Good afternoon, colleagues. Welcome back to the Chamber. Orders of the day. Item 2, Ministers’ statements. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to formally advise this House that yesterday the Department of Health and Social Services was able to publicly release its plans to vaccinate the residents of the Northwest Territories against the H1N1 influenza virus. As Members are likely aware from media reporting, provincial and territorial health officials have been awaiting final approval of the vaccine from Health Canada before moving forward with immunization programs. That we were able to announce the plan for the Northwest Territories just hours after final approval was received is a testament to the extensive planning and preparing my department has undertaken.

We all have a responsibility to protect ourselves and each other and, in doing so, to do everything we can to prevent the spread of H1N1 in our communities. Getting immunized against H1N1 is a key part of that. On Monday, October 26th , the

Department of Health and Social Services will begin delivering the biggest immunization program in NWT history. The department has been working hard behind the scenes over the past weeks to make sure we were ready to initiate that program as soon as the vaccine was approved.

Mr. Speaker, the Government of the Northwest Territories has ordered enough vaccine to immunize every NWT resident who wants to be immunized. Our plan is to have completed our immunization program by November 21st . The

vaccine has already been shipped to communities to facilitate its timely delivery. Larger communities will start holding mass immunization clinics this coming Monday. To ensure coverage in smaller communities, the department has hired more staff

and established mobile H1N1 action teams that will travel throughout the Northwest Territories administering the vaccine.

Our goal is to vaccinate as many NWT residents as we can as soon as we can. We will be assisted in our efforts by fourth-year nursing students from Aurora College. The Registered Nurses Association has engaged to ensure our teams are licensed and ready to go.

We know that remote northern communities are at greater risk for H1N1 outbreaks. To combat this, Dr. Kami Kandola, the NWT’s chief public health officer, is recommending that all NWT residents get the flu shot. I would like to echo this recommendation and invite Members to join me in assuring their constituents that the vaccine has been thoroughly tested and is safe and effective.

Mr. Speaker, in order to ensure that our upcoming vaccination program is successful, we recognize that NWT residents must have a clear and common understanding of the situation we are facing. We have a proactive awareness campaign underway to help inform residents about the H1N1. The Department of Health and Social Services has distributed posters to all communities in the NWT, arranged ads running on local radio and TV stations, and hosted press conferences for members of the media. Most of this information has been translated into aboriginal languages and aired on community radio and displayed in health centres. And, as I have done throughout this situation, I will continue to provide Members of this Assembly with regular updates on the latest status of H1N1 activity.

Along with the vaccine and communication products, the department’s efforts to fight the flu have focused on four main areas:

•

Slow the spread - through good public

messaging on hand washing, covering coughs and sneezes, healthy lifestyles sand self-isolation.

•

Treatment - providing all health care providers with guidance on the appropriate use of anti-virals and guidelines for the management of residents with the flu, providing the public with information on self-care and establishing the Flu Hotline to offer advice on self-care and when to see a health care provider.

•

Surveillance - carefully tracking flu activity in the NWT to quickly respond where clusters of influenza-like illness are seen.

•

Vaccination - taking advantage of the

opportunity to be vaccinated is the best way for NWT residents to protect themselves and others and shorten the pandemic period in the NWT.

I would like to encourage residents to call our Flu Hotline number if they do fall ill or have questions about the flu. The Flu Hotline is staffed by trained nurses and they can determine whether or not you need to visit your health centre or emergency department. Calling the Flu Line first will help to avoid unnecessary congestion at these areas. The Flu Hotline can be reached at 1-888-920-3026. The NWT Healthline is also available 365 days per year and can be reached at 1-888-255-1010.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the staff at the department as well as the frontline health care workers in our health authorities. During this pandemic they have once again stepped up to the plate and demonstrated their professionalism and dedication to the delivery of quality health care services to residents of the NWT.

We all have a role to play in working to minimize the impact of H1N1 in our communities. I would like to thank other GNWT departments that have been working hard on this issue, members of the media for helping us get clear and accurate information about H1N1 out to the public, and the public and Members of this House for working with us to prepare for and address this serious public health issue. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Robert McLeod.

