Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At long last, through their locally elected representatives and the government they direct, the people of the Northwest Territories have control over Territorial lands. The Land Minister’s recent announcement of his intent to develop a recreational leasing policy, perhaps even with teeth, is welcome.

In the absence of a transparent and publicly reviewed process on recreational leasing in the past, the public has been seeing ongoing loss of the commons, rewards to those who occupy lands illegally, a helter-skelter policy of leasing by the federal government and the turning of a blind government eye with lack of resources, intent or commitment to enforce either law or regulations on recreational land leases. Those following government rules have been penalized with no access to land.

Not surprisingly, the public has questions. Given past trends to the contrary, will there be a clear and transparent process that provides equal and fair opportunity for access to all? The Minister has recognized the unique role of Aboriginal governments and committed to ensuring Aboriginal governments the clear opportunity for reserving

land. Will the general public have an equal opportunity for input on the protection of the commons for everyone?

Closely related, there’s a huge ongoing gap between the fact of a moratorium on leasing and its enforcement. Constituents report an ongoing and frequent illegal occupancy of land by squatters, yet despite having lists of legal leases, the department has no complete inventory of occupancy, legal or illegal, on Territorial lands, and the Minister has told me he can’t possibly afford to do one. Given this, some other cost-effective method is needed to build the inventory required for land management.

I suggest that the public has the motivation, the ability and the GPS technology, everyday technology now, to contribute coordinates of land occupants in almost all areas of interest. Lands could easily accept these reports, cross-reference them to existing legal leases and compile a comprehensive list of sites to inspect and establish legitimacy of occupancy. Squatters could then be dealt with. We can’t manage what we can’t measure. We need an inventory.

Despite raising these issues repeatedly in the past, and commitments he’s recently made, the Minister’s plans on these issues remains unknown. Government’s failure and…

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

---Unanimous consent granted

Government’s failure to listen to the public has slowed the process tremendously and caused expensive and repeated re-workings of policy that never got implemented. The people on the land suffer the consequences, and we know it is expensive as well. There is an opportunity to do better, and I know this Minister has good intentions. It will require full participation of my colleagues and the public to achieve that.

Mr. Speaker, I will have questions. Mahsi.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have stood up in this House many times to talk about drug dealers and the bootleggers in the communities and what this government is doing to curb the activity and the harm that they do to our residents of the Northwest Territories.

I want to take it one step further today and I want to talk about what this government is doing in terms of creating a proceeds of crime legislation, such as a Civil Forfeitures Act, like the provinces of BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Quebec. What this act would do is freeze, take possession of

or forfeit any property that’s used in these illegal activities. We can freeze buildings, businesses where some of these activities are taking place, take over skidoos, boats, vehicles that are used in transportation of drugs or alcohol.

I would like to, at this time, also commend what the RCMP and the people of the Sahtu are doing in terms of all these drug busts and also with the seizure of all the bootlegging and all the alcohol.

Mr. Speaker, I want to share some statistics with you in terms of what’s happening in some of the other jurisdictions. I found a nice report here. In Ontario, from November 2003 to July 2007, in 170 cases $3.6 million in property was forfeited, $11.5 million in property frozen, $1 million distributed to victims and more than $900,000 awarded in grants to help prevent victimization.

The assets that would be forfeited could go to compensating these victims, compensating businesses, compensating the community. It could go into grants such as for community programs. It could go to students who are trying to go to school. It can be given out as donations.

Like I said, I have stood up in this House many times and talked about the bootleggers, drug dealers and the harm that they do to our communities. I want to see this government take that one step further and look at creating legislation so that the bootleggers and drug dealers who continue to do these types of crimes, we can start taking their assets so that they don’t have that opportunity to transport alcohol to the communities or transport drugs to the communities. I want to know what this government is doing to disable these types of things that are going on in the communities. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Medical Travel Policy was first established almost 25 years ago, so without question, it is in dire need of modernizing. In essence, we need a more responsive and effective way to manage this program.

Since 1998, when there was a proposed attempt at revisions, and since then, the department and all past governments have failed to live up to this obligation of change, and even went as far as to mislead the Auditor General of Canada in a 2010 report in promising immediate change.

This policy has not been transparent or accountable to the public or to Members of this House. There has been no attempt at revisions for this policy to have the proper recording mechanism or an effective appeal process for its users. In several

reviews there was a cited need and recommendation of a standard NWT operating manual, yet this has fallen to the platitude of reigning leadership over the years.

