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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As my colleague from Frame Lake mentioned, March 8th is International Women’s Day. So today I’d like

to highlight the contribution that the Centre for Northern Families makes to the lives of women and their families in the Northwest Territories. Sponsored by the Yellowknife Women’s Society, the Centre for Northern Families offers important programs and services to an increasingly diverse group of Northerners.

The Yellowknife Women’s Society began in 1988 when a core group of northern women from a wide range of backgrounds saw a need for a drop-in centre where women could gather for support, share ideas, and to work on projects of mutual interest. The Yellowknife Women’s Society opened its doors in 1990 in a small house in Yellowknife’s downtown and quickly became a place women turned to in crisis situations.

For the first five years the society operated on the efforts of volunteers and with no core funding. In 1995 contributions from the GNWT and the federal government allowed the Centre for Northern Families to hire a coordinator and continue to build on the existing programs and services. The growing centre moved to two different sites in 1997 and then to its present larger location later due to increasing need for emergency shelter.

Although membership in the society is limited to women, their partners and children may access any of the services offered by the Centre for Northern Families. The shelter’s name is inclusive and recognizes that healthy families in which both women and men are equally important are a foundational building block for the functional community.

Some of the programming the centre provides does not exist anywhere else in the community. It is deeply involved in health, parenting, employment, housing, and education concerns for northern women. It currently offers an advocacy program, an Inuit sewing circle, a new Canadian and multicultural program, healthy baby and toddler clubs, respite childcare, a teen girls club, a walk-in medical clinic. The programs and services strive to meet the basic needs of marginalized women and their families.

For the last 20 years the goal of the Yellowknife Women’s Society and the Centre for Northern Families has been to empower women so that they can develop their goals, achieve wellness, enjoy equality, and be recognized for the contributions they make to our community. They are governed by principles of tolerance and inclusiveness and try to respond to the needs of people first, instead of a specific programs or philosophies.

The Centre for Northern Families reaches out to a widening circle of people who have come to Yellowknife from across the Northwest Territories, Canada, and around the world. They deserve our continued support, encouragement, and recognition.

I’d like to take this opportunity to encourage Members of this Legislative Assembly…

Your time for Member’s statement is expired, Mr. Abernethy.

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

---Unanimous consent granted

I’d like to take this opportunity to encourage Members of this Legislative Assembly and the public-at-large to applaud the staff and volunteers of the Centre of Northern Families for their hard work and dedication. They make a difference in Yellowknife and the Northwest Territories.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The issue I want to talk to today is the issue about access to public pay phones. Years ago there were pay phones almost everywhere you looked, whether they were on the street corners, at the arenas, our theatres, or even our grocery stores and shopping malls. These days there are less and less and you’d be lucky to find any. In my riding of Yellowknife Centre alone I’ve only been able to track down one and that’s at the Explorer Hotel. We’ve reached a point where it’s hard to believe that pay phones are even less common than public washrooms.

For some of you who may not know, pay phones got their start back in 1878 as pay stations. People paid the station attendant after making a call. Coin operated pay phones were only introduced 11

years later in 1889. These phones were extremely important, of course, because it wasn’t until World War II when house phones, private phone lines, became publicly available. Nowadays it seems even the term “pay phone” belongs in a different time and perhaps maybe even a different generation. I wonder even today if I’ll have to take my son to the museum to see what a pay phone might have looked like. Or I certainly hope that our education Minister will start rolling it into history classes right in line with stories about the passenger pigeon and, yes, the dodo bird, and soon it will be the pay phone.

Even considering some of us come from a different time, as well, there will be a few here who will remember that Superman had to run into a pay phone to change into his costume to do public good. Many people out there wouldn’t even know that and wonder what the pay phone was.

Some of the people here in Yellowknife need a pay phone for their access as a lifeline. People on low income don’t necessarily have a phone. People from the communities don’t necessarily carry a cell phone, so when they visit Yellowknife they’re in a difficult position. The assumption out there is that everyone has a cell phone and certainly that’s not the situation that exists.

The CRTC is now getting away from its public responsibility about providing public access to pay phones. They may complain about the maintenance costs, the vandalism, the lack of user fees, and about other trouble. I hate to say it, but that’s not my problem. Public access to communication is a right. The reality is here that we need pay phones.