Mr. Speaker, we are all well aware that the H1N1 virus has appeared throughout the Northwest Territories and that the second wave of this virus is impacting many of our people. In addition to the excellent primary health and clinical response efforts being undertaken by the Department of Health and Social Services, a lot of work is underway across the GNWT to support prevention and to respond to the potential impacts of this illness on service delivery.

Municipal and Community Affairs is playing a key role in both coordinating the efforts of the Territorial Emergency Response Committee and in supporting community governments in being prepared to maintain essential services in the face of temporary increased absenteeism.

The Territorial Emergency Response Committee, or TERC, is the primary planning and response forum for emergency preparedness in the NWT. Through TERC, MACA works with other departments, governments and agencies to identify their essential services, coordinate effectively and prepare contingency arrangements on how best to mitigate potential gaps in service delivery if adversely affected by an H1N1 outbreak. Mr. Speaker, TERC members have been proactively working to take actions within their respective areas of responsibility and are working together on NWT-wide prevention and response initiatives. For example, Education, Culture and Employment is working with all schools to develop operations plans. The Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment is communicating with major suppliers of essential goods and services to determine if emergency plans and contingency arrangements are in place and if not, how TERC can assist. The Department of Public Works and Services, as well as the Department of Transportation, is working to ensure that key contractors dealing with issues such as fuel supply delivery and road maintenance have business continuity plans in place.

The Northwest Territories Housing Corporation is working with local housing organizations to ensure that public housing maintenance continues and that other business continuity needs are addressed. Other departments such as Environment and Natural Resources, Justice, and Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations, are working to finalize and implement their departmental contingency plans, while the Department of Human Resources is preparing GNWT staff to deal with issues affecting employees in the workplace. In addition, the Department of Executive is coordinating overall messaging to residents across the NWT.

Given the current need to prepare for potential impacts of H1N1 on core services, TERC has been meeting biweekly since August and is preparing to be able to maintain the provision of essential services across the NWT. TERC has also engaged with the five regional emergency response committees, which are also meeting regularly, to confirm resources at the regional level and the status of community government essential services plans.

As well as chairing the regional emergency response committees, MACA regional superintendents are supporting community governments in identifying local essential services, the resources required to deliver these services, and gaps in capacity that may arise with an H1N1 outbreak. This knowledge will assist community governments in developing responsive H1N1 contingency plans. As of mid-October, 28 out of 33 communities have completed considerable work on their essential services plans.

Mr. Speaker, there is no doubt that H1N1 is impacting the Northwest Territories, but by placing an emphasis on prevention and planning, I am confident that the GNWT and its territorial emergency planning partners, including community governments, will be positioned to respond to this second wave of H1N1 successfully without serious interruption of key services. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Before I proceed, I’d like to draw the Members’ attention to the visitor’s gallery to the presence of a former Member of the House, Ms. Lena Pedersen with us here today.

---Applause

The honourable Minister of Justice, Mr. Lafferty.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to announce the beginning of the community justice review.

This program has been running since 1994 and it continues to be very successful. Last year there were almost 2,000 activities with 6,800 participants. The NWT is one of the leaders in the area of community justice, and we are often a resource for other jurisdictions that want to improve their own systems. We are pleased to provide expertise in this area to those in both the North and the South.

An effective justice system truly serves its communities. What works in one place might not work in another. Our justice committees perform a valuable public service by making decisions that affect their own people For example, a committee might decide that an offender should pay restitution to the victim, or do community service work, or go out on the land with an elder. Justice committees have many different options for innovative solutions at the community level. They deal with youth and adult cases using a restorative approach to justice. They administer programs that help offenders reintegrate and give back to their communities. And they promote abuse-free, crime-free lifestyles and activities that lead to healthier relationships and healthier communities overall.

The program review has already begun. We will be gathering information from every community and plan to visit at least two communities in each region to hear directly about their local justice programming. We have big communities and small communities, places with lots of community justice activity and places without much activity, committees that are working well on their own and committees that need a little extra help. We can learn from them all.

In the coming months I look forward to sharing the results of this review with Members and with the communities. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Item 3, Members’ statements. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the Nunakput communities and the Northwest Territories at this time of the year, ice safety becomes more of a concern for hunters and community residents. In 2007, the NWT coroner’s report stated that 18 percent of all accidental deaths were drowning.

