The Negotiated Contracts Policy exists for good reasons, and I’m glad we’ve put it to good use here. If there are problems with the policy, let’s have a discussion, but let’s not wait until the policy happens to be applied in our own backyard to speak out on it.

I look forward to the successful completion of the contract negotiations and the flow of benefits to our local economy that will result. I will have questions for the Minister of Transportation.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to add my Member’s statement today to talk about the potential benefits to the Sahtu region of the Northwest Territories. I want to say, first of all, congratulations to the GNWT and their negotiating

team for working with the people in the Sahtu and allowing them flexibility, and more importantly, for the Sahtu people to come to a decision to sit at the negotiating table on devolution. This gives them some flexibility to come, as I said in my press release, to negotiate our own faith within the Sahtu and the Northwest Territories.

This is not a done deal yet; however, we can see the benefits of us coming to the table and to take ownership of our own destiny. I wanted to say this first of all in my Member’s statement: Congratulations to the leadership and the people in the Sahtu.

I also want to say that as part of this process, and my colleague the honourable Member for Hay River Mrs. Groenewegen talked about, was the issue of decentralization and putting the decentralization process to work. We want to see results where programs, services and, more importantly, the positions are going to go into the regions and not automatically assume that the city of Yellowknife and the buildings here are going to have them. The bureaucracy needs to know that they need to put these positions in the regions and not make it easier for us as government to say it has to go to Yellowknife because it makes more sense. It makes more sense to see the services go to the regions. That’s what I’m going to be harping on this government, to hold them accountable and see if your words are real true to us and put these positions in the regions where they make more sense to my people. We’ll wait and see that approach for me.

I do want to say that’s my forewarning to the Cabinet members; that I will be here, as any other Members, to hold them accountable and transfer them and make sure that government does what is says it’s going to do.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In today’s Hub, my local newspaper, I was quoted on a discussion that I had to have with the press about our new health care facility in Hay River. This should be an exciting time for our new facility; however, there are many people in the community that are concerned that this new health care facility will be downgraded from the current hospital that we have today. The residents of Hay River are concerned that they will have to travel to Yellowknife and southern areas to have blood work, patient care and medical services done, because the facility is being downgraded. I know this is not the fact; however, the Department of Health has not been doing anything in this public relations mess.

In response to all the negative press, the two MLAs – myself and Mrs. Groenewegen – have had a meeting with the department to clear up this mess, to hopefully bury this issue. The department indicated that there was no plan to downgrade the service but that the facility would be the future of Hay River and would also be a benefit for 50 years. If it was going to be a benefit for 50 years, the difficulty that I have is the 10 long-term care beds that we have there now are not in the existing design for the new building. How can it be the future for 50 years if it doesn’t meet today’s needs?

This is a large problem in Hay River. Our population is not getting any younger. Like the rest of Canada, we are getting older. I will have questions for the Minister of Health later today.

Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This afternoon I want to talk about spring, which I know is in all of our minds. This simple word has many meanings, but to most of us it is a celebration. We once celebrated surviving the long, cold winter and also a successful trapping season. We celebrated by travelling to the nearest outpost or settlement and by feasting and dancing with our families, neighbours and community. Today we celebrate with jamborees, and of course we still feast and dance and celebrate our friendships. For the fortunate people who live on the banks of our rivers, we depend on spring to bring us fresh water, fish, and migratory ducks and geese.

I want to remind my colleagues that for me spring is a time to harvest for my family and provide for my elders. That is what my parents taught me. First provide for the elders and those who cannot go hunting, then have enough for your own family.

I also want to remind everyone that we must take precautions during spring. With the ice moving and waters flowing, fast rivers are very dangerous, especially for the little ones who are very curious and want to explore. We need to educate them about the dangers of fast flowing waters. Even experienced hunters need to be careful. We need to wear lifejackets in our boats and look out for our neighbours.

Our government should also be prepared for spring. For example, there is a good chance there will again be some flooding in Aklavik. The Department of Municipal and Community Affairs should be ready in case Aklavik and other communities need help. The community of Aklavik has not fully recovered from the last big flood, when the

government assistance was not available for the community.

I will have questions for the Minister later today. Have a safe and enjoyable spring, everyone.

Thank you, Mr. Blake. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. Robert McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m pleased to recognize a constituent of mine and mayor of the Town of Inuvik, Mr. Denny Rodgers. Welcome.

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I also would like to recognize Chief Jim Antoine – welcome to the gallery – and my assistant, Ms. Pearl Norwegian, who is here for this week. Great to see them travelling.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to recognize the mayor of Inuvik, Denny Rodgers, and Chief Jim Antoine, who both have been strong role models for leaders across the Northwest Territories.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just saw her a few minutes ago; I think she’s still up there. I’d like to recognize Sandra Taylor. She’s the president of the Yellowknife Seniors’ Society. I, too, at this time, would like to recognize the wise elder Jim Antoine.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize Pastor Emmanuel Adam. He’s not my constituent, he’s yours, but I appreciate the good work he does in Tuktoyaktuk. Often when my husband has visited up there, he’s stopped in at the church and I do not think we can underestimate the good spiritual leadership provided by our pastors here in the North.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. I, too, would like to welcome Pastor Emmanuel Adam from Tuk. Thank you for coming down and taking part in our opening day today here in the House. Mayor of Inuvik Denny Rodgers, a good friend too. Welcome to the House. Everybody that’s here,

welcome to the Legislative Assembly’s proceedings.

Item 6, acknowledgements. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In following up on my Member’s statement, my questions are for the Minister of Transportation. I want to note that the development of the Giant Mine never delivered economic benefits to the people of the Drygeese territory. It crippled the subsistence wealth of their traditional lands and left a legacy of poisons to deal with. If Giant were a new mine being developed today, an economic benefits agreement would certainly be in place as a first order.

Suppose that this mine were being developed today, based on his experience over the last 12 years of diamond and other mining developments in the territory, what economic benefits would the Minister see as the basic opportunities made available for the YKDFN economic participation?

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. David Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In answering the Member’s question, I think the Northwest Territories has come a long way when it comes to developing mines in our territory. We have resources like the Mackenzie Valley Resource

Management Act, and certainly back in the 1930s, a property like Giant, the Aboriginal community at the time wouldn’t have access to impact benefit agreements. There was no such thing as a socio-economic agreement with the government of the day.

Nowadays, when we develop new mines in this territory, there are such items like IBAs and socio-economic agreements where Aboriginal governments and companies can avail themselves of opportunities from resource development in our territory. That includes business opportunities, education, training and employment opportunities. Certainly, with the advance of diamond mining in our territory, many of our communities, especially in the North Slave region of our territory, have benefited tremendously from the development of our resources here. Thank you.

Thanks to the Minister for those comments. As I’ve noted, some critics of this negotiated contract underway right now claim that we already have a full, competitive complement capable of this project. I don’t disagree with them on that point. Yet, as I said, YKDFN’s Det’on Cho Corporation is taking root today because that First Nations’ participation was never promoted when the mine was developed.

I’m wondering what are the Minister’s views on ensuring that Det’on Cho is enabled to join the ranks of our successful First Nations and other development corporations and finally get an opportunity to join the competitive capacity of industry on their own traditional lands. Thank you.