Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to thank Mr. Yakeleya for bringing this motion forward. First of all, I want to deal with the elephant in this room and that is why is a big city MLA concerned about a small community issue. This is important to me and it’s simple. This motion is an issue of equality, it’s an issue of accountability and it’s also an issue of class management. I will try to address these three ideologies in support of Mr. Yakeleya’s motion.
First of all, equality. Why are we allowing certain communities to be considered a tier 2 or second class to what is considered norm in larger centres in the Northwest Territories? Why should certain residents not feel secure or have access to basic health care needs? It’s clear you’re tethering on a human rights issue and ignoring the obvious will cost us more in the long run than just doing nothing, and this will cause a great divide of northern unity.
Second is the issue of accountability. Earlier this session the Minister of Justice alluded to the cost of setting up an RCMP service and new committee could run the government approximately $11 million a community and it would cost us to operate about $40 million if we were to implement all these communities. Yes, I think everyone would agree this is a costly ask within the shadow of this motion. However, this motion only speaks to the identification of two communities and, furthermore,
that the government complete a long-term plan, work with community governments and include timelines for an implementation program, nothing more.
Finally, I’d like to deal with the subject of cost management. It’s clear the cost of set-up of implementation and ongoing operations for RCMP and nursing stations is modest. However, I’d like to equally challenge this government to question the long-term ongoing costs of unneeded medevacs, or on police, bootlegging and other elements of crime or health related issues which are eating away at precious dollars in our budget.
The question of maybe having an RCMP and nurse program could save us money in the long run; we really don’t know. So we need, as this motion indicates, a proper cost analysis and incorporate all of our stakeholders so that we can find out whether or not this is truly, indeed, a cost savings.
In the end, this motion speaks to the softer ask of this government to do what is fair and reasonable for all of our communities, especially for their health and their safety. This is why it makes sense for this big city MLA to support this small community motion. Thank you.