campaign. Once again, I'm sad to report that there is very little reference to the arts, including performing artists, as a reason for people to come and experience the Northwest Territories. When people consider coming to a place like the Northwest Territories, they want options and a wide variety of things to do. Attending arts festivals and other music related events is a definite draw.

Mr. Speaker, later this afternoon I'll be asking the Minister responsible for ITI some questions on this topic and seeking commitment of this government to work with performing artists from the Northwest Territories to promote the Northwest Territories and the artists themselves. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I'm rising once more on the subject of the John Tsetso Memorial Library in Fort Simpson. In February I spoke in the Assembly about my concern that the library needs a home. In May I spoke about the value of the community's library as a place to pick up reading materials and for many literacy programs it has offered over the years. Yesterday my colleague Mr. Abernethy spoke about the limitations of the Fort Simpson library. The facility is currently too small and the foundation cannot support the library's collection of books. Currently, due to the relocation from the old Deh Cho Hall, we are now a resource centre and a virtual library there, Mr. Speaker.

The John Tsetso Memorial Library is a designated public library and the residents of Fort Simpson deserve to have one restored. In fact, I think a region of our size, about 4,200 residents, should have a regional library located centrally in Fort Simpson. I support and recommend upgrading and designating a regional library for Nahendeh. Such a library could house a larger collection of books, and books could be circulated to our smaller communities.

The Department of Public Works and Services is currently sending in an engineer to determine where to locate the library. I support a facility that could be a regional library. This library will not only include computer access for patrons but also a book collection and resources that could be accessed by the entire region.

Mr. Speaker, the government has made a firm commitment to promoting and fostering literacy. A library that provides a welcoming space and a good selection of books in Fort Simpson will contribute to literacy. Once again, I support a regional library that will provide additional service throughout Nahendeh. Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Ecole Allain St-Cyr is a French-first school located on Taylor Road here in Yellowknife. It is one of two schools administered by the Commission Scolaire Francophone, the other being the Ecole Boreale in Hay River. This school has been at its current location on Taylor Road since 2000, when the then $4 million school was built with support from both Heritage Canada and the Government of the Northwest Territories. The Department of Public Works and Services was responsible for the overall project management on the federal government's behalf.

The school is named after Mr. Allain St-Cyr, a former French teacher at both J.H. Sissons and William McDonald School here in Yellowknife and I actually had the honour of having Mr. St-Cyr as my Grade 9 French teacher. He was very well-respected both as an educator and as a promoter of French schooling.

Today the school is home to 110 students. It also houses a daycare centre for up to 30 students and acts as a cultural centre for Yellowknife's French-speaking community.

Mr. Speaker, in the past few months Members and Ministers alike have received letters from parents of students at that school disagreeing with the government's decision to postpone the funding of phase two of the expansion, which would include a gymnasium that was left out of the original design of the school until 2012-2013.

Mr. Speaker, I'm aware that discussions are currently underway with Heritage Canada on securing funding for the expansion and I want to state again today that it is my belief that this government must immediately enact a policy when it comes to the construction of any new school in any one of our 33 communities across the Territory that the new school has got to have a gymnasium incorporated into the facility.

The statistics don't lie, Mr. Speaker. Youth today are not as active as they were in years past, so why would any government build a school or help build a school, where children spend eight hours a day, without a gymnasium? It defies any logic, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I'd like to call on the government to do everything they possibly can to expedite the discussions with Heritage Canada and finally get a gymnasium for the students, the parents and the staff at Ecole Allain St-Cyr. Merci beaucoup.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As Members will have noticed, I'm trying to focus my attention and my comments and Member's statements during this session on the principle that this government says that they embrace, and that is for self-reliant, sustainable communities and people in the Northwest Territories. Mr. Speaker, I think part of that is to examine the resources we have on our own doorstep which we do not partake of for whatever reason. I talked about the commercial fishery the other day and what a valuable and big resource that is, but we can't figure out how to take advantage of it.

The one I want to talk about today, though, and I'm sure there will be pushback on this, is that anyone who has travelled on the road, Highway No. 3, the famous Highway No. 3 between Yellowknife and Fort Providence, would have noticed that there are these large herds of big beasts close to the road. These are our bison. This is a bison sanctuary. It has been there for many years. I don't know what the herd number is today, but anybody who likes bison meat, how many people import bison meat from Alberta so they can eat it here in the Northwest Territories?

Mr. Speaker, this must be ludicrous. Again, anybody looking at us from another planet would wonder why we say we can't afford food, we can't afford the cost of living in the Northwest Territories and yet we have resources like this standing literally at our door.

Now, I understand that the caribou herds are in decline and we're not sure of all the reasons for that and the caribou are certainly easier to hunt than a bison. Most people could handle a caribou. After they've killed it and butchered it, they could handle it themselves. Bison are a little bit more challenging, no doubt, but they are still a very nutritious food source and unless they are sacred or endangered or something else, for the life of me, I cannot understand why a herd that is healthy, disease-free and numbering in the thousands cannot be harvested at a greater rate than about, I think, 12 tags a year.

