Good afternoon, colleagues. Before we begin today, I’d like to take this opportunity to extend the condolences of this Legislative Assembly, our Members and our staff, to the families of all those affected by the ongoing and tragic events in our nation’s capital earlier today. Our thoughts and prayers are with you during this difficult time.

Colleagues, I want to draw your attention to the presence at the Table today of the Honourary Clerk of the House, former Speaker, Minister, Commissioner, Sergeant-at-Arms and Honourary Captain, Anthony W.J. Whitford.

---Applause

Item 2, Ministers’ statements. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. Beaulieu.

Mr. Speaker, the safety of Northerners is a goal shared by Members of this Assembly and the Department of Transportation as we strive to build safe communities and a safe transportation system, in all modes, for the benefit of our residents.

Mr. Speaker, Parachute Canada is a national organization dedicated to preventing injuries and saving lives. Parachute has declared this week to be National Teen Driver Safety Week. Although young people only make up 13 percent of licenced drivers nationally, they account for 24 percent of road fatalities. Additionally, 40 percent of speeding drivers in fatal crashes are between the ages of 16 and 24. These shocking statistics have to change.

Learning to drive and earning a driver’s licence marks a key milestone in life, and new drivers across the Northwest Territories are benefiting from our graduated licensing program. New drivers are required to earn experience before receiving the privilege of a full driver’s licence. Our objective is to

ensure new drivers have experience and comfort behind the wheel, making NWT highways safer.

Mr. Speaker, the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators is the steward of the National Day of Remembrance for Road Crash Victims, which takes place on Wednesday, November 19, 2014. We must never forget the victims of motor vehicle accidents and to continue all efforts to make our highways, winter roads and community roads as safe as possible.

Mr. Speaker, the Department of Transportation has several road safety initiatives including the new Alcohol Ignition Interlock Program that prevents drivers from starting their vehicles if their blood alcohol level is above a pre-set limit. This keeps impaired drivers away from the wheel and leads to greater safety for all road users.

Highway transport officers work closely with the RCMP to patrol all of our highways to keep drivers safe. But changing behaviour takes time and persistence. I am pleased to see partnerships with community groups and industry that remind people that we can all do more to reduce injuries and fatalities on our highways.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to publicly acknowledge the ongoing efforts of SADD, Students Against Impaired and Distracted Driving. This student organization is an important partner in encouraging youth to make healthy choices that help to keep our highways safe. I offer my best wishes for success to SADD as they take part in events planned this month to encourage their peers to make positive choices.

Distracted driving is an issue the Department of Transportation takes seriously. In Canada, distracted driving contributes to more serious injuries than impaired driving and speeding. Research has shown that a texting driver is 23 times more likely to crash than a non-texting driver.

Since passing legislation in 2012 to discourage the use of hand-held electronic devices, 673 drivers have been convicted for using a hand-held electronic device while driving. We have also nearly tripled the fine for distracted driving from $115 to $322. The department will continue to impress on drivers that distracted driving is just as dangerous as impaired driving.

Mr. Speaker, the Department of Transportation holds public safety as a high priority. When it comes to road safety, the best tips are obvious: don’t drink and drive; don’t speed; don’t text and drive; and always buckle up. We can all do our part to make our roads and trails safe. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Ramsay.

Mr. Speaker, now that the Government of the Northwest Territories is responsible for administering the territory’s onshore petroleum resources, we are looking ahead to effectively plan and manage the NWT’s world-class oil and gas potential for the benefit of all residents.

To encourage future exploration and responsible development of oil and gas reserves in the territory, the Department of Industry, Tourism and investment is preparing for its first ever call cycle for oil and gas exploration rights.

Mr. Speaker, at this stage, the petroleum rights issuance process is moving forward with the call for nominations, which may then be followed by a call for bids. During the call for nominations phase, interested parties have four weeks to recommend parcels of land to the GNWT that should be made available for oil and gas exploration. Once the results of these submissions have been assessed, the government will decide which parcels will be made available to prospective bidders in a call for bids. The Petroleum Resources Act requires that the call for bids must remain open for a minimum of 120 days.

I want to emphasize that receiving a nomination for a particular parcel does not automatically mean that the GNWT will offer it up for future oil and gas exploration or a call for bids. Nominations are a first step in a broader call cycle process, which can take up to a year for the entire process to be completed, including the issuance of exploration licences. The process allows our government to manage the pace and scale of oil and gas development in our territory in a clear and consistent way that reflects northern priorities. At the same time, the certainty provided by clear processes helps promote the territory’s competitive position and improves business and investor confidence.

Mr. Speaker, the GNWT is careful to consider the views of the public, stakeholders and Aboriginal governments in its decisions on oil and gas development. With the NWT’s unique interests, ITI has engaged with Aboriginal governments and organizations that may be directly affected by new

exploration projects. During the month of September, officials from the GNWT met with representatives of the Tulita, Deline and K’asho Got’ine district land corporations, the Gwich’in Tribal Council and the Inuvialuit Game Council to seek their views on the issuance of petroleum exploration land in their respective areas. This is one of the more important and critical parts of preparing the call for nominations. The consultation and engagement process gave us a better understanding of what lands must not be opened up for development. We will continue to engage with Aboriginal governments and organizations in our decision-making, reflecting the crucial role they play in the future of the NWT.

In going through the consultation and community engagement and the call for nominations process, our government also learns more about the suitability of our lands for petroleum development and our level of attractiveness as a jurisdiction for industry investment that will help inform future plans and decisions.

The information gathered during the call cycle is also valuable as we proceed with the development of an NWT Oil and Gas Strategy, as recommended in the NWT Economic Opportunities Strategy. The Oil and Gas Strategy will serve as the blueprint for oil and gas development in the territory for the next 20 years and is a key component of this government’s vision to build a strong and prosperous territory that provides opportunity to our regions.

Mr. Speaker, devolution was a major step for this government, one which could not have been completed without great effort and collaboration with our partners. The call cycle builds on these partnerships with a collaborative process that demonstrates this government’s ability to move forward and foster a supportive environment for responsible, sustainable development. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Item 3, Members’ statements. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday in my Member’s statement, I talked about the cost of living in the Northwest Territories. As we watch the news, we can see the price of crude oil has dropped 25 percent in the very last weeks and months. I would challenge the retailers of these petroleum products in the Northwest Territories, to ask them why the prices for our home

heating oil and our fuel at the pump has not gone down accordingly.

