Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to use the occasion today to talk about the Inuvik-Tuk highway. As you know very well, over the years you’ve heard me always say that I’ve been a supporter of the highway, and that support for the principle of the highway has not changed at all. I believe in some vision, in a manner of speaking, that it is nation building in its own way.

It is a new highway and may I remind this House, certainly the Transportation Minister and, of course, our Premier – the one that led the great vision I talked about last week in Ottawa – a new highway is supposed to be a federal responsibility. Now the territorial government is wading into this and, of course, gets us into an interesting pickle, whereas our public is picking up the tab for what should rightly be a federal responsibility.

The primary issue I’m hearing today, as we wait for these costs to the highway, is that the public wants to know what this is going to cost. They’re sitting in a manner here they’re anticipating, but all we hear is rumour that it will cost $200 million, $250 million, $300 million, even $350 million. Those seem to be numbers that float around. Of course, the concern that we’ve always heard is, don’t worry, the feds will pick up that 25/75 split. That was great news and new news on the $200 million highway, but of course, if it’s $350 million, are the territorial citizens going to be the taxpayers that back this particular project?

I acknowledge and certainly support the principles that our Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, has and his focus. He has had a relentless focus, and I would like to give him credit for that, about developing the North and creating opportunities that have not existed before, and he certainly does deserve that credit. I do caution our House in the context of what will our costs be.

In short, I want to bring this down to a couple of things. The first thing is, before a number is debated and voted upon in this House, I would certainly like a public number, a plain-language document of costing and reporting out there for the public so they can see it, and have a chance to consume it, and understand the particular issues that this will build and certainly be for our territory. Whatever number that ends up, it should be given to the public with a full opportunity to have some discussion on this. That way they can provide the feedback to the Members of the Assembly and say, look, I would like you to support this, or in some

cases maybe not support it because it’s such a large number.

The other issue which I will be bringing up in question period is the royalties. People are concerned about how much the royalties may be; if so, how much, and why are we paying royalties, considering how much highway in the future needs to be built. I will have questions for the Transportation Minister later today.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This past Friday I was honoured to present a Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Award to a respected elder and advocate for Dene languages and culture, Mr. Daniel Sonfrere. Mr. Sonfrere is highly respected for his lifelong determination to preserve and promote the Dene language and culture.

[English translation not provided.]

Mr. Daniel Sonfrere continues to work tirelessly for the preservation and promotion of the Dene language. As part of a committee of six elders, all of them fluent in the Dene language, he works with a translator and linguist to record and preserve our language in a topical dictionary. Mr. Sonfrere hopes that this dictionary will continue to help the young people learn from their Mother Tongue.

February 6, 2012, marked the 60th anniversary of

the reign of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II as Queen of Canada. To celebrate this event, the Government of Canada created a commemorative medal to recognize the outstanding contributions of 60,000 Canadians of all ages and walks of life.

Elder Daniel Sonfrere is worthy of this reward for his legacy of language and great dedication to his people. We are reminded daily of the influence he has taken in shaping the community that the Hay River Reserve is today. I was deeply honoured to attend the ceremony, along with Chief Roy Fabien of the K’atlodeeche First Nation, and to make this very special presentation as a Member of the Legislative Assembly for the Deh Cho.

Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. Item 6, acknowledgements. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.

Thank you, Mr. Blake. The honourable Minister of Justice, Mr. Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t have that specific information in front of me. I do know that in the summertime they have regular planned patrols of the community where they drive in from Fort McPherson. In the wintertime, if there is an emergency, they will charter a plane to come in. I will commit to getting the Member some specifics on actual response time.

It’s very interesting they charter a plane to Tsiigehtchic when we have no airstrip. Can the Minister describe the benefits of having a permanent police detachment in those communities lucky enough to have them?

I should have said they will have a flight into the community, not necessarily a plane. I had an opportunity to visit Tsiigehtchic with the Member in April where I had an opportunity to talk to leadership with the commanding officer for “G” Division. At that time, the commanding officer of “G” Division did commit to meeting with the community and working on a policing plan that met the needs of the community. I understand that a number of activities or items were agreed to.