I’m going to close by saying that I’ll be raising questions with the Minister of Public Works later today to talk about what he is doing as our intervener in this public communications issue. I’ll have questions then.

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Recently I received a letter from a group of students at the Acho Dene School in Fort Liard. They wrote to tell me that their school had been selected to participate in a student exchange trip and they were very excited about it.

---Applause

These students will be visiting the Heiltsuk First Nation community of Bella Bella. Bella Bella has

about 2,200 residents and is on Campbell Island in the central coast area of British Columbia.

I think that exchange trips give students a wider view of the world, so this should be quite an experience for them. This exchange is sponsored by the Society for Educational Visits and Exchanges in Canada, and also, I believe, by contributions from our government.

The Society for Educational Visits has brought more than 300,000 young Canadians together in forums, visits, and exchanges. The Society for Educational Visits promotes safe and fun activities where youth can get to know each other, learn by doing, and gain confidence to be leaders.

The students from Bella Bella will be visiting Fort Liard the week of March 22nd to March 28th and the

school is planning celebrations. I’m not too sure about the details, but they do plan to include a community feast and drum dance.

I’d like to thank Ms. Diane Nelson, the group coordinator, the Acho Dene School staff, and all the parents and community volunteers who will have made this exchange possible. I commend you all and good luck with the exchange.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. Robert C. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize in the gallery five youth who are in Yellowknife to volunteer their time and assistance during the Volunteer Summit sessions this coming weekend. The youth have been part of a previous Youth Ambassador Program and have shown excellent leadership qualities, and I would encourage Members, if given the opportunity, to ask them about their experience. The five youth are: Christina Esau from Sachs Harbour, Bhreagh Ingarfield from Nahanni Butte, Deborah Richards from Enterprise, Sidney Tutcho from Deline, and Trevor Betsina from Ndilo.

As well, we have with them from the MACA office in Fort Simpson Mr. Shane Thompson and also Ms. Dawn Moses, who was a part of Team NWT at the recent Scott Tournament of Hearts, who did very well. Welcome to the Assembly.

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

I, too, would like to recognize Mr. Shane Thompson from Fort Simpson. Welcome

to the gallery. Also, Ms. Dawn Moses as well as Bhreagh Ingarfield, a student from Nahanni Butte. Also welcome to all participants of the Volunteer Summit. Enjoy your stay here this weekend. Good luck. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Michael McLeod.

I’d like to recognize the grand chief of the Dene Nation, Mr. Bill Erasmus. Welcome here.

I’d also like to welcome a number of youth that I’ve had the opportunity to work with over the last many years and probably familiar faces to many of the Members here. We’ve seen a lot of these youth work as Arctic ambassadors, our youth ambassadors at Arctic Winter Games, Canada Games, at some of the economic development conferences, youth events, and sporting events. They are certainly role models for other youth in the North. I’d like to welcome Debra Richards, the lone representative from the Deh Cho. I welcome her here today. I also wanted to recognize Bhreagh, who has done a lot of work in Nahanni Butte with the moose/dogs issue. I also want to recognize Christina from Sachs, who has never been able to beat me at cards. Also, Sidney Tutcho and Trevor Betsina, and a lot of the work that’s been done with the youth by Shane Thompson. I know Dawn Moses can’t get up because she’s got so many curling medals wrapped around her neck, but welcome. I want to thank them all for joining us here today.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s a great pleasure to also welcome Bill Erasmus, chief of the Dene Nation and also a resident of Weledeh, as well as a Member of another well-known family in Yellowknife, Trevor Betsina, another resident of Weledeh.

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

He’s been recognized a couple of times already, but the Dene National Chief Bill Erasmus. Good to see you here.

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

Today I’d like to welcome Ms. Christina Esau from Sachs Harbour to the House. I recognize my mother from Tuktoyaktuk in the House today.

Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

I, too, would like to welcome Mr. Jacobson’s mother, Ms. Regina Jacobson, to the House. I also would like to recognize a young hiker on the CANOL Trail, Mr. Sidney Tutcho from Deline. One of the youth that hiked I think just over 60 or 70 miles on the trail.