Madam Speaker, this is actually the first time that I have indicated any deadlines that we are going to be moving forward, in particular with the work plan for August 12

th and

then having a decision point for the end of the fiscal year.

Right now we don’t have a significant demand on our system. A lot of the acts on Bill C-10 haven’t actually come into effect yet, so we still have time. We are still in the planning phase, trying to make sure we can accommodate these changes when they come forward. We know this court is a valuable tool. We want to continue to pursue it, but honestly, we would rather get it right, than right now. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bromley.

Thanks for those comments from the Minister. I think we are at least in total agreement on the last statement he made. We do want to get it right.

One of the administrative mechanisms the Minister has mentioned is a move to an integrated case management, meaning that GNWT treatment and client service that work cooperatively to bring the various available programs to bear in helping individual clients. This would break down the cycles and improve the effectiveness of the individual programs. What progress has the Minister made on that front? Mahsi.

This is one of the items that is actually falling under the work plan and the terms of reference that I mentioned earlier. The departments, including MACA, Housing Corporation, Justice, Education and Health, have been working together on these types of initiatives, trying to find ways to break down some of these barriers. We will continue to do so. We will find some solutions hopefully that will improve service delivery in this area in particular. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. My question is to the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources. As you all know, the Protected Areas Strategy initiative is a collaborative effort from two levels of government, including the federal government and the GNWT, also along with NGOs, First Nations, and it has been an initiative that has been fairly successful throughout the Northwest Territories. It makes the effort to identify special ecological cultural futures of community initiatives and to try and set aside those lands for protection. Can the Minister give an update of the various PAS initiatives across the NWT? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. We have a list of protected area strategies at different stages. In the Deh Cho we have the Edehzhie, we have Sambaa K’e, Ka’a’gee Tu, the Buffalo Lake, river and trails at K’atlodeechee, the Jean Marie River cabin cultural conservation area which is step five. They are all in step five. Then we then move on to the Sahtu and the Tlicho.

I am aware of the restrictions in the House of reading excessive detail. I would point out that we have had discussions with the Minister of Environment for the federal government, who is committed to trying to continue to include the candidate sites that have been identified throughout the Northwest Territories and the long history of the Protected Areas Strategy. I would be happy to share this detailed information with the Member. Thank you.

Madam Speaker, what is the position of the GNWT in terms of selecting areas for candidate areas for PAS initiatives at the local level? Mahsi.

This process is supposed to be community driven, which is what we focus and try to maintain as well as trying to find other supporting agencies to assist with that process, but initially there has to be some drive at the community level. Thank you.

Madam Speaker, is there a position at the GNWT in terms of ensuring that there is a balance between conservation and also economic initiatives? Does the GNWT have a policy on that? Mahsi.

We do have a Sustainable Development Policy. Work is underway for the Land Use Sustainability Framework which will incorporate that sustainability policy into a broader land use framework. We do try to strike the balance across the North in terms of land that is open for development and land that has been put aside for conservation and protection purposes. That figure ranges anywhere from 45 to 50 percent. It has to be unencumbered, 50 to 60 percent. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final supplementary, Mr. Nadli.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. What steps would the department entertain to ensure that the success of the PAS initiative for the Ka’a’gee Tu First Nation is concluded? Mahsi.

Madam Speaker, there is work underway. Recent meetings were just held. The GNWT, in order to assist this program, has to get its thinking clear both on the boundary, which they haven’t finally resolved, as well as the issue of surface and subsurface protection. Other than that, this process I think has

moved forward. I understand the meetings were very productive. We intend to get back to the rest of the parties through this process in the near future. Thank you.

The honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister responsible for Seniors. Over a couple of weeks ago, we had an Elders Parliament here. They went through a lot of work. My experience working with these elders is they are very experienced. One of our values growing up in the North is to respect our elders. I wanted to ask the Minister responsible for Seniors what is his commitment to the motions that were brought forth during the Elders Parliament. How serious is he going to take these motions that put them into action or see something come out of them in this Assembly? Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Moses. The honourable Minister responsible for Seniors, Mr. Beaulieu.

Mahsi cho, Madam Speaker. To date, I have had the staff – that is my own staff here in the Legislative Assembly – review the Members’ statements to see, firstly, which of those statements and maybe some work that we are actually already working on in Health and Social Services, seniors or the disability files. Thank you.

Madam Speaker, I asked for a commitment to see these recommendations, motions put through in this government, if not sooner. We get a lot of discussions here and I don’t want to have to ask another question and get whether a commitment of yes or no and not discussions. It seems like I’ll have to use a second question to get a yes commitment or a no discussion commitment. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you. I wasn’t thinking that the Elders Parliament was specifically a seniors’ issue, I thought it was an Elders Parliament that was more of a parliamentary thing. So I looked at that from not as a Minister responsible for Seniors, but looked at the Member’s statement for Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Seniors and Persons with Disabilities and said I would ask the staff. I had asked the staff to look at the statements to see which one of those statements pertained to the three areas that I’m responsible for, to see if there wasn’t work already being done in those areas. If there wasn’t, we’re going to review it to see if we

can incorporate that, too, if we felt it was within government’s mandate. Thank you.

That was a good answer. As the Minister responsible for Seniors and ensuring that seniors have an accurate and fulfilling life in their early years and be able to continue on our traditions, culture and language, would the Minister be willing to look at these motions and be willing to address them as the Minister responsible for Seniors and not the Minister responsible for what was discussed? It was the seniors who brought this forward, after all. Thank you.

Yes, I’m willing to look at those statements and review them to see if they’re relevant to the work that we could be doing. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Beaulieu. Final supplementary, Mr. Moses.