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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize a constituent and former Member of this Legislative Assembly, Ms. Lena Pedersen.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is a pleasure to recognize someone in our gallery, it would be Loretta Elias, who is the mother to a Page here that’s come down from Inuvik. We have two Pages from Inuvik: Ms. Hailey Verbonac and Ms. Brandi Larocque.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize today, Ms. Donna Ruben, Ms. Karlene Green and Kynwill Gordon-Ruben that helped us this week with our Page Program. I’d like to thank them again for coming. Also I’d like to recognize Loretta Elias, formerly from Tuk, now living in Inuvik, and her daughter Brandi, and also Hailey as well. Welcome. Also my daughter Chelsey Jacobson somewhere up there, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d also like to take this opportunity to recognize Lena Pedersen, one of the trailbreakers and first women elected to this Legislature and one of only approximately 10 in the entire history of the Legislature. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. If we’ve missed anyone in the gallery today, welcome to the House. I hope you’re enjoying the proceedings.

Item 7, acknowledgements. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I wish to acknowledge a student in the Bachelor of Management program at University of Lethbridge in Alberta. Shermayne Menicoche has recently received a $2,500 scholarship from the NWT Chamber of Commerce. Shermayne was chosen out of 17 entries because the judges were impressed with the volunteer work that she did as a student. She has been an enthusiastic community volunteer and at Aurora College, where she also held student leadership positions. In addition, Shermayne also received a Dehcho First Nations scholarship that provides $1,000 a semester for one year.

Shermayne is a graduate of Thomas Simpson School in Fort Simpson and while working in Yellowknife, started taking evening courses at Aurora College. She completed her diploma in Management Studies in Fort Smith in April.

I am honoured to acknowledge my niece Shermayne Menicoche and wish her the best in her studies to complete her Bachelor of Management at the University of Lethbridge. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Item 8, oral questions. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is currently a ministerial directive that states that rental vehicles are not allowed and NIHB Metis, seniors and individuals making under $80,000 per year without third-party insurance coverage are all eligible to stay at LARGA Boarding House in

Edmonton. LARGA Boarding House provides that ground transportation under the contract and if the LARGA is full, patients placed in other commercial accommodations will be given transportation service. We have nothing to do with those who are being covered under third-party insurance. Now those residents who make more than $80,000 a year who are not NIHB, who are not Metis eligible, are reimbursed for the transportation costs. So, Mr. Speaker, the department is in the process of reviewing how many clients actually would even be part of the exclusion where they would not be eligible under NIHB, Metis health benefits or seniors’ health benefits and then that would have to be taken into consideration to see how this could be changed. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I didn’t understand that answer at all, actually. I have to say that that was one of the most confusing answers I’ve heard in a long time. Mr. Speaker, the issue is about adjusting the policy of medical travel so the option of renting a car where it’s applicable can be a reimbursable expense as opposed to just have to take a cab and submitting your receipts. Mr. Speaker, what is the issue or policy problem with having that as an option today? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I’m going to take the question as a notice and I’ll get back to the Member in writing of exactly what I said. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I talked about the residential schools and the impact on parents in our small communities. Mr. Speaker, in 1850 it was mandatory, compulsory that all children aged six to 15 be in school, so it just had a huge impact. This compulsory, mandatory act ended in 1948.

Mr. Speaker, in terms of that amount of time, I want to ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment in terms of his work with the Residential School Committee of the Northwest Territories, are we doing some work in terms of specific work being done towards working with our parents in terms of the devastating effect it had on their life and on all the children that attended these residential schools under these conditions?

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Yes, we do have dedicated staff that deal directly with application-based process when they have to file a claim. So we do our part to deal with

those recipients. Not only that, Mr. Speaker, we try to assist those individual clientele that if there’s a need to assess them in the various areas, we do have some staff that can look after those areas. It is under federal jurisdiction and we continue to work with the federal government. We, as GNWT, have a small play in this area, but we continue to provide those services to those individuals from the communities. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the Minister has alluded to some of the services they provide to the Northwest Territories residential school survivors. I’m more specifically focusing on the parents themselves that had to endure this hardship from having their children torn away from their homes, threatened if they do not send their children to schools, threatened with jail time or cut off from rations. The parents endured very, very horrendous impacts in terms of not having their children attend these schools. I know there’s a reconciliation process going on. I know the territorial government has a small role and it has a significant role. I would ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, through his education committee, is there some specific work being done to work with the parents in the Northwest Territories in regard to the residential school issues?

Mr. Speaker, this is one area that we continue to work with since the announcement came out a couple years back. We did attend a forum in Fort Providence when there was a circle meeting with the Dene Nation -- it was organizing that meeting -- so I did attend on behalf of my department, on behalf of the GNWT. It was a very successful meeting where all the groups gathered. I think those are the groups that are the decision-makers, the people that can approach them. So we continue to work with those groups and we do have our staff representatives that are involved with those groups, the meetings and whatnot.

Mr. Speaker, we’ll continue to support those areas and attend the future meetings if there’s the Dene Nation organizing such meetings as we had successfully in Fort Providence. Mahsi.

I certainly support the Minister’s continued attendance at these very important community meetings regarding this issue. Again, I would ask the Minister, in terms of his leadership role, in terms of working with this issue here, the Prime Minister has apologized, the Roman Catholic Church has apologized, even the Northwest Territories government has apologized. I would ask if the Minister would look at, with his colleagues, some type of statement to the parents of the children who went to residential schools. Specifically, to the parents in terms of the devastating impact that these parents have to go through in terms of sending their children off to

residential schools, and also noting that some children did not return back home to their parents. This is a longstanding issue that people in our communities would like to look at. Will the Minister look at something in terms of doing some work with the parents, again, in this specific request?