Good morning, colleagues. Welcome back to the Chamber. Orders of the day. Item 2, Ministers’ statements. The honourable Minister of Justice, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I am pleased to announce the start of our fourth annual Elder Wilderness Camp Project for adult male offenders from the Sahtu.

This program runs for six weeks each winter. It is a specialty program that returns inmates to their home regions to participate in a camp with local elders. They learn from their own elders in a traditional setting close to home. Last year, the team of elders and department staff were honoured with a Premier’s Collaboration Award. It is truly an example of working together to benefit the entire community.

Charlie and Laura Tobac and Angus Shae are the elders in charge of this program. They provide regular one-on-one counseling to offenders and teach them traditional skills they may never have learned. The direct connection with elders from their own regions also gives offenders the confidence to ask them for support in their communities once they leave the camp.

It is important to note, Mr. Speaker, that this is a specialty program, it may not be appropriate for everyone. Our full-time correctional camp at Kozo Lake is also available for minimum to medium-security adult male offenders who would benefit from this sort of program and are interested in participating. About seven offenders are there each day. They learn bush skills like trapping and fishing, and many of them come away with an improved

sense of who they are. It is an excellent program for reconnecting offenders with the land.

Mr. Speaker, these are not business opportunities. There are other GNWT programs that support outfitters and traditional hunters and trappers. These programs are developed to meet the needs of our inmates. It is not as simple as placing inmates at an existing camp. We have to design programs that meet their needs, and keep them in a camp that will provide appropriate security for the inmates, the staff and the public. Our corrections service has started work to develop other correctional wilderness programming that meets the needs of offenders. When people are in our custody, we have an obligation to provide programs that help them to stay out of trouble in the future. Our current programs are excellent for certain offenders, but they are not what others may need. That is why we are trying to develop land programs that will specifically deal with the needs of a larger group of offenders.

To address this effectively, a Land Program Development Committee has been established.

This committee, comprised of five aboriginal case managers and liaison officers, will initially develop program objectives and identify inmate needs that can be met in camp settings. Once that work is done, they will help operators develop appropriate programs and will monitor their implementation. This is an important initiative that will provide greater focus on a very important aspect of our corrections programming. I look forward to the results of their work, and will be pleased to report back to this Assembly on their progress.

The department also funds a range of community justice committee activities. Whereas correctional wilderness programs are just for sentenced offenders in custody, community justice committees have much more flexibility in the programming they offer. These programs are developed and implemented at the local level. The GNWT’s role is to provide financial, programming and training support. Every community is different, so the programs will not be the same from one region to another. But some of the most common activities are diversion programs and crime prevention programs.

In diversion, the committee accepts cases from the Crown and RCMP. These are minor cases, usually property crimes, and the offenders have agreed to plead guilty. The committee reviews these cases and comes up with a sentence that best fits the situation. In this context, on-the-land programming isn’t part of a sentence; it’s a way to reconnect youth with the land and encourage them to stay out of trouble in the future.

Crime prevention programs can be short or long; they can be at established camps or bush-style programs. The justice committee, interested residents and elders often participate in the development of these programs. I am always proud when communities take the initiative to deal with their own justice issues. Our crime rates are far too high. Mr. Speaker, we have to take responsibility for our own actions, and put programs in place that will work for us. It all comes down to community support, community planning, and community partnerships.

Mr. Speaker, I am very proud of these initiatives. They have been developed at the local level to address specific local needs. I would encourage all residents to become more involved in their local justice committees and the activities they run. That will ensure that our system truly represents the people it serves. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.

Mr. Speaker, the proposed Mackenzie Gas Project promises to be one of the single most important projects for the future of the Northwest Territories and one of the biggest economic development initiatives in Canada in the foreseeable future.

This project alone has the potential to build a thriving economy in our region and provide us with many of the choices and opportunities we require in order to create a vibrant, healthy and sustainable future for the Northwest Territories. It also has the potential to provide jobs, benefits to our country as a whole, and to serve as a much needed stimulus to the national economy.

The current economic downturn has given us the opportunity to highlight to our country's leaders that ours is a region whose economic potential and success promises to have direct and significant impacts on other provinces.

I discussed this potential with the Honourable Lisa Raitt, Minister of Natural Resources Canada, in

January. I emphasized to her that support of the Mackenzie Gas Project

would

contribute to the

economic recovery of almost every other Canadian jurisdiction. By way of our example, the Wright Mansell Report we commissioned determined that Alberta would see an increase in GDP of $9.9 billion and Ontario would see a GDP benefit of $5.1 billion from the construction and operation of the project.

I was pleased to see this support reflected in both announcements by Minister Prentice prior to the federal budget, as well as in the federal budget introduced on January 27, 2009. Minister Prentice indicated that the federal government is moving to work closely with the proponents of the Mackenzie Gas Project to ensure that the financial conditions were right to move forward with this project following the regulatory process. The federal government committed $ 37.5 million in their recent budget to ensure that the regulatory process could continue to conclusion and federal departments could continue to work on the project for the 2009-10 fiscal year. These are strong signals that the federal government is prepared to support the Mackenzie Gas Project as one of the cornerstones of the new Canadian economy. Clearly this project is of the utmost importance to Canada and indeed to the energy future of North America.