They used to say that it was inventory in their tanks and they only got it in every so often, so although the price of crude may change or the price per barrel of oil may change, that it was a long delay before we’d see the change in the price. But, Mr. Speaker, now we have the Deh Cho Bridge. They can bring the fuel in every day if they want to.

I would like to ask questions later on today about what our government is doing. At the beginning of the 17th Assembly, I posed a question to the

Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, as the consumer affairs Minister, and asked him what our government was going to do to protect consumers of the Northwest Territories from unfair prices, price setting, prices that are not reflective of what world prices are. At that time the Minister committed to begin tracking within his department the correlation between the price of crude oil and the price that we were paying as consumers at the pump and at the truck when they deliver home heating oil to our homes. I would like to ask the Minister later today how he’s doing with that correlation and that report. I’d like to see what it looks like.

I also raised, at that time, that in the Atlantic provinces of Canada, they actually have price regulation. I think these are things we have to think about. When we talk about the cost of living, the Government of the Northwest Territories has intervened to shield consumers of the cost of the anticipated increase in the cost of power with a $20 million injection so that consumers wouldn’t have to bear that. Yet we have a seemingly essential commodity like petroleum products which people can put any price they want on it with literally no restraint, no monitoring and no regulation by this government whatsoever.

As I said, later today I’m going to be asking the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, in his role as protector of consumer rights, what this government has thought of doing, because we are not seeing the decrease in the price that we are seeing on the news and this is a big issue. Winter is upon us. We need cheaper fuel. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Our territory has experienced very limited economic growth in recent years and our maturing diamond mines have reached their end of life cycle. Coupled with the decline in mining, oil and gas exploration, we have seen the NWT decline in investment

spending in the last six years. In fact, since our peak of investment spending in 2007, we are down by 27 percent. As a result, our NWT gross domestic product, that is our GDP, has fallen to pre-2002 numbers.

Another way to look at this decline is to look at our mineral exploration, which has fallen from 6.8 percent of the total Canadian mining output in 2007 to a whopping low of 2.2 percent in 2011, and we are only slated to be at 3.3 percent of the Canadian total this year. In the end, it’s abundantly clear, the NWT has been slower to recover than all three northern territories and we should ask ourselves why.

The public has been led to believe the new Mineral Development Strategy and a new Economic Development Strategy are expected to ensure sustainable growth and balanced benefits across the NWT, yet we are left to imagine on how this will happen. Strategies don’t secure success, but targeting investing does. So I ask, even with yesterday’s tabling of the Mineral Development Strategy Implementation Plan, where are these strategic and meaningful investments in the current budget. I can assure the residents of the NWT, there are very few.

The current budget reflects very little in new spending in support of ensuring our economic freedom, to promote NWT as a place of business, to create jobs and, of course, prosperity. In fact, the oversubscribed Mining Incentive Program, which was touted yesterday as being overwhelmingly popular, is in reality the only economic stimulus of sort this government has done for some time.

Ironically, Cabinet’s claim of wanting to implement even more to achieve this Assembly’s vision of a prosperous territory is plagued with a huge problem. The issue – and if you’re not aware by now – is that we are riddled with debt, both short-term and long-term, with no light at the end of the tunnel.

Clearly, spending ourselves into a corner with an out-of-date fiscal and macroeconomic policy is in no way garnishing our vision of a prosperous economic territory. In fact, it’s doing the exact opposite.

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

---Unanimous consent granted

Mr. Speaker, if mining is truly the pillar of the NWT economy and it represents the largest private sector contributor to the NWT economy, then let’s stop the current piecemeal approach and let’s stand together with measured, meaningful and strategic financial solutions to secure a more robust mineral-based future. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have an increasingly urgent need for seniors housing in the NWT. My community, Yellowknife, is blessed with a visionary, committed organization whose reason for being is care for seniors. I speak of Avens – A Community for Seniors.

Avens is unique in the NWT’s health system as it is the only independent organization that runs a health care facility in the NWT. The Aven Campus has four facilities which house seniors across the continuum of care. Aven Manor, the oldest and the original Avens facility, will soon be declared unfit without a major retrofit.

To prepare for the retrofit or the upgrade, Avens engaged in more than 25 formal conversations with stakeholders, to gauge the needs of seniors across the NWT. Three messages were heard.

First, the needs of seniors have increased and Avens is integral to ensuring that infrastructure and programs exist to serve our seniors.

Second, investment into the existing infrastructure at the Aven Campus is important to keep employees and residents safe from harm.

Thirdly, they heard that Avens needs to ensure that their vision aligns with the current realities of our health care system.

More and more every day, Avens gets calls from NWT seniors and their families, asking about options for either affordable housing or extended professional care here in the North. Many of these calls are desperate, a family with an immediate and pressing need, but there are very few options available to our seniors. Avens is full and has no room for any more residents, whether they are local people or from other parts of the territory.

The results of several studies undertaken lately, and some by the GNWT, on seniors demographics and their continuing care needs shows numbers that are frightening. By 2026 the seniors population in the NWT will have doubled. In Yellowknife it will almost triple what it was in 2011.

The current infrastructure plan of the Health and Social Services department will not provide the needed facilities in any sort of reasonable time frame so that the increasing number of elders in the NWT can be properly accommodated. Health and Social Services and, by extension, the government, seems to be placing emphasis and our scarce dollars on an Aging in Place Strategy and not on the development of facilities to house seniors who can no longer live on their own.

I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted

I’m very concerned that the badly needed Avens expansion and renovations will not get the government support it needs to begin construction in earnest next year.

The government needs to find a way to support the Avens project. It’s imperative that they assist them to find the necessary funding so that Avens can advance their vision for seniors and their expansion project. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.

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

We had quite a summer in the Deh Cho. The record-breaking fire season had a significant impact on communities in my riding, as they did across the NWT, leading to smoky conditions and difficulties in travel.

Kakisa had a very close call when the fire came within 100 metres of some homes. Despite this scary experience, I’m happy to say that no structures were lost in or around Kakisa and residents began returning home from a weeklong evacuation on July 4th .

On behalf of all people in my riding, I want to thank everyone who assisted with the evacuation of Kakisa and a special thanks to the hardworking fire crews who put their own lives at risk to ensure minimal property damage and no loss of life in the 2014 fire season.

Fire renews the forest, and morel mushrooms are one of nature’s bounties brought by fire. This is proving to be a big year for morels as a result of fires in the Fort Providence area in 2013. Next year’s crop of morels should be even better.