I also understand that, having a meeting with some Gwich’in leadership in December, that plan has come off the rails a little bit.

I have had an opportunity to sit down with the commanding officer of “G” Division, who has indicated that he will go back to the community and sit down with the leadership again to try to bring that community policing plan back together. At the end of the day, policing patrols are at the discretion of the RCMP, but as a government we’re very concerned about having coverage in small communities and we believe that one of the best ways to do this is to work with the community and develop individualized community policing plans. I will commit to the Member today that the commanding officer has promised and indicated that he will go into the community, and work with your leadership to develop a plan that works for Tsiigehtchic.

Will the Minister meet with the community leaders in Tsiigehtchic to discuss putting in a police detachment there?

At the current time, there is actually a dedicated police officer in Fort McPherson to provide services to Tsiigehtchic. I’m happy to sit down and talk about options and possibilities about how we can provide a greater range of services in Tsiigehtchic. A stand-alone detachment is going to be a minimum of $5.5 million investment to develop a detachment. I think we need to work on other options first. I’m certainly willing to meet with the leadership to talk about options that would work for them.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final supplementary, Mr. Blake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Minister meet with the community of Tsiigehtchic to create a long-term plan and implement the plan?

I’ve already committed to go to the community and meet with the leadership. I’ve also indicated that the commanding officer of “G” Division and RCMP from Fort McPherson are absolutely willing to go and work with the community. So I guess again the answer is yes.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In follow-up to the issue that was raised by my colleague and myself from Hay River, I would like to ask my questions to the Minister of Public Works and Services. Knowing that Hay River is going to be in need of long-term care beds, I would like to ask the Minister if the existing hospital could be considered as one of the options for a long-term care facility for Hay River. It is strategically located on a beautiful green space. The rooms in acute care and extended care are very large. There are ample developed home-like common areas. There’s a very expensive and large kitchen and cafeteria there for residents that would need to take their meals there. There’s lots of parking. There’s a very well-located security desk that would allow you to see everybody coming and going. It would just seem that if this building could be re-profiled as a long-term care facility, it’s worth looking into and I’d like to ask the Minister if his department would undertake a technical review of the building.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister of Public Works and Services, Mr. Glen Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As with all assets that belong to a department, once the Department of Health and Social Services vacates it, it will become the responsibility of Public Works and Services, who will do a technical assessment on the building to figure out if there is any future for that building and whether it can actually be used for other purposes, then it would enter the normal process for disposal which may include, or could include, re-profiling. We would have to do a technical assessment on the building, figure out what it is, factor in deferred maintenance, costs of operating, all those types of costs. Through the normal disposal process, that will be done.

That is not the answer I was hoping for. There is no place for these folks to go if they vacate the building. We can’t wait until after the building is vacated and then start doing an assessment of whether or not it could be used as a long-term care facility. There are no other 10 long-term care beds in Hay River and we certainly don’t want to be shipping our people out of Hay River to other communities. We know that the years pass quickly in this place and the new facility will be open, it will be upon us. If we’re going to look at this as an option, this assessment would need to start to take place now. I would like to ask the Minister what it would take to get that ruling, a request from the Department of Health and Social Services. What would it take?

A request from Health and Social Services wouldn’t hurt.

So if the Department of Health and Social Services wanted to consider this facility as an option – I say an option because I don’t want to pre-empt other options but I just know how capital dollars work around here, I know how tight they can be. If the Department of Health and Social Services made a request, Public Works and Services would begin to look at the structure, the utility of this building as a long-term care facility, and prepare a report as soon as possible.

An analysis of this magnitude would actually cost some money so we would have to actually look for some money as well, which means we may have to come back to the House seeking some dollars to do that.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m not one that’s normally in favour of a lot of studies and reviews, but in this case, I would support that.