Mr. Speaker, the Mackenzie Gas Project represents our best option to enhance opportunities for our youth and ensure that the population of the Northwest Territories grows in the future. It also offers us the opportunity to reduce the cost of living through gas conversion and reduce greenhouse gas emissions not only in the Northwest Territories, but across North America.

It is the reason why this government continues to support this project, subject to the regulatory review outcome, because of its importance on a continental scale. This is why we are advancing our support to it as a strategic initiative and one of our highest priorities.

Our objective is to see this project completed in a manner that minimizes potential impacts and maximizes benefits to all people of the Northwest Territories.

In the past four years, we have made significant advances towards preparing our residents, businesses and communities to take advantage of the opportunities that this project will offer. We signed a socio-economic agreement with the project proponents which will result in employment and business opportunities, training, reporting and will serve to mitigate impacts on our roads, health care, and social support systems.

We worked with the federal government to realize the Mackenzie Gas Project Impact Fund which will provide half a billion dollars over 10 years to address potential socio-economic impacts in regions affected by the proposed Mackenzie Gas Project.

We have fully participated in the environmental assessment and regulatory processes for this project and eagerly await their conclusion.

Looking forward, we will continue to harmonize our efforts with those of other regulators to ensure no more process hurdles impede the conclusion of the Mackenzie Gas Project regulatory process.

We will continue to be diligent in representing our positions and interests in the National Energy Board process to make certain that the best interests of present and future generations of Northwest Territories residents are heard and taken into account.

And we will continue to support aboriginal organizations such as the Aboriginal Pipeline Group and other Northwest Territories businesses and corporations who will provide the means through which our people will benefit.

Mr. Speaker, we are fully aware that the Mackenzie Gas Project still faces many challenges but we remain confident that it can and will be built.

Our work and role as the Government of the Northwest Territories will be critical to the realization of this goal in a timely, coordinated and consistent manner that will result in the dawn of a new and bright economic future for our residents as a strong and proud part of our Nation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Item 3, Members’ statements. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on Wednesday, February 18th , I said

some things in the heat of things in terms of the board reform. I have been thinking now for a couple of days about my words that came out in this discussion.

Last night I was with my children at home and was thinking about words that my mother taught me. Especially my grandmother, she always said to strive to work better with other people. Not too long

ago, some of the elders in the Sahtu told me to think about what I am going to say and how I am going to say it because words in the olden days were very powerful. They had a strong message and they could help you or they could hurt you in terms of what you want to do with your life or your people.

So I was thinking about this last night, Mr. Speaker, about the last couple of days here and I remember having some discussions. I want to say, for the record, Mr. Speaker, and I want to say it very sincerely, that I have said some things to Minister Miltenberger in terms of his style. I said something personally to him saying he acted like a dictator in a heated initiative that was happening in the Northwest Territories. I thought about this for a bit and I don’t feel very good about saying that very publicly, because I wanted to say that this is not what my elders have taught me. Sometimes you have to eat your words.

So I want to say that to Mr. Miltenberger himself, and his family, that I do wish to take back those words and say I want to work in cooperation on certain issues and that sometimes words slip out and sometimes you want to take them back. But sometimes it’s very hard. So I want to say that in terms of the teachings of my elders that I’m taking responsibility for looking at where we can work together on this initiative.

These are not the sentiments of the Sahtu people to name call people…

Mr. Yakeleya, your time for Member’s statement has expired.

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted

So on behalf of the people of the Sahtu region I do apologize to the Minister and his family for those remarks I made and I will keep an eye on what I have to say in the future.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I’d like to take my once a year opportunity to highlight my favourite sport and that would be basketball.

Far better than hockey.

---Interjection

Over the next two weekends NWT and Nunavut basketball teams will battle it out in Yellowknife at the Annual NWT Power Corporation Junior Cager and Senior Cager Basketball Championships. Starting at 4:00 p.m. today all Members can enjoy watching 37 different junior basketball teams from six Yellowknife schools, Princess Alexandra school in Hay River, SAMS school in Inuvik, the Tulita Wolves, and a team from the Kugluktuk High School right through until late Sunday afternoon. Next weekend the Senior Cagers go to work, again from Friday afternoon until late Sunday. Yellowknife’s high school teams will go up against teams from Fort Simpson, Cambridge Bay, and Inuvik.

These two weekends will showcase both our young up and coming athletes and our current star athletes in the great sport of basketball. There will be competition in five different categories: Grade 6 category, Grade 7, and Grade 8 for the Junior Cager; and under 15 and under 19 divisions in the Senior Cager. Some of these players will represent the NWT at the 2009 Canada Summer Games in August of this year being held in PEI.

This is a big tournament. Last year Yellowknife hosted 39 teams from nine schools with more than 379 athletes who played 88 basketball games in 2.5 days. And that’s just the numbers for the juniors’ weekend. You can almost double that for the two weekends’ totals.