Morels are highly prized to the food industry where they are known to fetch as much as $240 US per pound, highlighting the need to regulate the harvest of mushrooms and other non-timber renewable resources to the benefit of the people of the NWT.

I also want to mention the Deh Cho’s promising biomass industry that holds for the Deh Cho communities. My constituents will be excited to see progress be made to the advancement of projects in wood pellet manufacturing and similar initiatives.

On June 4, 2014, the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources signed an MOU on forest industry development with the Deh Gah Got’ie First Nation chief, Joachim Bonnetrouge, and the Fort

Providence Metis president, Clifford McLeod, paving the way for a forest management agreement to be signed this Friday in Fort Providence.

This is an important time of the year for those who live a traditional lifestyle, and many people in the Deh Cho are taking advantage of the mild autumn to take part in the fall hunting season that will sustain us through a long winter. It is a time for elders to pass on their knowledge to young people in their communities, and it is a time for families to harvest the country foods that will sustain them through a long winter.

I wish everyone a safe, sustainable and prosperous hunt. While the Deh Cho is a wonderful place to live and raise a family, its residents continue to be concerned with problems such as substance abuse, family violence and a lack of job opportunities.

I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement. Mahsi.

---Unanimous consent granted

As I was saying, our residents continue to be concerned with problems such as substance abuse, family violence and the lack of job opportunities, especially for local youth and people who are not available to work in the mining sector. In the final year of the 17th Assembly, I

strongly encourage community members, leadership and governments to work together to reach the goals of healthy, vibrant and sustainable communities in the Deh Cho. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are so many important issues before us to talk about; however, I feel emotionally compelled to say a few words about the horrific tragedy in Ottawa today. Truly a very difficult day for all Canadians and our Armed Forces who, truly, we are all very proud of. I’m really saddened by the passing of the soldier who was honestly standing up for Canada. This attack wasn’t just on him, it was an attack on all Canadians and I’m confident we will rise in his name again to stand strong.

Anyone I’ve talked to today, without question, has found this an incredibly emotional and disturbing issue. It’s very hard for someone like myself not to feel emotional about those attacks. All of those folks attacked were innocent and they did not deserve anything like this.

To my knowledge, the attacker’s motives are not known, and in many ways may never be understood. However, the families hurt by this will deserve answers, some of which may be difficult to

get. I am certainly sending my prayers to the family of the affected soldier who was standing there for us. He was on guard for Canada in front of our National War Memorial.

I call upon all Northerners to pause today to appreciate the dedication, the risks and the service our armed service personnel put forward each and every day in our nation and across the world for all of us.

I know this isn’t over yet and our RCMP are doing their very best to catch all those involved, and I have every confidence in their service as well.

Thank you to Kevin Vickers – he’s the Sergeant-at-Arms in Ottawa, a distinguished man in his own right – for taking down this horrible person in Parliament today. His actions probably could have saved many other lives, not just politicians but many staff who devote themselves to this country and the democracy we all fight so hard for.

This action of this terrible person has made me very angry. It’s made me angry in a way of saying, why would someone do such a horrible thing to another person? This can only be described as a horrific act. I feel no other way to describe it. I feel awful. I can’t believe he would do this.

I am grateful that I live in Canada, and I know many of us are as well. We have an amazing Armed Forces personnel, who each and every day I am grateful we have for all of us as Canadians. So, as they daily stand for us, whether it’s in Yellowknife, in Hay River, whether it’s in Ottawa, whether it’s in Afghanistan, they are there for us. So now, more than ever, we need to make sure that we are all there for them. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.We’re embarking on a big project this fall and it’s the first phase of our Junior Kindergarten. Twenty-three communities will be taking it on, and as the Minister stated, it is optional to all those schools who want to do the Junior Kindergarten program. I understand the importance of this, getting our four-year-olds ready for kindergarten, getting them into the schools; however, there are still a lot of issues that have come to the forefront as we brought this program into the schools in 23 communities. We were not sure if the schools were ready, if the staff were ready, in fact, if the communities were ready.

Some of the issues that have been brought up: whether or not we have enough materials for the students, the Grade 4s; whether we have enough adequate space in the schools. Other things that have been brought to my attention are enrollments at daycares, enrollments at daycares like the

Children First Centre, where four-year-olds will now be able to go into the schools in the second phase of this program. Plus, the added extra duties put on our educators who, in some cases, might become sort of like a babysitter – changing diapers, taking kids to the washroom – when they didn’t go to school for those things.

I see the importance of this in the small communities where there are no daycares, where we want to get our students ready for kindergarten. However, when we get into the regional centres and the city of Yellowknife, we do have a lot of daycares out here that do rely on the revenues for the four-year-olds that attend their facilities. The Aboriginal Head Start programs that rely on federal funding based on the amount of enrollments that they have in their programs.

Yesterday I made a comment about how this government donated funding to an infrastructure for children, the Children First Centre in Inuvik. This government is footing money, gave money to a building, only two years later to take kids out and put them into the high school. This is an organization that relies on the revenues from the students that are coming in there. Now we’re taking out one of their ways that they make money and put them into a financial situation, putting financial stress not only on the Children First Centre but on all other daycares, all other facilities in the regional centres as well as those in Yellowknife.

Mr. Speaker, I will have questions today for the Minister of Education on how he is consulting with these groups to ensure that when we go into phase two that we are ready to implement Junior Kindergarten and that we do support daycare and early childhood development. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Moses. Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Our natural environment has been taking a beating lately. Unprecedented wildfires, debilitating drought, these changes in our climate have yielded increased costs of firefighting and electricity, lost homes and loss of income because of tourism impacts.

A particularly tragic loss is the additional blow to already severely depleted caribou populations from the extensive loss of their winter habitat. The collapse of one of our most valuable and culturally important resources, our once strong and life-sustaining Bathurst and Bluenose-East caribou herds, may be one of the greatest concerns to all people of the North.

Recent UN studies have shown that since 1970, worldwide wildlife populations have been reduced by half, half as many fish, half as many mammals, half as many birds. We see this trend in the NWT; in particular, we are losing two of our great caribou herds. For thousands of years these animals have sustained First Nations people of the NWT. If conservation efforts fail, the herds may soon be gone.

Mr. Speaker, it doesn’t look good. When I see community hunts planned, despite chiefs knowing the desperate plight of these herds, I know we do not yet grasp the situation. When I read that communities are simply resigning themselves to wait until winter to hunt because they haven’t seen any yet, I know that hope of recovery is dwindling. When I hear that cow caribou are being shot, any at all from these herds, I know that the children of today may very well not have the privilege of living in a time of caribou plenty as we have done. They may not get to practice their caribou culture as their First Nations parents have done until recently. We must act now to reverse these trends to avoid the horrifying reality of no more caribou.

