Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Welcome everyone in the gallery today. I hope you’re enjoying the proceedings.

Item 6, acknowledgements. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I’d just like to follow up on my questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services with regard to our elders that are in long-term care facilities paying a fee and, of course, there’s an increase coming up on June 1

st

. However, I just

want to speak more particularly about the Aboriginal elders that are in long-term care.

Our treaties dictate that our health is taken care of by the federal government. So I’d like to know if the Health and Social Services Minister has looked at this. Has his officials looked at this aspect of it? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The rates for long-term care in the Northwest Territories are by far some of the most reasonable in the country and they are not a service that is covered under treaties. Thank you.

Thank you very much. I’m confused. Health is in the treaties. So I would just like to ask the Minister once again, has he had dealings with Ottawa that lead him to say that statement, or what’s his approach or strategy towards Aboriginal elders in long-term care facilities? Mahsi.

Thank you. This arrangement has been in place for decades now and the costs are heavily subsidized by the Government of the Northwest Territories to keep the rates where they’re at. There hasn’t been an increase in many, many years. But as it pertains to the question from the honourable Member, this service is not one that’s covered under a treaty or

any kind of medical coverage through the treaty or non-insured health benefits.

Thank you very much. I don’t know; I would actually have a real good look at it. So I’d like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services, is he willing to at least look at that through a legal opinion and present that perhaps back at the House, because I believe that this certainly is in our treaties and we all know it is. With that there, Mr. Speaker, I’d like to know if the Minister is willing to do something like that. Mahsi.

Thank you. I would be happy to provide the Member with a note that would lay out the position of the government when it comes to this particular service and we can have further discussion at that point if he wishes. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Your final supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Just as a final question I’d like to know how much revenue is the government making from all of our seniors in the long-term care facilities, if the Minister can provide that to me, as well. Mahsi.

Thank you. I don’t have the number of the money that’s generated from the modest charge for long-term care facilities, but I will as well in the note to the Member add the cost that we do spend and the revenues, and the Member will see that these programs are heavily subsidized, with good reason. I mean, we made a choice, we want to give the elders in the Northwest Territories the best care possible at the most reasonable cost and I believe we are doing that, but I will share that information with the Member, as well. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister for Municipal and Community Affairs. In October of last year I asked some questions of the Minister with regard to the removal of assets at the Treminco mine site and the clean-up of that mine site. He advised me in December that they were developing an RFP for the removal of assets and that we would have the results of that RFP by mid-April 2011. I would like to ask the Minister first off what the status is of the work in terms of removal of assets at the mine site.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Robert McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The assets were auctioned off, however, the winning bidder did not pick them up. They were given final notice and still did not pick them up. We’re exploring other options as to how we can get a lot of the major infrastructure off the property.

I’m really confused now, because the Minister told me that information in October of last year. At that time, and later on, I was advised that there was an RFP that was being developed in February 2011. We’d have the results of an engineering study and what could possibly be done by mid-April 2011. I guess I need to ask the Minister if the RFP for engineering work was ever let.

We did have an appraisal on the site there, and the cost of removing all the infrastructure there was significantly higher than what we would have got for it had we sold it off as surplus. That’s the stage we’re at right now.

I now have to ask the Minister, we’ve decided that it’s too expensive to remove anything, so what’s the next step. Are we going to leave those assets there until they totally rot into the ground 300 years from now? What’s the plan of the department to clean up this mine site?

We still have to find out what we’re going to do. It’s not our intent to leave a lot of this infrastructure on the site. Obviously, we had made efforts to try and have folks bid on it. It was auctioned off. The winning bidders, as I said, didn’t pick it up. We have to find a way that we can remove this site and not have to wait for 300 years.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister. I’m really glad we’re on the same page in terms of not waiting for 300 years. The removal of assets is one thing, but the clean-up of the mine site itself is a bigger issue. I know it’s multijurisdictional, but I’m wondering if the Minister can advise whether there is any long-term plan in terms of mine clean-up. That would be clean-up of the whole site, remediation and so on.

We are looking at a couple of options as to the actual site clean-up itself. We have two avenues we’re looking at right now. We are just in the process of trying to see which one would work best. It is our intent to find every way possible to have this site cleaned up. Once we’re clear with that I can communicate to the Member privately and give her an update as to the status and where we’re at with getting the site cleaned up.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I didn’t plan to have my Member’s statement coincide with the Minister of Human Resources’ statement today, but the Minister’s statement did cover quite a few of the areas that we’ve been discussing and have concerns about.

When we talk about a representative GNWT workforce, I’d like to ask the Minister what this government’s definition of that would be. Are we only talking about numbers?