Masi. Members' statements. Member for Mackenzie Delta.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, every summer, a community somewhere experiences a devastating wildfire that threatens lives, homes, and important infrastructure.

Mr. Speaker, Fort McPherson's Wildland Fire Protection Plan was finalized in 2012. It recommended improving the community's fuelbreaks and helping people reduce fire hazards on their properties by getting rid of dead brush and controlling the vegetation growing around their homes.

Mr. Speaker, Fort McPherson's fuelbreaks were established in the 1980s and are overgrown and ineffective.

Mr. Speaker, in 2014 the community was ready to do work necessary to improve the firebreaks, but then forest fires broke out in the southern part of the Northwest Territories, and in the record-breaking season that followed the Fort McPherson plans were put on hold, Mr. Speaker.

Again in 2015, efforts were focused on the southern part of the Northwest Territories. Again, Fort McPherson has had to wait. The fire hazard for the main part of the community itself is relatively low, except for the southwest corner. The east cabins outside the community, along the Dempster Highway, are at an extreme risk. The wooden structures are surrounded by dense spruce forest.

Mr. Speaker, we saw in 2014 and 2015 forest fires can be virtually unstoppable. The fire in Fort McMurray this past year showed how a large, well-resourced community can be destroyed in just a short time. Mr. Speaker, Fort McPherson is in a remote forested area of the Delta. It is still in a lot of danger if a wildfire was nearby. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement. Thank you.

---Unanimous consent granted

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you colleagues. Mr. Speaker, community wildland fire protection plans are becoming a national standard for responsible wildland fire management. This critical first step will only reduce homeowners' and communities' risks if they take the next step. A plan is no good if it is not put into action. Climate change is leading to more and more severe forest fires, as well as longer fire seasons.

Mr. Speaker, it may be cold out now, but spring is just around the corner. Now is the time to commit to do the work required to protect Fort McPherson and other communities from the threat of the coming fire season. Mr. Speaker, when it comes to forest fires, no one should be able to tell us we did too little too late. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will have questions later today.

Masi. Members' statements. Member for Hay River North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it has become a tradition of mine to make statements in this House about the government's lack of support for ground ambulance and highway rescue services. Today the tradition continues. I wasn't planning on continuing it today. It has become frustrating and exhausting, frankly. I have brought this issue up during every business planning session, during the deliberation of the main estimates, during departmental briefings, and during many, many committee meetings.

During the last briefing we received from the department, we were informed that the little funding directed toward highway rescue was being cut from the budget, despite the Minister acknowledging that a real fix to the problem will cost millions. Luckily, that meagre sum was added back to the budget, and communities can still apply for a pittance to help them do millions of dollars of work on the GNWT's behalf. That is a great deal for the government.

Despite my frustration with all this, I decided to do another statement because in my research I came across some exciting and encouraging news. I came across the fall edition of the MACA update, and it reenergized me. Let me read from it:

For several years, community governments and other stakeholders have raised concerns about the lack of a comprehensive coordinated system of ground ambulance and highway rescue services in the North and about the need for clarity with regard to service levels, responsibility for service delivery, and associated funding. There have been several studies done on this issue which have proposed a series of options ranging from maintaining the status quo to a legislated program delivery mandate supported by the GNWT. MACA and the Department of Health and Social Services are working towards a legislative framework and coordinated program delivery. The departments are currently engaged in data collection and establishing monitoring mechanisms to determine uses and costs of current service delivery.

Finally, Mr. Speaker, this is the type of progress we need.

Now if the Ministers of MACA and Health and Social Services are a little confused it's because they might not be familiar with this publication. If they would like to be brought up to speed, I suggest they talk to the two former Health and Social Service Ministers in the gallery because this update was published during their terms in 2007.

Mr. Speaker, why do I have to ask the government to do what they said they were going to do 10 years ago? I'm going to have questions for the Minister of MACA later because that's where this file seems to have landed, and I hope the answers I receive aren't read by another MLA 10 years from now in the same position. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Members' statements. Item 4, reports of standing and special committees. Item 5, returns to oral questions. Item 6, recognition of visitors in gallery.