Mr. Speaker, responsible federal and NWT agencies report that aboriginal and First Nation communities are more likely to have higher rates of accidental drowning because of living near bodies of water, on-the-land harvesting activities that take them into bodies of water, and retail stores, offices and health centres that are located across bodies of water.

I would like to remind community leadership that prevention is our greatest responsibility, Mr. Speaker. Hunters should notify the RCMP or family members of where they are going on their hunt, or should advise government staff of their travel plans and always go with the buddy system. As well, parents should speak to their children about how dangerous ice conditions are due to the weather. Our freeze-up is late this year due to the rainy weather and it’s just not cooperating. That’s global warming for you.

We continue to be concerned about how many small children are often driving snowmobiles, sometimes with three or four riders on the machine and many others on the sled behind. This is an accident waiting to happen. So please tell your children to be safe.

So, Mr. Speaker, to all residents of the NWT, please be safe on these ice conditions due to late freeze-up. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, two weeks ago, October 5th to 9th , was

Family Violence Awareness Week. Family violence is all too prevalent in the NWT. Our territory ranks number two in Canada for incidences of family violence per capita, second only to Nunavut. This is

not a statistic where we want to be in the top 10, Mr. Speaker.

Thankfully, we have dedicated organizations and individuals who help those of us who are touched by family violence. The Coalition Against Family Violence is one such organization. The coalition is comprised of 17 different non-government organizations and government departments, and it was established in 1999 to help residents affected by family violence and to increase the awareness of family violence in the NWT.

One of the core members of the coalition is the Yellowknife YWCA. Amongst its many programs, the Y offers shelter to victims of family violence through Alison McAteer House, the only shelter facility in Yellowknife for victims of family violence.

The GNWT does its part to further the work of the coalition. Funding and staff support is provided by four of our departments: the Executive; Health and Social Services; Education, Culture and Employment; and Justice.

A major accomplishment of the coalition was the development of the Protection Against Family Violence Act, which came into force on April 1, 2005. A year and a half after that act was first introduced, there were 222 emergency protection orders requested and those came from 22 NWT communities. As well, other provinces in Canada have used the NWT Act as a blueprint to help develop their own acts.

The NWT Action Plan on Family Violence, titled A Framework for Action, was developed by the coalition in 2004 and in June of 2007, the GNWT introduced funding for the NWT Action Plan on Family Violence, phase two. Initial activities for phase two were programs for children who witnessed violence, enhanced training for shelter workers, and the hosting of a territorial conference to identify best approaches in implementing family violence protection.

Implementation of phase two of the action plan is ongoing. An updated list of actions is scheduled for implementation beginning this year, I think. I expect the coalition will again produce great results as they did with phase one.

Although we have organizations like the Coalition Against Family Violence who work hard on our behalf, responsibility for the reduction and elimination of family violence rests with every one of us as NWT residents. We must each accept that responsibility and ensure that our actions show that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am going to take a little pause in the bit of a theme about renewable resources and how Northerners can benefit more from them. Today I want to comment on the quality of the answers that I have been hearing during this session.

As we are reminded, it is question period and not answer period. I am not standing in this House to hear myself talk. I have been bringing forward very good ideas, asking questions in the hope of turning the government’s attention to the issue of renewable resources and how the abundance of these resources can be used in a sustainable way to offset the cost of living and create economy in the North.

I went to Mr. Miltenberger’s office to give him a heads-up that I wanted to discuss the harvesting of bison. In response to my questions I got answers like, “I don’t really know how many there are in the Mackenzie sanctuary. I don’t really know how many tags are issued each year,” and this is just one example of less than quality answers.

Mr. Speaker, for the love of all that is pure and simple, once in a while it would be nice to raise an issue or an idea and hear from the other side of the House, “that is an idea worth pursuing; that is an idea that has merit; let’s work on that together.” I would like to hear that more often.

It is just not me and my ideas. Mr. Krutko has been raising the issue of a mental health worker in Fort McPherson and a nurse for Tsiigehtchic for so long I am even getting tired of hearing about it. But we could have put people through college in the amount of time it has taken the government and the Department of Health and Social Services and the Minister to respond to that particular issue.

