Good afternoon, colleagues. Welcome back to the Chamber.

Before we begin I’d like to draw your attention to the gallery and the presence of a former Member and the first female Member of the Legislative Assembly. Lena Pedersen is with us.

Orders of the day. Item 2, Ministers’ statements. The honourable Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bob McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The traditional economy is a critical component of the Northwest Territories economy. For many community residents these activities are not only a traditional way of life but a matter of necessity.

The traditional economy has sustained the Aboriginal people of the Northwest Territories for thousands of years, providing food, clothing, shelter, tools and goods for trade. The Government of the Northwest Territories recognizes both the economic value and inherent challenges in traditional harvesting. The government is taking action to ensure traditional economy practices continue and that these traditional values are sustained. This support serves to advance the 16

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Legislative Assembly’s goal of a diversified economy that provides all communities and regions with opportunities and choices.

The Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment provides funding assistance through the Community Harvesters Assistance Program to local wildlife committees for distribution to their respective memberships. Funding is available for renewable resource harvesters for the purchase of small tools and related equipment required to store, process and preserve foods from community hunts or harvests.

Mr. Speaker, the Community Harvesters Assistance Program is particularly important in the small communities where incomes are substantially lower and local economies are less diversified compared to the larger regional centres. This funding plays a key role in ensuring community hunts and harvests take place and that families who rely on food that is traditionally harvested have a reliable food source.

Many households outside regional centres rely on food that is traditionally harvested for over 50 percent of the meat and fish they consume. The economic realities faced by these small communities are challenging and make the traditional economy a vital and valued economic sector of the North.

Mr. Speaker, in 2011-2012, with the full support and direction of the Sustainability of Rural and Remote Communities committee, the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment will invest an additional $475,000. This brings the total budget of the Community Harvesters Assistance Program to over $1 million.

This investment has been made as part of the government’s Maximizing Opportunities Strategic Initiative. This will offset the high costs associated with harvesting in remote northern communities while continuing to support traditional practices. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister responsible for the Status of Women, Ms. Lee.

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Thank you, Ms. Lee. Item 3, Members’ statements. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As we have just heard, today is the 100

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anniversary of

International Women’s Day. This year to celebrate the 100 year anniversary, the Status of Women Council of the NWT has gathered women from all over the NWT for their conference called Celebrating Northern Women – A Century of Achievement.

Since 1911, every March 8

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women and men

throughout the world celebrate progress towards equality for women and their full participation. They reflect on the challenges and barriers that remain and consider future steps to achieving equality for all women in all aspects of their lives.

The North is now, and always has been, full of strong women, Mr. Speaker, women who have made huge contributions to the development and advancement of our Territory. But in the area of elected office, equal representation for women is sadly lacking. Women are almost 50 percent of the NWT general population, but there have never been more than three female MLAs in any Legislative Assembly. In this Legislature, only 14 percent of Cabinet is female, only 16 percent of the MLAs are female and that is the highest it has ever been. An acknowledged goal for women’s groups is

to achieve 30 percent female elected Members and the NWT is a long way from that.

Over the years, since women gained the right to vote -- and that was 1920 -- the number of women candidates in elections has gradually increased, but the number of women elected has not. As NWT residents, we have an election opportunity looming this fall, an opportunity to increase the representation of women in our Legislative Assembly. In the last election, less than half the ridings had a female candidate. Of the 40 candidates in total, only 20 percent were female. NWT residents need to start now to encourage more women to run for the office of MLA and then to provide support to those women candidates, financially, morally, emotionally, any and all kinds of support, Mr. Speaker. To my male colleagues, I put out this challenge: find a female candidate to run against you, or if you are not running, find one you will support prior to and on October 3

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Our Legislature should be representative of its people, Mr. Speaker. We will not achieve that until at least half of our MLAs are female. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are always talking about getting at the root causes of our problems in the Northwest Territories and how hard it is for us to do that mainly because we are often dealing with the immediate crises, the symptom, instead of the cause.

In health care there is an emerging group of professionals who focus on treating underlying causes. Naturopathic doctors stress preventative care, they practice natural medicine that combines scientific knowledge and traditional healing wisdom. They seek to tap into the healing power of nature. Of course, naturopathic medicine is not new, but there has been resistance in the larger medical community to official recognition and regulation of practitioners of natural medicine.

That situation is changing, Mr. Speaker. Five Canadian provinces now regulate naturopathic medicine. They have set standards for practicing it, including the scope of naturopathic practice. It is a growing sector in health care. There are now more than 1,200 naturopathic doctors across the country. In Canada we have two of the six accredited naturopathic colleges in North America and that shows that Canada is taking leadership in this area.