Finally, there has been an overall lack of monitoring of the administration of the program, and this gap has been clearly established in several reviews and yet nothing has been done.

Where has been the accountability and transparency for the people it serves? It is abundantly clear, we are facing a wall of worry in our finances and we need to make and take every opportunity to streamline our services and to facilitate the modernization in patient care.

Mr. Speaker, I ask you again, where is this government on containing the ballooning costs of medical travel and creating efficiencies for our residents? Will this be another failed year of this department’s lack of effort, or will you finally see this promise fulfilled?

I leave this to its Minister and to its department to answer for the House and for the people. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize some of the recipients of this year’s Culture and Heritage Circle Award here with us in the gallery, along with their guests as well.

First is Rene Fumoleau who is here with us in the Individual award category, along with his guest, Pat Braden. The Elder award is Camilla Tutcho with a guest of Tina Tutcho. Also, in the Youth category, Janelle Nitsiza with her grandma, Dora Nitsiza. The Group award category is the Foster Family Coalition of the NWT. Attendees are Nicole Garbutt and Mary Richardson who are here with us. The Minister’s Choice Award, of course, goes out to Dene K’ue First Nation. That’s Stanley Beck who’s here with us. Along with him, we have Karen Wright-Fraser who’s here from our department.

Once again, I’d like to say mahsi for your contribution and thanks for making a big difference. Mahsi cho.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize the mayor of Aklavik, president of the NWT Association of Communities, Mayor Charlie Furlong. I’d also like to recognize Karen Wright-Fraser, whose family is originally from Aklavik. So, welcome to the gallery. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize a couple of Tu Nedhe residents here with us today. They are here for the Cultural and Heritage Awards from the Minister. Rene Fumoleau was awarded the Individual award. He’s from Lutselk’e. Representing the Dene Ku’e First Nation with the Minister’s Choice Award is my cousin Stanley Beck. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Mr. Blake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too would like to recognize Mr. Charlie Furlong, mayor of Aklavik, who has also been working on the Willow River project; and also Karen Wright-Fraser. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Blake. Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize the recipients of the cultural awards and especially the recipient from Deline, Ms. Tutcho, along with Miss Tina Tutcho. They are living cultures of the Sahtu, so I want to say congratulations to the staff who put this together.

I’d also like to recognize the mayor from Aklavik, and also a friend of my mine who I haven’t seen for a while, Mr. Stanley Beck. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Moses.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize Karen Wright-Fraser and I’d also like to recognize all of the Culture and Heritage Award recipients and their guests. Good job, keep up the good work, and also Mr. Charlie Furlong. Welcome, everybody, to the House and I hope you enjoy the proceedings.

Thank you, Mr. Moses. Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is also my pleasure to welcome certainly all of the Culture and Heritage Award recipients to the House, a very distinguished bunch of Northerners.

I’d like to in particular recognize a few people today: Weledeh constituent Pat Braden, and also Nicole Garbutt and her parents, John and Patti Garbutt of Weledeh.

I’d also like to recognize Janelle Nitsiza, who gave some very passionate words in response to her award today that touched many people, I know. I would like to recognize, in particular, her family who was there in support. Again, in particular, her grandmother, Dora Nitsiza, a friend of mine – I worked with her in the past with the Whati project – a very respected elder. Again, elder Rene Fumoleau from Lutselk’e. I was very pleased to

have lunch with a number of the recipients and their families today, so I appreciated that opportunity. Welcome to the House. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too wish to recognize Karen Wright-Fraser. She’s certainly a well-known lady to all of us and I’ve known her for a long time. She deserves much credit for what she does as an artisan. She’s put many devoted hours into supporting her culture and demonstrating it through her beautiful designs. Now, I don’t know if she continues to practice the same amount – she used to have the store – but I know she’s busy on a personal level, and that is keeping the culture and history alive for the Gwich’in people. We’re lucky to have people like her, ensuring that it’s alive, it’s strong and it will be there forever. Thank you very much, Karen.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would also like to recognize Mayor Furlong today. We’ve listed off some of the things that he has served the North and in what capacity he has served the North for many years, but I particularly want to thank him today for the time he took to make his film to share his own journey with cancer and that they shared that with other Northerners so they would be aware.

One little funny story, when I first met the mayor and I was introduced, he said his name was Charlie, but Charles Furlong. So I’d like to welcome Charles Furlong in the gallery today. Thank you.