Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I take the privilege and the honour of recognizing Mrs. