Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Elders are highly respected in First Nations and traditional cultures around the world. Northerners would agree that elders deserve to live with dignity and independence for as long as they can. Each one of us can think of at least one senior in our community who lives a vigorous and independent lifestyle, and who is a help and an example to younger generations. However, no matter how healthy we are, we need stable, effective care to help people to live as comfortably as possible in their later years.

In the summer there was an elder in Fort Providence that fell in their home and was not discovered by family for several hours. Fort Providence and the Hay River Reserve are the only communities in my riding with elder care facilities. They are not nearly as specialized or well equipped as the facilities in our regional centres. Quite often the elderly leave their community for treatment they cannot receive at home. It is especially tragic when a respected elder dies in hospital in Yellowknife or even Edmonton, far from their land and people they knew and loved most of all.

Every year it becomes more costly to transport seniors to larger centres for extended care, or to relocate them to a facility in a regional centre where they may not feel the same sense of belonging. Imagine leaving the community for treatment and while you’re away finding out that you will never see your home again, the trapline, fishing boat, lake or river.

For our elders, even if they are too old or sick to enjoy things that were such a part of their lives, it is helpful to be in familiar surroundings. Family, friends, spiritual leaders, neighbours and pets can offer hope and encouragement, which may improve a person’s overall condition.

It is good that all people in the Northwest Territories have access to quality health care for all stages of life. We must continue to support these services, but also look for ways to localize care. Removing the birth and dying process from our home communities separates the reality of the lifecycle from our home and families that impact our way of life, our thinking and, ultimately, our culture. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today in Edmonton at Government House, three constituents of Hay River North will be receiving recognition from the Royal Life Saving Society. R.J. Benoit, Lucy Benoit and Jordan Groenewegen will be in attendance at the event in which the honourable Lieutenant Governor of Alberta will be recognizing the efforts and quick thinking of these three Hay Riverites as they each receive a commendation and citation today.

Hay River has a beautiful sandy beach on the shores of Great Slave Lake, and the warm water from the mouth of the Hay River makes the mouth of the public beach a wonderful spot for swimmers. On a particular weekend in July 2011, Hay River was hosting a slo-pitch tournament and three teenage girls from Alberta had accompanied their parents and, like so many others, were enjoying the swimming at the beach. The girls drifted too far from shore, hanging on to a floating toy. The current picked them up and took them eventually two or three kilometres from shore.

When the mother of two of the girls could no longer see them, she turned to long-time Hay River campground and beach manager Lucy Benoit for help. Lucy called on Jordan, who had just gotten home, and with his high-powered binoculars was able to see the girls floating in the water. There

would have been no time for Coast Guard or RCMP to respond.

At that very moment, Lucy’s son R.J. happened to be exiting the Hay River onto the lake. The swells on the lake made it impossible for R.J. to initially see the girls. R.J. tells us that he never takes his cell phone in his boat, but this evening he had and actually could hear it over the roar of the boat. Lucy called to tell him of the swimmers in trouble, and Jordan was able to guide R.J. to the location of the girls, who by this time were screaming and on the verge of succumbing to the waves and cold water. Their floating toy had completely deflated by now and they were able to muster the strength to wave it in the air for their aiding R.J. to locate them.

Too weak to get into the boat, R.J. was able to pull all three of the girls into the boat and return to shore.

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

---Unanimous consent granted

The sequence and timing of the event that unfolded on this summer evening was nothing but miraculous. We celebrated their rescue from near disaster and the quick thinking of R.J., Lucy and Jordan.

So many of our communities in the North are located where they are because of the proximity to waterways and lakes. They provide recreation and much enjoyment for residents and visitors alike, but access to these waters requires knowledge, respect and extreme caution.

Please join me today in thanking the Royal Life Saving Society of Alberta and the Northwest Territories for the valuable work they do, and the three Hay Riverites who were in the right place at the exact right time to contribute to this happy story and the safe ending of this story. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to use this opportunity to recognize outgoing Mayor Denny Rodgers and incoming Mayor Floyd Roland. I’d also like to recognize the mayor of Tuktoyaktuk. I look forward to working with Mayor Roland in his new role.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize a former chief, former grand chief, former MLA and former Speaker, Mr. Sam Gargan. He is a former MLA for Deh Cho.

Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize the current mayor of Inuvik, Mr. Denny Rodgers. I’d like to thank him for all his hard work and dedication for residents of the community of Inuvik. He’s also a big supporter of the Children First Society and a big lobbyist for the Aviva Community Fund, which the voting begins today.

I’d also like to recognize former Premier and newly elected Mayor Floyd Roland. I look forward to working with you over the next few years. I’d also like to recognize the mayor of Tuktoyaktuk, Merv Gruben, who is a strong advocate for a lot of projects in the Beaufort-Delta region. Welcome to the House.

Thank you, Mr. Moses. I’d like to welcome all visitors here in the public gallery today and thank you for taking an interest in today’s proceedings.

Item 6, acknowledgements. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise to acknowledge and congratulate my constituent Michael Gilday, a member of the four-person team achieving a new world record in the qualifying rounds of the men’s 5,000-metre speed skating relay.

Competing at the International Skating Union World Cup in Calgary this weekend, Michael Gilday and his teammates, Charles Hamelin, Francois Hamelin and Oliver Jean, set the record at six minutes and 32.909 seconds. The team finished with a Bronze Medal in the final 5,000-metre relay race Sunday night. Gilday also finished Friday with a Silver Medal in the 1,000-metre individual race.

I invite all Members to join me in offering hearty congratulations to Michael and his teammates. Michael, you make us proud.

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

Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today, I talked about Health and Social Services to get their social workers to work in collaboration with our local RCMP. I think we can create a pilot project here in Yellowknife that could be extended throughout the North. With every opportunity that we can build positive relationships, I think, is a good thing.

In the context of working in a helping hand approach, would the Minister be willing to look at and examine a situation as described through what the Vancouver Policing Services uses, by getting some social workers out there on the street working through a drive-along program with the RCMP to talk to people and get to know what some of their problems are and work to help solve them?

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister of Justice, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Department of Health and Social Services is willing and prepared to work with the Department of Justice and RCMP to see if this type of program, where the social worker rides with the RCMP, is possible.

Would the Minister be willing to help designate someone from the Department of Health to work with me and the RCMP to help raise the profile of this particular issue? In the coming months, I realize this is not something that, if you said yes today, we’d start tomorrow, but in the

months we could prepare and build a bit of objectives and work together to a collaborative solution to help people, namely youth of course, but to help people on the streets in the night that do need that little assistance.

Yes, I am willing to appoint someone to work on the committee.

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I just want to follow up on my Member’s statement on the lack of social workers in Fort Liard with the Minister of Health and Social Services. Currently, like I had indicated, they have been short staffed all summer. It’s really impacting the health and wellness of the community. When can the people of Fort Liard expect to see another social worker at work in the community of Fort Liard?

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t have that information on when the vacancy… I suppose there is a vacancy in Fort Liard, but I am prepared to look at filling that vacancy as quickly as possible.