The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

Robert Hawkins Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Whether it’s the DEA or DEC or MLA, I would be hopeful that the Minister would take our opinions into account. I trust the community people that have made a good decision.

The Minister keeps talking about having to examine what we’ve learned. It’s been three months, next month it will be four and we’ve all reached the point where we say it’s been too far, we might as well continue or we’ve done these communities, wait until we get to the next set. The bottom line is we have a DEA that passed a motion that says this is not right for them.

Would the Minister be willing to reverse his directive today in this House so the people of communities just like Fort Providence won’t be imposed on by this Minister that want a different method? Thank you.

Jackson Lafferty Monfwi

Anything we do has to be documented. So if there’s a letter from the DECs saying they don’t want Junior Kindergarten in their communities – because I provided the option – whether it be Fort Providence or other small communities, then we have to act on the

correspondence that will come to my attention, Mr. Speaker. Mahsi.

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I spoke about Colville Lake and the have and have-not communities in the Northwest Territories and two-tiered systems of standards of programs and services in the communities. I’m going to ask the Minister of MACA, given the fire in Colville Lake last weekend and that the Minister certainly heard through this Assembly that the fire marshal met with Colville Lake people. I understand that a fire truck is on the list of infrastructure that’s going to be coming to Colville Lake.

Is the Minister looking at a type of fire training program for Colville Lake’s newly developed fire department?

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The Minister of MACA, Mr. McLeod.

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’re pleased to hear of Colville Lake moving some of their priorities around and getting a fire truck. So we would be pleased to work with the community in getting some training and that, once their fire department is established, we will, on their invitation, go in and work with them and get some training for their recently formed fire department. Thank you.

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

Thank you, Minister McLeod. I understand the Minister clearly heard me, he heard me about the capacity building in our small communities and that’s the name of the game.

We often hear from our communities, our SAOs and band members that they’re under pressure to look at community emergency plans.

Can the Minister of MACA tell us how often these training sessions happen to help our volunteers, be it firefighters or search and rescue folk, be ready for real emergencies?

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you. We try and work with the communities. We’ve been working with them the last while to update their emergency preparedness plans and we work with the communities, we don’t try, we do work with the communities to upgrade any training that they might need, upgrade the equipment that they might need. The people at our disposal, we use their expertise to work with the communities to help them come up with a plan to deal with a lot of the situations that they’re dealing with. Thank you.

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

Given that November 1st is the

opening of the trapping season and the Colville Lake people are out on the land setting up their

traps and camps, would the Minister consider working with the band manager as to looking at some possible dates, so when the community is prepared and ready, to have a firefighter training program come into Colville Lake?

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

We’d be happy to work with the community. Again, we will wait to hear from the community and what some of their timelines are. They know what’s going on in their community. So once they extend the invitation and give us a definite timeline, then we will make our people available to go in and assist with the training of their fire department. Thank you.

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Looking at old Hansard from 2006, that was the last time I asked for a fire truck in Colville Lake. I said these are some of the necessary emergency services that we’ve been asking for in our small communities. There are have and have-not communities in the Northwest Territories. That’s the reality.

I want to ask the Minister the same question I had in the 2006 Hansard in regard to assessing homes to see if they are prepared to deal with any type of emergencies such as fires in the small communities.

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you. The New Deal took effect in 2007. That’s when we devolved the responsibilities for the communities to look after their capital purchases. A number of communities have taken us up on that, they’ve made some really good decisions on addressing some of their priorities. So in 2006, when the Member asked the question, we were still responsible for a lot of the capital that went into the communities and it usually had to wait in line to get through the capital process. Since the communities have the responsibility now, they are identifying a lot of their priorities, and if a fire truck is one of their priorities, then the communities do have the authority now to purchase their own pieces of equipment, their own infrastructure. Thank you.