Mr. Speaker, how about the issue the other day about mould at Stanton Hospital? That was a dandy. How many ways can you ask if there is an issue? The Minister doesn’t have to be defensive. It is not her fault there is mould in there, but she could have just said, yes, we had mould at Stanton and, yes, we have taken measures to address it. It is a department and a facility she oversees, but we don’t need to be defensive about it. We just want to hear what you are doing about it.

Mr. Speaker, we are on the same side. We are not the enemy over here. There is no need to be defensive. How do we get into this adversarial mindset?

I am going to continue putting forward ideas and asking questions. We are all here for the same reason, Mr. Speaker. I look forward to some answers. I am going to ask Mr. Miltenberger yet

again today about the bison. I hope he has some answers today. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Member for the Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I want to use my Member’s statement in terms of an issue that has been in the North for many, many years. It is regarding the residential school experience.

Mr. Speaker, lately I am seeing on TV and witnessing the ceremony in Ottawa of the honourable Governor General of Canada and the honourable aboriginal leaders across Canada and residential school survivors in Canada.

Mr. Speaker, the residential school experience has been an issue forefront in my community and it also has been an issue in my family in terms of how this whole experience has affected us. Mr. Speaker, in my research, thousands of students in the Northwest Territories attended residential schools. As a matter of fact, when I did my research, the Roman Catholic Diocese estimated about 10,000 students went to Roman Catholic residential schools, not counting the Anglican residential schools or the federal day residential schools.

Mr. Speaker, when I saw this and looked at the amount of the effects on parents in terms of residential schools, I took it back to the concept of living in one of our traditional bush camps and having three or four cabins there and having children play in those camps there, then one day a plane comes in, puts all the little children on the aircraft and flies them off somewhere and you don’t see those students for nine or 10 months, even years. Back in the small camps or even back in the families where they are sitting there with no children playing in the yards or there are no children at all. They don’t see their children. Some of these children have not come back to the communities as they are in other locations.

I want to acknowledge the parents who really missed out on this one and that we should be working with our parents to say how sorry the governments are for the type of thing they did by having their children taken away. We should really do something for the parents. The parents are left alone in terms of what to do.

I will be asking questions later on to the Minister as to how we’re going to make amends with our parents in the communities with regard to the residential school impacts.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Over the last couple of years there have been an increasing number of large conference meetings in the Northwest Territories. This summer, Yellowknife hosted the International Congress on Circumpolar Health, which was a huge success. It brought in hundreds of visitors to Yellowknife and the Northwest Territories; new visitors injecting new money into this economy.

This is clear evidence that events of this magnitude can successfully be facilitated within the Northwest Territories. Yellowknife, as an example, has the capacity to facilitate large conferences. Without including billeting and bed-and-breakfast, Yellowknife has over 695 sleeping rooms available, as well as large meeting locations including school gyms and other commercial rooms to handle large groups. The capacity does exist.

For years different groups throughout Yellowknife have been discussing the construction of a conference centre. Many feel that a conference centre would be a draw and support the tourism industry in Yellowknife and the Northwest Territories. Many want government funds for the construction of a facility.

While there is value in building a conference centre, I’m not convinced the GNWT should be involved in paying for its construction. I am, however, convinced that the GNWT does have a role in helping promote the Northwest Territories as a great location for organizations to hold conferences.

To take advantage of this opportunity, I’d like to bring forward an idea that was recently brought to me from a constituent, which I believe has a significant amount of merit. Throughout the NWT there are a large number of associations with large numbers of members. Associations like the NWT Medical Association, the Registered Nurses’ Association of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, Certified General Accountants Association, the NWT Chamber of Commerce, the NWT Chamber of Mines, and so on. The majority of these associations have a national counterpart, some even have an international counterpart. My constituent’s suggestion was to provide some moderate financial reward to NWT-based associations when they convince their national or international counterparts to come to the NWT for their annual conferences or AGMs. This could be a great opportunity for both local associations and the Northwest Territories as a whole.