These two tournaments would not be possible without the efforts of volunteers: the numerous teachers and community members who coached the teams, the Yellowknife members of Basketball NWT who volunteer tirelessly before and during these championship weekends to ensure that the kids have a great time and enjoy the competition. Nor would a tournament of this magnitude be possible without the corporate sponsorship of the NWT Power Corporation. As much as we love to hate the Power Corporation, they recognize the value that sports and an active lifestyle can have for our young people. The Power Corporation’s donation of $7,000 to the Cager tourneys shows their commitment to NWT youth and ensures successful championships.

In closing, I encourage all Members to find a noisy gym this weekend or next and watch our young people in action. I promise you will not be disappointed.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Now that the dust has settled on those two dreaded words, “board reform,” I have some suggestions to offer going forward.

Some have suggested a special committee. A special committee is something that is struck by the Legislative Assembly, funded by the Legislative Assembly, commissioned by the Legislative Assembly, and the findings of the special committee reports back to the Legislative Assembly. In the past we’ve had some of these to deal with major issues on our agenda. Very costly. I don’t think we’ve had one yet that’s come back at a cost of under $1 million. I don’t know what we would actually find out if we had a special committee on board reform, so I can’t support that.

I don’t think that a joint committee of Cabinet and MLAs at this point would really serve this purpose very well either because when I mentioned the words ”constitutional development’ I was suggesting that what we were proposing as a government in terms of board reform could launch us into constitutional development talks and a full constitutional forum, because the federal government devolves authority to our territorial government and our territorial government devolves authority to the regions and communities. If we were going to, with one fell swoop, wipe out that participation in the communities and regions, I would suggest that we would have some extremely unhappy aboriginal governments throughout our Territory. And they would necessarily be looking to the federal government to come in here and solve this problem. I wouldn’t really support just Cabinet and Regular Members either. I think if we want to go back to our priorities of the 16th Assembly and

talk about political development, we have to be very cognizant and inclusive of our aboriginal leaders as well.

We have something under our Refocusing Government Strategic Initiative Committee called the program review office. I think that we would be wise to encourage that committee and that office to continue to look at efficiencies and effectiveness department by department, and wait for and invite regions to come forward with efficiencies that they may be able to identify themselves. I’ve said before we have a lot of very pressing issues on our plate right now and I think we should totally dial back any further actions with respect to board reform.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I have always supported the Mackenzie Valley Highway Expansion Project and the benefits that this project will bring to communities throughout the Mackenzie Valley.

The key piece of infrastructure in this expansion project is the construction of permanent bridges over the Liard and Mackenzie rivers. Not only would these bridges complete the Mackenzie Highway and open up the Mackenzie Valley to the Arctic Coast, it would also provide much needed benefits to my people in my region and riding of Nahendeh. Permanent all-weather bridges for the residents of Fort Simpson and other Deh Cho communities would reduce the cost of living, expand economic opportunities, increase tourism opportunities, and overall enhance their quality of life. All of these benefits are fundamental to the goals that we established in this Assembly.

Residents of Fort Simpson in particular have waited a long time for some indication that a bridge over the Liard may be a reality. I am requesting that the Department of Transportation works with the communities to begin baseline studies, conceptual plans, and the Class D estimate process in order to move these projects into the government’s capital planning process. I would be asking the Minister questions at the appropriate time.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the debate about board reform on Wednesday the Premier identified that privacy policies seemed to block departments from working together. The issue was identified as one of the reasons for board reform. I guess the idea is that if nurses and teachers as well as housing and income support officials were co-located under one CEO they could freely exchange personal information about their clients. I’m not sure that it would work that way and it concerns me for two reasons.

First, if privacy policies are not operating now, then that’s a problem we need to work on and solve. Board reform won’t automatically solve that problem. The Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act was prepared and enacted by this government. If it needs to be amended or changed, then the Minister of Justice should bring forward

those proposals. It seems like an awfully long detour around a problem to rearrange a government structure of three major departments in order to improve employee access to personal information of their clients when that information is held by another agency.

Second, both the Premier and the Minister of Finance have talked about improving case management in the context of access to personal information of clients. The basis of good case management is client participation. The basis of being able to access and share a client’s personal information is client consent. If a client with various problems refuses to participate in understanding and determining his or her own needs and next steps, then the good deeds of social workers and nurses and housing representatives are not likely to help. If a client does not consent to letting social workers and teachers have access to his or her medical records, then our laws say that we have to respect that. I, for one, don’t think that an income support worker should be able to access a client’s medical records without his or her consent.

I think this is a topic that deserves more work and attention as opposed to board amalgamation. Privacy issues often take two forms: to share individual information such as the case and topic that I just mentioned or in the form of the management of program IT systems which have lots and lots of personal information in them. Perhaps the Ministers were suggesting that the teachers should be able to access the income support records or electronic health records. This goes far beyond one worker dipping into a person’s file or another worker. This would start a move towards Big Brother of George Orwell’s 1984, the government keeping a master file on its citizens. This is what the privacy laws are intended to prevent.

I do think the government needs to make more of an effort to tackle these issues. I do think the government needs to acquire additional expertise and privacy issues and work with relevant boards…

Mr. Abernethy, your time for your Member’s statement has expired.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted