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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With the advent, acceptance and increasing use of social media worldwide, governments are becoming involved using Facebook, Twitter, You Tube and other social media sites to promote information sharing and to communicate with residents.

Our government has also joined the social media trend. GNWT websites and government Facebook pages are popping up in more and more places. This is encouraging, but have we as a government ensured that there are consistent guidelines and policies for GNWT-sponsored social media. It doesn’t seem that way. It’s another case of us joining the crowd, moving too fast and not considering the effect and the implications of our actions.

Let me give you an example. Recently I discovered a GNWT sponsored and developed Facebook page with a number of likes on the page. For those of you Facebook luddites, a like indicates support for the person, business or organization. A like on a Facebook page is prominently displayed and can influence readers to support the person or the organization or to use the business. It can also be a selling tool. I’ve found private businesses liked on more than one GNWT-sponsored Facebook page. This is inappropriate, Mr. Speaker.

A government must not only be impartial, but must be seen to be objective and impartial. As a government, we should not be showing favouritism to any one business over another. Additionally, there’s the issue of responding to and making comments within the social media sites. Any comments posted on a GNWT Facebook page or webpage reflect the government’s view. Are the administrators of these pages given any guidelines on how to respond to comments, post comments and so on?

There seems to be a gap in policy development here. Facebook pages are initiated throughout the government and by many different departments, but do we as a government have any policies or guidelines to assist those people in their development of webpages and Facebook pages? It

appears not. We often use contractors to do things like develop Facebook pages and websites. Do they have any policies or guidelines to follow? It appears not.

We have a chief information officer and we have an information policy gap needing to be fixed. This is a job for his office. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Colleagues, before we go on, I’d like to welcome former Premier Floyd Roland back to the House today. Welcome back, Floyd.

---Applause

The honourable Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When a life is lost and a community must grieve, it begs the question of why does this have to happen.

The community of Yellowknife last summer lost a vibrant young man to a head injury while he was longboarding. Consequently, this tragedy has spurred a great debate on the personal responsibility of helmet use in road sports, the need for further education but, more importantly, the urging for legislative intervention.

Not that many years ago, our former Premier Stephen Kakfwi was quoted as saying, “We have to step up to the line and account for our inaction.” He was referencing dealing with the owners of snowmobile legislation. As a result, territorial-wide measures were implemented.

There was a time in our generation that even hockey players didn’t wear helmets, yet society today would not even fathom playing the sport without such protection. So why, Mr. Speaker, is society pitted against what would seem a logical move?

I believe the key to answer this question is always linked to enforcement. The debate about where such legislation should be implemented, as for in-house business, may be a bit premature for us now, but what we should be supporting is the ongoing involvement in the proper education programs that offer head and brain injury protection.

I must take a quick moment to thank the years of support by BHP Canada Limited, with Think First Canada and with our own in-house use of Use Your Head Program, which has provided children, youth, parents, schools, recreation providers, health care authorities and communities with information and resources such as helmets. Without such contributions, people impacted the most, due to cost, would have been affected.

I will be asking the Minister of Transportation today about our ongoing education and support on our future initiatives, and the protection and safety of head and brain injury prevention on our roadways. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Recently in the media we’ve heard of an inquest that’s taking place in the Yukon with respect to the loss of five of their residents’ lives due to carbon monoxide poisoning.

This is a very real threat and it’s something that I think the Yukon government is going to respond to. I’d like to, later today, ask questions on how our government is going to respond to this threat.

Most of us know our homes to have either hardwired or have plugged-in smoke detectors, and this has become a very, very common practice, but less thought is given to the possibility of carbon monoxide poisoning.

When I was a child, I remember my parents had very close friends who both died in their home as a result of, I believe, squirrels had built a nest in their chimney over the summer months and when their furnace came back into operation in the fall, they were both found dead in the home. I remember that very vividly as a child.

About 20 years ago in Hay River, a very well-known couple in our community decided to put a mobile home on the outskirts of town and they were off the power grid. So they put a diesel generator under the mobile home to provide power to that unit. Many trips to the medical clinic with headaches and feeling of nausea did not help anybody find out what it was that was causing them to feel unwell until, unfortunately, the man succumbed to the carbon monoxide poisoning. His partner, who still lives in Hay River today, was able to be medevaced and survived this poisoning.

We as a government have put many measurements in place to support public safety, and I think that this is an area where we as a government also need to develop a policy. Perhaps all new construction of new homes require a carbon monoxide detector to be installed as part of the construction. Perhaps also a policy that would see the availability of carbon monoxide detectors for residential and commercial applications.

Later today I will have questions for the Minister responsible, and I’m not sure which one it will be, as to what our government’s action is going to be to

curb this threat and any future loss of life for something that is so preventable. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Member for Monfwi, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. [English translation not provided.]

Mr. Speaker, I just want to say a big thank you, similar to Mr. Alfred Moses, on this CanNor announcement from this morning. Minister Aglukkaq announced new funding for our sportsplex, a sportsplex that’s badly needed in the community of Behchoko.

I would just like to thank her for her contribution, ongoing contribution. Thanks to the chiefs and the grand chief in the region and the GNWT for all the support over the years. We are doing this for the youth, and I just want to highlight the generosity and ongoing commitment from the federal government, territorial government and Tlicho Government for making this a reality. I would just like to say mahsi cho.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to take this opportunity to recognize former Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Floyd Roland. With him is Mr. Grant Hood, SAO, Town of Inuvik and a constituent of Inuvik Twin Lakes. Welcome, gentlemen.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Moses.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d also like to welcome Mr. Grant Hood, the SAO for the Town of Inuvik; and the current mayor of Inuvik, Floyd Roland, also former Premier. Welcome to the House and enjoy the proceedings.

Thank you, Mr. Moses. Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s my great pleasure to recognize the president of the NWT Teachers’ Association, Ms. Gayla Meredith, and thank Gayla for the reception meet and greet that was held this morning. It was very enjoyable. Thank you

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d also like to take the opportunity to recognize a

former colleague in the House today, as he mentioned last night at a gathering, he and I and Minister Miltenberger were all from the class of 1995 and there were four of us elected in 1995. So many memories of his presence and presentations in this House. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker, I, too, would like to recognize Gayla Meredith, president of the NWTTA for her ongoing support and partnership. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Item 6, acknowledgements. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I listened with interest to the Minister of Human Resources, Glen Abernethy, when he talked about the soon-to-be launched Aboriginal Cultural Awareness Training Program aimed at enhancing and promoting the Aboriginal culture of understanding. I want to ask the Minister, in light of what I said in my Member’s statement about Deline hosting a huge hand games tournament, with something like that, is the Minister looking at some type of cultural training program where we can fully immerse in the training and culture and understanding of Aboriginal people at their best. Is the Minister looking at something like that in terms of a training program for our employees?

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister of Human Resources, Mr. Glen Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The program that we’re designing is actually designed with the intent of helping new employees, as well as some existing employees, understand the cultures and reality of working in the Northwest Territories. It was designed in participation with a number of different Aboriginal groups in the Northwest Territories. As far as having it presented at something like the hand games, it’s not really designed for that. It’s designed for employees to help them understand the different cultures and the realities in the Northwest Territories.

I wanted to ask the Minister to be open and flexible, because what better way to

learn about the Aboriginal people than to get into them, play the hand games with them, understand the culture. Even learn a few hand signals, which I really can’t say in the House here. I think that’s the most opportune time to have employees come and sit and eat, and dance and learn the hand games of the Aboriginal people. Would the Minister look at something like that to fully understand the Aboriginal people at their best?

I’ve had an opportunity to travel to a lot of the communities in the Northwest Territories with the Member, as well, and had an opportunity to participate in the hand games, which I thoroughly lost. I do understand the value of these types of activities and initiatives but, once again, this program is really designed to help the individual employees who happen to be in Yellowknife or other communities where maybe the hand games aren’t taking place.

As a government, we do encourage our employees who live in smaller communities to engage and become part of the communities and I would hope to see members of the GNWT public service participating in the activities in Deline. The program is more designed for all communities, not one particular location.