SEED funding currently exists to help promote diversity in our economy throughout the NWT. I believe with some minor amendments to this program, we could easily utilize it to support a

conference incentive to local northern associations. With this incentive in place, I believe that many local associations would be happy and willing to begin campaigning their national and international bodies to come to the NWT for their annual meetings and conferences.

I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted.

If successful, this incentive could demonstrate the demand for an official conference centre in the NWT. If there is a business case, interested parties might be able to build a case and obtain money without relying on the GNWT. There are huge opportunities here.

Later this afternoon I will be asking the Minister of ITI some questions on this topic and seeking commitment from this government to find ways to promote the NWT as a suitable place for conferences by way of providing incentives to northern groups who have a desire to encourage their national and international counterparts to come to the NWT for their meetings.

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

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

One of the outstanding issues for the communities of Tu Nedhe is dust and mud in and around both of those communities. Every spring and summer residents in Fort Resolution and Lutselk’e have to endure both dust and mud issues. When it’s hot and dry, dust is everywhere. When the municipal workers apply water on the roads to suppress the dust, by doing so they have created another problem with mud. It also becomes very muddy when it rains in both those communities. For residents in both Fort Resolution and Lutselk’e, the issue is a problem even in the homes. Dust finds itself everywhere into the homes: on furniture, pictures, TV, and so on. Dust is everywhere all summer long in the homes. You can imagine the impact on personal health.

I’ve been approached by elders in both communities, elders with various respiratory problems, and they have asked that we do something as a government to provide some sort of relief from the dust problems. Parents with newborn and young children are also concerned. This is not only a municipal issue, it’s become a health issue.

As I said in the past, there is no reason in this day and age that the roads in our communities have to be in this condition. Again, I realize this is a

community responsibility; however, I feel that MACA must play a more prominent role in resolving the issue. I feel that MACA must be more proactive with the communities on these kind of municipal issues, particularly with small communities whose community capacity and capital allocations are limited. They must ensure enough resources are provided. They must ensure that technical and administrative support is provided where necessary to address this issue once and for all.

Another summer has just ended. There is no reason why we are unable to have something in place for this coming spring. Later today I will have questions for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. Mahsi cho.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like today to bring transparency to a series of issues related to the expensive practice of continued involvement of former Ministers in setting government policy through their work. The Northern Strategy Group includes the previous Minister of ITI, Brendan Bell; the previous principal secretary, Rick Bargery; the previous regional director of DIAND, Bob Overvold; and the previous Minister of INAC, Robert Nault.

While we were paying the Northern Strategy Group $1,500 per day plus expenses to work for the Premier liaising with federal Ministers, I have been told that Mr. Bell, and perhaps others, were also working for the federal government. I will be asking if this is true and whether the Premier was aware of this.

It’s come to my attention that Mr. Bell is a registered lobbyist for northern corporations such as Discovery Air, Norterra, Mackenzie Aboriginal Corporation and Harry Winston Diamonds. During late fall/early winter 2008 and later, two of these corporations -- one successfully -- applied for substantial government loans from the GNWT’s Opportunities Fund.

This fall the Northern Strategy Group staged a two-day, $2,000-per-seat infrastructure conference bringing together, among others, the current and former Ministers of DIAND and leaders of northern business and industry, including those for which Mr. Bell is a lobbyist, raising the question: have we been paying lobbyists to organize industry to lobby ourselves? This during a year when we are already spending a record $426 million on northern infrastructure.

The Northern Strategy Group got a GNWT contribution for the conference, plus $2,000

registration fees for registrants, I’m told, totalling about $31,000 in support. When you also consider that our previous Premier, Mr. Handley, began working for ATCON six months after his term ended, this after granting a negotiated contract worth $160 million just before leaving office to that firm, and that Mr. Todd has been a registered lobbyist for ATCO, a company proposing to buy into our publicly owned Power Corporation, it is clear that there are questions to be asked of Cabinet and the due diligence employed in granting sole-sourced contracts.

Yesterday I tabled a written question asking for the details of just what our contract money bought us and with whom.

I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted.

I will be asking the Premier today if he can clear up when the former Minister stopped being a Minister, when the government decided it could make its own phone calls, and when our contractors stopped lobbying for us and started lobbying us for himself and his other clients. Mahsi.

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