Step number one is to stop shooting caribou. It may be all kinds of factors that caused the decline, but until we stop the killing of the remaining animals, the caribou will not recover. This is immensely sad and a tough reality, tough on elders whose very bones are made from caribou and cry out for them, tough on chiefs who must lead their people, a travesty for children meant to grow up with caribou abundance and all it means to people of cultures.

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

---Unanimous consent granted

I ask the Minister to call everyone to the table to find a solution to a loss that will now affect generations to come. First Nations, long-time Northerners, those who hunt for food and scientists all have important perspectives to offer and a stake in finding a path that will allow our caribou to bounce back and eventually thrive.

But first, stop shooting caribou from these decimated and declining herds. A world without caribou is too horrible to contemplate. Mahsi.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When I got up this morning at 5:30 to make my coffee, I was pouring the water and was wondering: how safe is this water here in Yellowknife? I thought about that after the coffee was percolating, I drank it and was thinking: how safe is our water in the Sahtu?

Hearing about the fracking issue with oil and gas, who is monitoring our water? I know we have a Sahtu Land and Water Board, we have a Sahtu Land Use Plan, we have a constitutionally protected treaty, called the Sahtu Dene and Metis Land Claim Agreement, we have provisions in there, we have people from the region, from our communities who are on these boards who make these decisions, we have scientists, we have traditional knowledge people about the water. Actually, the water, Mr. Speaker, is very powerful. Powerful, powerful. It is a living entity to our people. It is alive and it is so powerful that it heals itself.

But you know what, Mr. Speaker? A lot of people are saying, how come the water is so low this summer. There were areas that, when we went caribou hunting or moose hunting this fall, there were low waters. Even a good old jet boat couldn’t go around some of the islands, and they only take about two inches of water, because I own one and have driven from Fort Simpson to Fort Good Hope with my son, and believe me, the Mackenzie River is powerful. God’s creation is powerful. So I want to know about who’s monitoring the water, who’s looking after it.

In Great Bear Lake in the early days of the mining, there was 720,000 tonnes of hazardous material dumped into that lake. If you look at Imperial Oil’s water licence for the next 10 years, they’re taking billions of litres out of the Mackenzie River that will run through its plant system. They’ll put billions of litres back into the Mackenzie and it will flow down to Good Hope and further down. Who’s monitoring the quality?

I want to ask the Minister, at the appropriate time, because water is life, there’s no doubt. Ask any of my people how precious it is. You can take a bath and you cook with it and you have your good, fresh coffee in the morning at 5:30. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Constituents of Fort Liard, Nahanni Butte and Lindberg Landing have had a summer of discontent with the Nahanni bison herd in that area. The bison have been ruining property, digging up gardens, ruining plants and trees and being a significant hazard to the residents. In fact, one resident was literally trapped in her car as a large single male rested against her car door, damaging it and also trapping her inside. She is elderly. Her family and friends fear that she may be injured if this happens again.

The Minister of Environment and Natural Resources committed to the development and implementation of a bison management plan in the spring of 2013. The strategy suggested two years to prepare a plan specifically for this Nahanni herd. In the short time, it states that the ENR will increase its efforts to keep bison out of the communities, including increasing public education materials. Residents are discontented that there appears to be little effort since then to help them.

Increasing the quota for harvesting is another measure that they were considering. I was advised by a resident of Fort Liard that to the south in northern BC, the Champaign and Aishihik First Nations had similar bison problems. Once again, harvesting the bison near and close to their communities, the bison are smart, and then they were shy to enter these communities and private property areas. So, Nahendeh residents would like the ENR department to seriously consider harvesting near their communities and private property areas, such as Lindburg Landing, for protection.

Nahendeh residents continue to expect more and continued action from the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources to help with this serious bison problem.

I will have questions for the Minister at the appropriate time. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to speak today about a boat trip that happened in Fort McPherson last month. On September 23rd a

total of 12 homemade boats, which we call scows, and 38 people, young and old – the youngest being three years of age and the oldest in their late 70s – travelled from Fort McPherson up the Peel River some 75 miles. All boats were back home on Sunday, September 28th .

Our people have always been nomadic. We travel where food is, or we follow where the food is, depending on the season. This huge group of 38 people were successful in harvesting moose, catching fish and, at the same time, taught the youth how to butcher the meat and how to preserve the meat for future use.

This trip was made in order for the younger travellers to see the great country of ours and to visit historic sites along the way.

The Peel River has many legends and many historic points to visit along the way. For example, The Lost Patrol of 1911. One of our greatest leaders from the Gwich’in Nation, Chief Julius Salu,

travelled extensively in the area. He hunted, trapped and fished in the Peel River and the Peel River Watershed. This great man has significant ties with each family in the Fort McPherson area, his traditional territory. During this trip the elders told stories, and a trip can’t be complete without laughter. Many jokes were told along the way.

The youth were engaged in the lessons from long ago. They were taught basic survival skills and they were there to assist the elders when they needed it.

Whether it be in the Mackenzie Delta or in any other riding, more of these trips need to take place. There is nothing that can compare to being out on the land away from the community. Peace and quiet and a place to collect your thoughts, but at the same time working from morning until night, setting up your camp, gathering wood, setting your nets, cooking meals, and the list goes on.

I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted

These trips and future trips up the Peel River will have a lasting effect on anyone who travels there for the first time and witnesses how beautiful our land is. Let’s continue to support initiatives such as these and keep our culture alive.

I’d also like to thank all of the departments that contributed to this on-the-land program. Thank you, mahsi cho.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize a number of people in the gallery today. First I’d like to recognize some second-year contemporary social welfare policy class from Aurora College and they are Phuong Bui, Alyssa Carpenter, Kyla Cherwaty, Noel Hernandez, Gerri Hunter, Alanna Menard, Lauren Moir, Stephanie Rabesca, Kassandra Spoelder, Jordon Moffitt and Rhea Kaye, and I apologize if I got any of those names wrong.

I’d also like to recognize a number of fourth-year nursing students. Allison Andrews, Alyssa Bird, Michael Bishop, Caro Cheiner, Jessica Harrison, Samantha Hicks, Simone Julien, Stephanie Kranci, Sabine Kruse, Caterina Marrai, Julie Purcell, Chelsea Thior, Marteen Silverson, Joanne Spencer, Sari Valensky and Ginny Wainwright. Once again, I apologize if I pronounced any of those names wrong.