Colleagues, I'd like to draw your attention to the people in the Gallery.

I am pleased to recognize a group of trainees attending a Tlicho interpreter/translator course from Behchoko. We have with us Terry Nasken, Margorie Black, Regina Lafferty, Joe Beaverho and Henry Mantla. They are five of the 25 students who are training to be interpreters and translators. Also, trainees from Goyatiko Language Society: Jeannie Martin, Alice Wilfladt and Dennis Drygeese. Their program instructor Maro Sundberg is with us as well. Masi for joining us.

Colleagues, I'd also like to recognize that all the delegates are here today from across the North who are participating in the Daughters of the Vote, which is an initiative of Equal Voice Canada; a national multi-partisan organization dedicated to electing more women to all levels of politics. I'd like to welcome them and masi for being here with us.

Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I, too, want to welcome and recognize all the participants of the Daughters of the Vote program. In particular, I want to take this opportunity to welcome Yellowknife North residents Emily Smith and Coco Paulette. Also, as you alluded to earlier, a man of many accolades and distinguished titles but also a Yellowknife North resident, I'd like to welcome Mr. Tony Whitford, and, of course, it's very nice to see former MLA Sandy Lee and Jane Groenewegen in the House. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to acknowledge the Daughters of the Vote delegates who are in the gallery today, and I'd like to give special thanks to Jane Groenewegen and Sandy Lee for the trailblazers that they were in sitting in this House and serving it with great distinction. Thank you.

Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Marci cho, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to recognize some young ladies from Daughters of the Vote. First I'd like to recognize Laney Beaulieu. Laney Beaulieu is my brother Danny's granddaughter. I'd like to recognize two other young girls whose families originate from Fort Resolution: Jaylene Delorme-Buggins, Olivia Villebrun. Also, I'd like to recognize Dennis Drygeese and Maro Sundberg. Thank you.

Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, to you and through you I'd like to recognize a resident of the Great Slave riding as well as a delegate of the Daughters of the Vote initiative. Ms. Nha Ly, thank you so much for being here today. Thank you.

Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Range Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to acknowledge some of the people who I consider role models at the Legislative Assembly: Mr. Tony Whitford, for all his service that he's provided to us; Sandy Lee and Jane Groenewegen, for being role models to all women to say that we need to get into political life, into the Legislative Assembly.

I want to also welcome the Equal Voice Canada here. I want to acknowledge the Daughters of the Vote, huge that they're there, and, of course, Olivia Villebrun, who will be our representative going to Ottawa to take part in 338 women taking part in the Equal Voice, which is important.

I want to say that 1960, the year I was born, was the year that Aboriginal women got their right to vote, and it's really exciting to see. That may seem a long time for you; for me it's like the day I was born.

---Laughter

So in my short lifespan it's exciting to see that we've gone from a place that we actually got the right to vote to having almost 20 young women sitting in the audience taking part and considering sitting in my chair and Julie's chair. Thank you.

And his chair.

Masi. Almost sounded like a Member's statement.

---Laughter.

Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Frame Lake.

Merci, monsieur le President. I, too, would like to recognize a constituent in the gallery, Jacq Brasseur. She is one of the delegates for the Daughters of the Vote group here in Yellowknife that's working with Equal Voice Canada. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Inuvik Boot Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to recognize and welcome all the delegates for Daughters of the Vote. We do have two participants from Inuvik, who knows, might be taking over the Member for Range Lake’s position here. Ms. Alyssa Ross and Ms. Raven Firth, welcome, and I hope you enjoy the proceedings as well as take a very good understanding role in the work that we do as the 19 legislators of the Assembly.

I'd also like to recognize Ms. Sandy Lee, Ms. Jane Groenewegen and Mr. Tony Whitford for all the work that they've done in this House and I would also like to thank the participants from the interpreter and translator program, a very important program continuing our languages of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Nahendeh.