There are four-year college programs which first require a Bachelor of Arts degree to get in. So

graduates emerge with eight years of study behind them and are very well educated in their field.

In the Northwest Territories only a handful of professionals practice natural medicine. One of these professionals is Dr. Nicole Redvers, a naturopathic doctor practicing in Yellowknife. She was born and raised in the North, and I want to say mostly in Hay River, Chipewyan Metis, and is proud to be part of a growing profession that blends modern scientific knowledge with natural and traditional forms of medicine. Mr. Speaker, we are not regulating a field here or setting standards for their certification. That should change.

Mr. Speaker, residents of the Northwest Territories would benefit from regulation of naturopathic medicine. First, it sets standards for care and it might also help draw practitioners into this exciting field of practice in the Northwest Territories and encourage our own people to pursue it as a career. For once we have an opportunity to get out ahead of five of the provinces who don’t have legislation, but benefit from the other five who have done work in this area. I understand that Health and Social Services is working on an umbrella Health and Social Services Profession Act to cover professions with small numbers of practitioners in the Territories and, Mr. Speaker, we should include practitioners of natural medicine in this legislation. It is surely for our greater good. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When I have the mayor of Paulatuk on the phone wondering why people are being evicted from their homes, where they’re going to go, to live in the school, Mr. Speaker, we have a big problem. I’ve spoken to it many times in this House and the Housing Minister has come to the community and yet on and on it goes without a solution.

Four families have already had to be moved in with relatives. It puts stress on the families involved, it’s hard on the kids and even harder on the grandparents. Elders wonder what’s happening, why is it happening. Now another eight families are slated to be evicted. In the crisis, we have to do something about this, Mr. Speaker. We cannot just keep kicking people out of the houses they live in in the middle of winter. Where can the families go in a community of 340 people? What are they supposed to do?

The crisis stems from the arrears built up from 2006 to 2010 when the Department of Education, Culture and Employment was in charge of the system. Now

the Housing Corporation has taken the responsibility back. Members have been told the problems and the arrears are being solved.

Well, Mr. Speaker, problems are not being solved. Do we want to see eight houses in the community of Paulatuk empty? And where are the people going to live while they sit vacant, Mr. Speaker? We have to put people in these homes and keep them there.

When the Housing Minister last came to Paulatuk I thought it was a start. We had major resolving in the crisis. Now the people in the leadership want them to come back to answer the questions and find solutions to this together.

Mr. Speaker, in the meantime, the Housing Minister must put a stop to any more evictions. He must put a stop to getting people kicked out in the cold.

Mr. Speaker, I will have questions for the Minister at the appropriate time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

[English translation not provided.]

Today I would like to talk about the Food First Program and its positive impacts on the two schools in Tu Nedhe. The Food First Program in the schools has allowed schools to ensure that kids have at least one good, healthy meal per day. The program has even allowed the parents to become more involved with the students by coming into the schools and preparing breakfast for the students in Lutselk’e. In the Deninu School in Fort Resolution the school has combined the Food First Program with the Kids in the Kitchen Program to prepare a good, healthy breakfast for the students each morning.

I have spoken in the past about the importance of education and within that how essential it is for the students to attend school regularly. The Food First Program has reduced absenteeism in the schools. In other words, absenteeism is down as a result of this breakfast program. In addition, it helps a lot of students to get to school on time as they get there, enjoy a tasty breakfast, and are off to their first class.

The Food First Program has had so many positive impacts that this government must find a way to continue the program for the rest of the school year and into the future. The elimination of this program is a step backwards for our government in as far as building a vibrant and educational society in the Northwest Territories.

I will have questions for the Minister of Education at the appropriate time today.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Policing services are an essential service similar to health care, education, and more importantly, the service that we basically do not have sometimes we take for granted. I’m talking about RCMP services to the community of Tsiigehtchic, a community that I represent that does not have full-time permanent RCMP members stationed in the community.

Over the years I’ve raised this issue and now the remedy was to station an RCMP member in Fort McPherson to serve the community of Tsiigehtchic. From the records, it indicates that some 73 calls have been made to the RCMP detachment in the last year for services, yet the community continues to raise concerns with myself as their MLA, that they make their calls and are not getting the response they were hoping for. In most cases they’re not getting the response regarding the incident and in most cases the incidents don’t get investigated or responded to.

As a government we have an obligation to serve all our communities in the Northwest Territories and enhance our policing service regardless the size of the community. In light of the situation in Tsiigehtchic, I know the department has been in the community several times along with the Minister. Commitments have been made to the communities that they were going to enhance the presence of police in the community, they were going to enhance the visits by the RCMP and spend weekends in the community. Those were great promises. I think it’s important that the Department of Justice and the RCMP find a system by working with the community to find a workable solution so that they can have policing services that are deliverable and meets the community’s needs and brings down the crime rates in our communities, ensuring that we have safe, vibrant communities.