Thank you and welcome to the gallery.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Mr. Beaulieu.

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Earlier I made another statement on the students in the gallery today for Students Against Impaired and Distracted Driving. In the gallery today we have Colton Rieger-Steed, Mitchell Rankin, Ryan Kendall, Dylan Pye, Denika Anderson, Shania Tymchatyn. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Mr. Bouchard.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize a constituent, a strong proponent for agriculture in the Northwest Territories and also the proponent for Polar Eggs, Mr. Kevin Wallington, and I also recognize Wendy Morgan, former Hay River resident and my adopted constituency assistant. I know she’s Jane’s, but she helps me out lots here too. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too wish to recognize the SADD group. I’ll recognize them as a whole and I’ll thank the Minister of Transportation for highlighting them in his Minister’s statement today. They do great work.

I’d also like to recognize one of our distinguished Table Officers, and I’m sorry to say, my favourite Table Officer – sorry, to the present company – yes, it’s you, Mr. Anthony W.J. Whitford. It’s always great to see you. Although you’re not my constituent, what I’d say is you’re a constituent of every MLA in the North. We all truly dearly love you, sir. Good to see you.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to welcome the SADD group who were here earlier and left. I think the work that they do is much appreciated and it’s extremely valuable.

I’d like to welcome all the students from Aurora College and particularly mention Ginny Wainwright, who is a resident constituent from Frame Lake; and Geraldine Hunter, who is the student representative on the Aurora College Board of Governors. So, welcome to all.

Mr. Moses.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize a former resident of Inuvik, Ms. Alyssa Carpenter, whose family made a big contribution to the community of Inuvik before they moved and resided here in Yellowknife. I just want to wish her best of luck in her studies and welcome her to the House and welcome everybody here to today’s proceedings. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Moses. Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too want to recognize the Aurora College students. We had a meeting some months ago and it was very informative, and I’d like to say how much I appreciate listening to them.

I’d also like to recognize Kevin and Wendy, Mr. Bouchard’s constituent and constituency assistant, in the gallery.

More importantly, I’d like to recognize the special guest we have sitting in front of us, Mr. Whitford. From time to time there are certain words that people tell you that continue to grow on you, and thank you, Tony, for those kind words that you gave me a long, long time ago.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too wanted to recognize the Students Against Impaired and Distracted Driving that were with us earlier today as well as all the students from Aurora College. It’s great to see you here. Good luck with your studies.

I also wanted to recognize my constituency assistant, Ms. Morgan. I didn’t realize she was moonlighting for my colleague Mr. Bouchard.

---Laughter

But I’m happy to see her here and I’m happy to share her services. I want to recognize the services that Ms. Morgan provides my office with. She does a great job, so thanks to Wendy.

I also wanted to recognize Mr. Kevin Wallington for helping bring agriculture where it is here in the Northwest Territories and for bringing Polar Eggs to the store shelves across the territory. Thank you very much. I know you are exporting them, too, so good luck and best wishes with everything. Thanks.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. I’d like to welcome Ms. Morgan, too, because she moonlights for me too. …(inaudible)… Anyway, thank you for coming today, Wendy. Ms. Carpenter, I’d like to welcome you to the House. I watched her grow up as a kid in Inuvik, because her Dad and I grew up together and went to high school. It’s always good to see you here and I’m real proud of you guys and all the nursing staff, social work, going into a field that we really need across our great territory. So, thank you.

Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d also like to recognize a member of the Weledeh community who we all know as Tony. I think he’s been well-recognized in the House today. You know, it’s great to hear all the words of renown for this gentleman. Welcome, Tony, to the House.

I’d also like to recognize SADD and the students and their supporters and the very important work that they do.

Finally, the incredible amount of time that Ms. Morgan contributes to Weledeh, and with the assistance and stuff that she does, it’s also great.

---Laughter

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to also recognize a Hay River resident, Mr. Kevin Wallington, who is also a very dear family friend of ours. I would also like to recognize Wendy Morgan. We couldn’t get her in here for her 60th birthday last Friday but we got her here today.

---Laughter

Oh, did I day 60? Sorry. Anyway, you will notice on her door it says, “Wendy Morgan, Constituency Assistant to Jane Groenewegen, Hay River South.” Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Wendy, we are going to strike that from Hansard, your age.

---Laughter

I would like to welcome all the visitors here today in the public gallery. Thank you for taking an interest in our proceedings.

Item 6, acknowledgements. Item 7, oral questions. Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to follow up on my Member’s statement and ask some questions of the Minister of Health and Social Services around the infrastructure needs for seniors in the NWT. I mentioned some statistics in my statement, and the numbers of seniors that will be increasing are really quite scary, particularly here in the city of Yellowknife where we can expect the number of seniors to triple in the next 10 or 15 years. Yet it seems to me that Health and Social Services is ignoring the results of their own studies and the recommendations from their own reports. We see very little indication that they are working on providing infrastructure for seniors housing.

I would like to first ask the Minister a bit of a background. The cornerstone of the Avens renovation and expansion project is Aven Manor and the renovations to Aven Manor, and they have been identified for quite some time. Soon Aven

Manor kitchen may be actually declared unfit for use.

So I would like to ask the Minister initially, where the renovations to this territorial facility, Aven Manor, are on the capital planning list for Health and Social Services. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Minister of Health, Mr. Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have been working closely with Avens on their desire to increase their facility as well as improve the current facility. We have put together a committed team, a steering committee that consists of the Department of Health and Social Services employees as well as some proponents from Avens itself, and we have contributed $25,000 to this initiative, to Avens, so that they can have their individual participate.

We are doing a number of things, exploring opportunities for funding and trying to come up with the most appropriate way to move forward with the construction of this new facility and the renovations to the current facility. It isn’t yet on the capital plan. We are waiting for this particular work to be done and we are waiting for that group to submit a proposal to Cabinet and the Regular Members so that we can figure out how to move forward with this project. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks to the Minister. I appreciate the work that the Minister is doing. I know that he supports the project as much as I do.

The Avens kitchen has long been known, and it has been evident, that it’s deficient – it’s been many years now – and it is in need of upgrading. If Avens does not get the funding that they require to renovate this facility and to do their expansion project, which is an integral part of it, it may be closed down by the very department which is actually responsible and funds the whole facility.

So if that comes to fruition, what will the Minister do to avert such a closure, a closure of the kitchen, and a closure which would then force shutdown of the whole Aven Manor facility? Thank you.

We are aware of the desires of Avens to expand the kitchen and improve it. We are working closely with them to make sure that we can find a way to move forward collaboratively together. We will continue to do that. We are waiting for the report to come from this committee, this steering committee, on the whole plan for the Avens facility, and we look forward to seeing it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister, in terms of funding, I know it certainly has been an issue for the board when they discuss this plan that they need to get a guarantee of use of their new facility in order to get the backing that

they need from the bank, and it’s my understanding that the Avens board of governors, board of directors, can find mortgaging, can find funding for the facility, but they need to get a guarantee from the government that they will actually use the facility once it’s built.

So I would like to ask the Minister, why is it that I haven’t yet heard that the board of directors has gotten that assurance from our government that once we build a facility for seniors that we will guarantee that we will actually put people in there? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The funding to actually run the Avens for their O and M comes primarily from the Government of the Northwest Territories. We provide about $3.6 million per year for O and M to run the Avens facility as well as about $3.4 million for the Dementia Facility. If we move forward with the expansion together with Avens, we are also going to likely be on the hook for the additional $3.6 million to run that facility. If this facility gets built, it’s fair to assume that northern residents will be utilizing that facility.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t think I heard an answer to the question there. We can assume that residents will be there, but in order for Avens to go to the bank, they need some kind of a guarantee from the government that, yes, we will actually put people in there and yes, we will provide the funding for operations and maintenance. I know that the Minister knows that the need is there and I don’t yet understand why we can’t get that done.

My last question, my usual question, has to do with timing, and the Minister says that he is looking at getting this renovation, this expansion into the capital plan. I had no indication of any kind of timeline. I know it takes a while, but I’d like to know from the Minister if we’re talking about a year or if we’re talking five or 10 years.

We are committed to working with Avens. We will continue to work with Avens. We’re waiting for them to come forward in this collaborative team, this steering committee, to come forward with a plan and a suggestion on how we should move forward. We don’t know that that’s going to be full-on GNWT capital or whether there are going to be some other opportunities. We’re exploring all of those opportunities at this time, and obviously, we’d like to see some partners come in on this.

At the same time, this report, this work that the committee is doing will come to us shortly. But the Member knows that we have an extensive capital process and the Member knows that there are a large number of projects on this capital list that are

on the line, schools, health centres, hospitals. All these things are in the works, so we need to fit that into the plan. I can’t say where Avens will fit in the plan, but we do know that we need to increase the number of beds in the Northwest Territories for seniors, and we will do that in the fullness of time.

Order! Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today, I talked about the rising costs of petroleum products. Everything we do in the North, it seems like we rely on these products to drive our vehicles, industry depends on it, subsistence harvesting, we heat our homes with heating oil. Even in Hay River where we use propane, that’s tied to the price of oil, that’s how they set the price of propane.

I’d like to ask the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs if his department has been doing any monitoring and research to look at the correlation between the prices on the world market and the prices that we are charged on a retail basis here in the Northwest Territories where we are a very captive market at the end of a long road.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I was driving down the road today, I was passing a gas station, and I noticed the price on there was $1.38.9, and I thought, well, geez, I’m sure the rest of the Northwest Territories would love to pay that even if it was reversed, $1.89.3, because that’s what a lot of people are paying in some of the higher Arctic communities or the community I represent.

But in 2013, October 2013, we tabled a report that we had commissioned comparing the prices in the Northwest Territories to the rest of the country. We had a lot of different prices across the country. Here in the capital, actually, the price is lower than some of the southern jurisdictions. That, I was quite surprised to find. The conclusion of the report was that we didn’t feel that there was a need to regulate gasoline prices in the Northwest Territories.

The world price for oil has gone down substantially in the last few months. It is the leading story often on the evening news as markets respond to this declining price.

What’s the lag or delay time between when those prices appear and when we might actually see some relief in the prices that we pay at the truck and at the pump here in the Northwest Territories? How is that regulated?

In a lot of the market communities, a lot of these are driven by what the actual owners of these gas stations pay for the product that they bring in. I’m sure if they bring product in at a lower price, then that price will also be reflected at the pump. I’ve seen it firsthand where our supplier got some gasoline a little cheaper and our prices actually had gone down by a few cents. My understanding is the prices here in the capital have been fairly level for the last 18 months.

---Interjection

Four years. They’ve been fairly level for the last four years.

There’s an opportunity for consumers out there if they feel that there’s price fixing or price maintenance, there’s an opportunity for them to contact Competition Canada, because they enforce the Competition Act and they would be able to do an investigation into the concerns of the consumers that call them.

As the only government department that is involved in the protection of consumers through, I don’t know if it’s an agency or secretariat, consumer affairs in the Northwest Territories, does the Minister see his department having any role with respect to that federal Competition Act? Is that something that he, through his department, could be involved in on behalf of consumers in the Northwest Territories if those complaints were raised to him?

I’m sure the role we can play is if we were to get some complaints, I’m sure we can forward those on to the Competition Bureau of Canada, or we can put the information on the website that we’ve just developed where we’ve provided a bunch of information to people. We can make it known what their numbers are, if people have a concern. But again, we’ve had one complaint, I believe, in the last year.

Obviously, being consumer affairs and people expecting us to assist them when they have concerns is something that we should have a look at to see if we can forward their concerns to the Competition Bureau of Canada.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m not here to launch any kind of attack on retailers of petroleum products, but I guess we’re so attentive to these costs and the cost of living in the North that it’s something that catches our attention and we think that we should also realize the benefits when the prices go down.

When the GNWT buys petroleum products and then redistributes them to the small communities where there is no private retailer involved, what’s

the lag time? Like, how far ahead do they buy or fix those prices?

That, I wouldn’t be able to answer. I would have to consult with the Minister of Public Works, who is responsible for bringing fuel into the communities. I will have that conversation with the Minister and share the findings with the Member.

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I just wanted to follow up on questions to the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources with regard to the Bison Management Strategy and, most particularly, the Nahanni bison herd that’s causing grief to the residents of Fort Liard, Nahanni Butte and Lindberg Landing.

Has the draft Bison Management Strategy been completed?

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do apologize to the Member for the protracted process that that strategy has, and I will commit to him that we will have a final strategy for him before we come back for the winter session.

Certainly, it’s a concern for the residents. One of the unique things that a resident had brought to my attention was that he had visited his neighbours down in BC, the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations, and they have managed to curtail a lot of damages to private property by harvesting some of the bison there. Is that something that the department can consider?

That is an option that we have used in other locales and we are definitely looking at that. We’re looking at the possibility of finding somebody with a tag that would be prepared to harvest one of the animals that are nuisance animals or, failing that, we would look at doing such an emergency cull on our own. So we are actively looking at that.

Thank you very much. I was wondering: would the Bison Management Strategy, once implemented, have, say, a 1-800 number that the residents can call specifically for this Nahanni bison herd? Thank you.

Thank you. The intent would be to use the ENR staff that is available in the communities in the Member’s riding to be contacted within the nearest specific community. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I look forward to the updated strategy as the Minister had committed. As well, if he can get that to the community leadership that’s been affected as well. Thank you.

Thank you. We will ensure that we continue to touch all the appropriate bases as we provide the finished management plan to the Member as promised.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for Minister Miltenberger of Environment and Natural Resources. I just gave a Member’s statement speaking about a horror of a world without caribou. The sliding caribou populations are scary and worrying. Rather than slowing down, unfortunately, it’s actually accelerating, echoing the loss of wildlife worldwide.

I’d like to start by asking the Minister what actions has he taken to reverse this trend, since the most recent counts pointed out the grave dangers posed to both the Bathurst and Bluenose-East herds. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First let me say that I appreciate the Member’s statement and we share the concern of the Member. We have had to call back, or we called together all of the Aboriginal governments, scientific staff and our folks. We’ve had one meeting with the political leadership a few weeks back to look at the results from the Bathurst herd survey, which indicates the herd has continued to decline now into the range of 15,000 animals, down from a high in the mid ‘80s, 1986, from about 460,000 animals. As well, we look at the numbers of the Bluenose-East, which had declined in the area of 30,000 animals and we believe still dropping from about 160,000. So we’ve brought the political leadership together to convene in basically an emergency gathering to look at these dramatic, stark numbers.

Subsequent to that, we brought together all the technical people about a week ago to sit down and look at the information, go over the numbers and talk about options. There’s another meeting next week, and then in early November the political leadership will gather with the intent of making appropriate and necessary decisions about what

we need to do to help protect and save the caribou, both the Bathurst herd and the Bluenose-East.

Currently, there is a tag limit of 300 animals in the Bathurst. In the Bluenose-East there’s a voluntary limit of about 2,800 animals, which was singularly unsuccessful in terms of curbing a harvesting past that. So we’re going to be looking at some very hard choices here in the next couple of weeks. Thank you.

Thanks to the Minister. The Minister has indicated the severity of the drop of caribou and the obvious possibility of the loss of these herds. Yet he’s also said it’s still open, go out and shoot, you can shoot 300 here and 150 there and however many you want with the Bluenose-East. That’s pretty unbelievable. I read in the paper, community hunts, they’re out there trying to find these caribou and the only reason they’re not shooting is because they can’t find them. There is a major gap here. Obviously, we must support these populations to enable recovery, and it seems the one thing we can control is hunting.

Is the Minister prepared to ban the hunting of caribou in these devastated herds? At least stop killing and get together and make these decisions.

Thank you. Once again, I appreciate the Member’s concern, and I can assure the Member that the intent here is by the very first part of November before the winter hunt really takes effect that we will have decisions made that will protect the caribou. There is a process for us to follow. This is a very complex area. We have the Yellowknives, we have the Northwest Territories Metis, we have Akaitcho, we have Tlicho, we have the Sahtu, we have the Inuvialuit as well as the territorial government and interest in the Northwest Territories Metis plus all the other southern and the Deh Cho, all that have an interest and have been harvesting this herd for many years.

So we have a need to follow a timely, compressed process, which we’re doing. I can assure the Member that by the early part of November there will be the necessary decisions made to protect the herds, both the Bathurst and the Bluenose-East. It’s clear with the Bathurst, with a tag limit of 300, that there’s not many options left when it comes to harvesting.

We also have to deal with the fact that the Bathurst herd also extends up into Nunavut and the Nunavut government still allows commercial harvest, outfitters, which to us is unacceptable. We’ve been in correspondence and communication with them to make the necessary changes, to work with us and all the other Aboriginal governments and co-management boards to protect the herd. That’s one of the other things we have to look at. We’re going to look at predator control, we’re going to look at a whole host of things, but clearly, hunting is one

area where there is the single largest impact. Thank you.

Thank you. It seems that every question I ask these days, the answer is: It’s a complex situation; we’ve got great intentions. If that was true, we wouldn’t have the services deficits that we have, we wouldn’t be in the fiscal situation we are, we wouldn’t have the wildlife deficits that we have. Community hunts are still being contemplated as we speak and reported in the paper. Plans are being made for winter kills as soon as the ice is safe.

Given the drastic declines, what action has been taken to alert people of the horrible consequences of such activity?

There’s been extensive contact and involvement of the media in this issue. I’ve just laid out a very comprehensive plan that we’ve taken to involve all the communities and Aboriginal governments and the public government to sit down in a very timely, compressed way to make decisions and to come up with options for the leadership that’s going to gather early in November. There will be decisions made early in November that will allow us to make the necessary decisions to protect the herds, the Bathurst and the Bluenose.

I would point out that the Member is very, very big on process and consultation, endless consultation sometimes, and now he wants me to just stand up and rule by fiat and dictate and decree. The necessary decisions will be made and they will be made in basically a couple of weeks actually. We’ll have those decisions made.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That’s the other feedback I get all the time, is the best offence is a defence, or the best defence is an offence. That’s the Minister’s strategy now.

I’m not worried about being politically correct here. I’m worried about the caribou and the consequences of their disappearance to generations of First Nations and other resident families to whom the caribou are critically important.

The Minister and co-management boards have had several years to effect conservation. Instead, the caribou are going down the tubes. The Minister has the authority. We have invested the Minister with the authority. The nation has invested the Minister with the authority.

I understand stakeholders are meeting in November, as the Minister has mentioned. Obviously, all stakeholders should be at the table, all stakeholders.

Who has the Minister invited to participate in talks about emergency recovery actions to ensure that all

perspectives are there and considered? Yes, let’s consult properly if we’re going to do that. Mahsi.

I am very aware of my authorities as Environment Minister, and I have in fact used them in the not-too-distant past. The steps are being taken to deal with this issue. All the people of the Northwest Territories, all the governments of the Northwest Territories share a concern about the caribou and the need to make hard decisions, and it’s time not to worry about anything else but who speaks for the caribou or who speaks for the continuation of the herds. That’s going to be the people in this room; it’s going to be the Aboriginal governments and the leaders when we gather to make those hard decisions.

Again, I want to assure the Member and this House and the people of the Northwest Territories, those decisions will be made. No matter how tough they are, they’re nothing we’ve never dealt with before. The issue of bans has been talked about before, herd limits. We will make those necessary decisions.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is very fitting we actually have wonderful representatives of our college here today, and I’m very proud to see so many of them. So, it’s great.

One of the issues that I’m going to raise, and I’ve continued to raise, it all boils down to one word: accountability. That’s it. Nothing fancier than that, accountability.

I’ve asked the Minister of Education repeatedly about demanding that the Aurora College boards be, guess what, accountable. How so? Accountable by providing an e-mail address so our students can contact them and, at the same time, have a meeting with each of the three colleges, and to put all of that responsibility on the student rep, I think, is unfair.

I’ve asked this. I’ve demanded this. I’ve even written to the Aurora College president, trying to get some action on this. Sorry, chair that is.

So, at the end of the day, what has the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment done for accountability for those folks sitting in our gallery here today and every other college we support with great enthusiasm here? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I do believe it was Ms. Bisaro who highlighted a student representative that is with us.

When it comes to representing those students, whether it be social work, nursing and other business programing, we do have a student representative. It has been vacant for a bit there, but we did hire a student representative. Not only that but the Board of Governors are accountable to the students as well as to the population of the Northwest Territories. What has been shared with me in the House, I’ve also shared with the Board of Governors. They integrated that into their communication dialogue with the general public. So, being accountable, they are accountable to the GNWT. They are accountable to the general public as well. Mahsi.

By virtue of inaccessibility, they’re accountable to no one. They’re not even accountable to the Minister. May I use the wonderful occasion to educate the Minister responsible, it’s Section 7 under the Aurora College Act, “The Minister may give direction to the Board respecting exercise of its powers and the performance its duties”.

So, if it’s dutiful and responsible and, guess what, that one word again, “accountable” to its students, it would be accessible to those students, every one of them up there. Frankly, putting all that on one person is baloney, and everybody here knows it.

So, would the Minister of Education finally do his job and direct the Aurora College Board of Governors to have an e-mail address and certainly hold some public meetings, because they are accountable to no one. Thank you.

Through the Board of Governors and also the senior staff that we have, the president, the VPs, the councillors, the student support, all those mechanisms are in place and they do have e-mail addresses. The Board of Governors are there as well.

I work very closely with the Board of Governors, and I shared this very concern with them as well. They are developing a plan of action to deal with those matters. But the president of Aurora College and the VPs are always available. If there are concerns from the students, concerns from the general public or from the community, the regional perspective, they are there to represent that as well. Whenever there are issues or concerns brought to my attention, I immediately deal with it through the college venue, through the chair or the president in that matter. Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, we continue to waste the public’s time on this by the defence of the status quo by this particular Minister. Section 7.(2)(a) of the Aurora College Act says, “The Minister shall determine the policy respecting the operations, programs and priorities of Aurora College”.

Mr. Speaker, stop sharing the darn concern; direct it – you have the authority, you have the power – and do it in front of everyone here today. That’s it. You could do it today. It is time he actually showed some leadership and just tell the college, you have an e-mail and you are going to be accessible to the students, because I can tell you every darn hamlet council, city council, school board trustee, I mean, the list goes on, MLAs, even senators, for goodness sakes, in Ottawa are accessible by e-mail addresses and certainly phone numbers. There is zero of that on the Aurora College website. Today is the day to be accountable and certainly useful.

I did share all that information with the Board of Governors. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Now, followed by my favorite phrase: Who is in charge? According to the Aurora College Act, the Minister may give direction to the board. I am not going through it again. The Minister knows this because I told him repeatedly over the years; I have even told him a couple of times today.

---Interjection

Well, if you want the question, then answer it.

Will you today have the courage to call the Aurora College president and direct an e-mail be publically provided for every single one of those board of governors so they are truly accessible, not hidden in the fray and out of touch?

We are in a position of power in this House when it comes to Cabinet Ministers, and at the same time, I am not in a position to dictate to the various organizations. We are here to work with them, work with those organizations so they can best meet the needs of the communities and best meet the needs of the students as well. I am also committed in this House that I would share that information with the Board of Governors, and they are developing a plan of action towards that to deal with those matters. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier this fall the NWT Native Women’s Association raised the concern of unusually long wait times for RCMP to respond to calls in various communities. In events of this concern, it was suggested that this was more of a GNWT issue than RCMP. There is such a thing as emergency call logistics, contract

services and language barriers. My questions today are going to be for the Minister of Justice.

Currently, the RCMP emergency call system for all communities is dispatched through Yellowknife. This seems to be a frustration point for many.

Can the Minister indicate why is Yellowknife used as a hub for emergency dispatch? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Minister of Justice, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Operations and Communications Centre is located here in Yellowknife. It provides services to every community across the Northwest Territories. The centre currently has 21 employees, which includes four operators and one supervisor per 12-hour shift.

The OCC is able to make direct contact with at least one officer from each detachment across the Northwest Territories at all times. We have an operation that is centrally located. It’s the most cost-effective and efficient way to operate a very specialized 24/7 policing operation. Calls from communities are taken, as I mentioned, 24/7 by OCC and dispatched on a priority basis. If there is an urgent call, an RCMP officer will be dispatched. Non-urgent calls will be taken, recorded and dispatched when the next member becomes available. Urgent and priority calls are dealt with in a triage manner. There are specific OCC operators who are assigned to each area, north, south and in Yellowknife.

Establishing an OCC in other communities would be cost prohibitive due to factors such as the cost of specialized equipment, salaries, expansion of infrastructure, housing for employees and yearly operating costs. Recruitment and retention of these specialized positions is often difficult in Yellowknife and major centres across the country. Staffing these positions in smaller communities would be much more difficult as the positions are very stressful, require specialized training and high security clearances. Having administrative support in all detachments 24/7 to answer all categories of complaints would come at a very significant cost to the government. Thank you.

With that thorough answer, some of my questions are going to be almost answered. I will try to rework some of them here.

Clearly, having some form of auxiliary dispatch in communities, if not regions, I believe could better deal with language and urgency. We have just heard from the Minister that cost seems to be a prohibitive issue, but can the Minister indicate why has the department not explored this or alternative solutions for an improvement in RCMP response and wait times?