So, Mr. Speaker, I would have questions today for the Minister of ENR about this. We have a very successful commercial muskox harvest higher up in the Arctic. We have meat and we've even processed the hides from those muskox and it works. So, Mr. Speaker, I'll have questions today for the Minister of ENR. Why can't we eat those bison? Thank you.

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

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to once again talk about the youth in Lutselk'e. The youth know what they want and what they need. Without proper facilities, the community is challenged to deliver much needed programming for them. Lutselk'e needs a youth centre.

I know this government is doing something in this area and the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs has the Youth Centres Initiative program where communities can apply for up to $25,000 to support the operation of a youth centre. This is all fine if you have a youth centre. This year Lutselk'e received $17,241 under this program. Unfortunately, this is nowhere near enough to deliver a comprehensive youth program. We need to do more. The youth of Lutselk'e are faced with a number of social challenges and are in desperate need of a youth centre.

With yet another recent youth suicide in the community, I consider this a very serious matter and we can no longer sit back and keep up with giving the community the minimum when much, much more is needed. The youth are currently using an old government house as a youth centre. This location is okay for our youth work and to develop programs, however, the home itself is far from ideal for a youth centre.

I realize the construction of a youth centre falls within the responsibility of the community as per the New Deal. However, a community the size of Lutselk'e does not get enough capital through the formula. I feel this government must add some more money into the capital requirements of Lutselk'e in order for the community to build a youth centre.

I strongly believe that as a minimum each community should have a place for the youth in the community to get together, a place to access positive programming. Each community should have a youth centre. A well-run youth centre can have many positive benefits for the youth, the community and the whole NWT.

Lately I've been talking about the need for this government to get creative in finding solutions. This is another situation that needs such a creative solution, an immediate solution.

I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted.

Let's get some kind of commitment from this government for this project before this community has to experience yet another youth tragedy. Today I will have questions on this very important issue for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Midwives in Canada are trained specialists who care for women throughout pregnancy and birth, and further, they offer aftercare to mothers and babies in the first weeks after birth. Midwives believe that pregnancies and birth are a part of a woman's natural lifecycle. Midwives recognize most pregnancies and births are healthy and normal. They are skilled to know what to do if complications or difficulties arrive. Midwives are primary health care providers who help women to have healthy pregnancies and babies. They are a fundamental part of the health care team and can refer patients to doctors, specialists, public health nurses and other health care providers, as well as to the community resources.

In Fort Smith there are two midwives providing these services. We hear nothing but rave reviews of these services in a community where resident physicians are sometimes difficult and hard to find. In Yellowknife there is one midwife and she is willing to accept the challenges of a huge demand for these services. This is an option that many women and many parents want to make, yet no additional midwives are being recruited in Yellowknife. That seems to be the fact of the plan: that there is none.

Here is one example where health care reform makes sense. It has a huge community support, it is a well-established and respected service throughout Canada and the health care system, but, to my dismay, here is an example of health reform in the NWT that no one is considering moving on.

Our one midwife in Yellowknife has to turn away many, many patients. She can only manage a small patient workload because she is only one midwife in Yellowknife. As I understand it, the department doesn't seem to be out recruiting for these types of health care professionals. On the website practicenorth.ca, which the government uses as a big recruitment tool, this website does not even mention midwives. They mention things like EMTs and paramedics, which are not even licensed in the NWT. Where is the call to arms to get more midwives in our health reform system? Many people would like to know, and certainly I would like to know, what the plan is for the Ministers meeting those objectives of providing a much better service?

In closing, expanding the Midwifery Program makes a sensible decision, an economic decision, and it's certainly one that delivers health care reform to the Northwest Territories.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My Member's statement today is on the Income Support Program and Productive Choices Policy. During the summer, Tuktoyaktuk hamlet council sent a letter to the regional superintendent of the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment regarding limited numbers of productive choices for small and remote communities. These productive choices programs are something all clients must partake of in order to receive their income assistance.

I agree with the objective of the productive choices polices, but I question how practical they are in small and remote communities such as all the communities in the Nunakput riding. Our small communities have many challenges. Limited jobs and programs often contribute to the cycle of dependency. Adjusting these concerns can hopefully improve our unfortunate cycle.

The Minister did respond, indicating they would wait for a list of the productive choices provided by the Hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk, but I think the Minister should have gone the next step given that the community governments are overstretched and overworked, and given that the community governments that are most knowledgeable in how various programs should be administered. The Minister should have provided resources for the community to review these concerns adequately, to provide the report.

In the letter to the community it had some suggestions, such as the suggestion that certain counselling and wellness services could be carried about by a group of elders identified by themselves. I believe all government assistance must be administered with respect to regional cultural sensitivity. Currently many income assistance recipients in small, remote communities feel a serious disconnect with their client services officer, the programs and activities they must complete and the way it's administered. These concerns are: one, programs should be administered with respect; two, establish clear and productive policies for staff to follow and provide adequate options for unique challenges in the small and remote communities.

I'll have questions for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment at the appropriate time. Quanami.