At the appropriate time I will be asking the Minister of Justice questions on this matter.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I’m going to speak about an issue that continues to hang over the Health Minister and this government. At issue is the status of the City Centre Airport in Edmonton. The runway that had instrumentation which allows for flights to land in bad weather has

been closed. To my knowledge there is now only one runway available at that airport. If you’re a medevac patient or a family member of a patient, you had better hope that the weather is good enough to land.

The fact is that the weather does not always cooperate and medevac flights from our Territory carrying our residents to services in Edmonton have been diverted to the International Airport. Just recently there have been at least three such diversions. In one case the patient being medevacced had to wait two hours at the International Airport for ground ambulance to arrive and then another 30 minutes in transit to an emergency room in the city. Is this what the Minister had in mind when she told this House that she had a plan?

The problem is this Minister has been invisible in the debate to close the City Centre Airport. She has not written one letter identifying the concerns of the public of the Northwest Territories which she represents. If the Minister is not going to defend our residents, then who will? How long will medevac patients from the Northwest Territories be at the mercy of Mother Nature? Where is the plan for services and a transition to using the International Airport? Are we just going to let Alberta dictate what is going to happen? Who exactly is our voice in these discussions?

Medevac flights are often life and death situations where time plays a huge factor in the outcome patients can expect. Where are our residents being housed while waiting for ground transport by ambulance? Are they waiting in the plane? Are they waiting on the tarmac? Are they waiting in a hallway? Perhaps they’re even waiting in the pilots lounge.

The bottom line is we need to make sure our residents are getting to Edmonton with a plan in place that will get them the services they need as quickly as possible.

I will have questions for the Minister of Health at the appropriate time.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to congratulate the City of Yellowknife for its national recognition with a 2011 Sustainable Communities Award from the Canadian Federation of Municipalities. The award recognizes the City’s outstanding work in developing its Smart Growth Development Plan.

Creation of the plan involved public consultation with over 2,000 residents and consultation with

local First Nations. It tackles such issues as urban design, land use, preservation of natural areas, transportation, economic development and energy use. The plan is a roadmap to improve the environmental character of the community through brown field redevelopment, protection of environmentally sensitive areas, expansion of community gardens and green spaces, implementation of green development standards, and the improvement of transit and pedestrian infrastructure. It aims to improve the municipal economy through a mix of tax incentives, targeted investments and neighbourhood revitalization initiatives.

The results of this good work are already being felt. The plan generated a development incentive program bylaw which encourages the construction of energy-efficient buildings, progressive residential density and heritage preservation. The City adopted a non-market housing strategy to promote affordable housing. LEED Silver Certification is the minimum target for all new municipal buildings. A major output of the plan has been action on the Con geothermal project, which I’ll speak about more tomorrow.

This award is a salute to the excellence of our capital city’s approach and achievements. As the award announcement states, this is environmental leadership on the front lines of sustainable development in Canada to inspire other Canadian communities. It’s an honour shared by all Yellowknifers who have contributed to this process.

What impresses me most about the City’s action is their comprehensive approach and their connecting of the dots between social, economic and environmental issues. They have recognized the need to act in a coordinated way on simultaneous fronts to achieve the goals of preventing predictable future dilemmas and providing healthy options to people and business. Let’s join with the Canadian Federation of Municipalities in offering hearty congratulations to our capital city’s achievements.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the entertainment world we have the Oscars; in the music business we have the Grammys; in the world of trapping we have the NWT Trappers Achievement Award. This award recognizes a way of life for our trappers and their supporting casts. Throughout the North, each season our trappers live off the land, teach their children a way of life, educate them about life on the trapline and get the young ones to use their minds, the most powerful tool in life.

This award recognizes the trappers’ business sense. It recognizes the economics of doing business. This award recognizes what it means to be self-reliant, to be able to rely on one’s own ability to live and support their families. This award recognizes trapping as a healthy lifestyle and we must have a school of trapping in the North.

I want to recognize the following trappers in the Northwest Territories and the Sahtu. May your traps always be full. I want to recognize: an elder from Fort Good Hope, George Voudrach; a trapper from Colville Lake, Robert Kochon; and I want to recognize a trapper in Colville Lake who is a youth trapper receiving this award, Jarrett Lafferty. I want to say wholeheartedly mahsi cho for all the trappers and the people in the Northwest Territories and the families for keeping our culture and tradition alive.

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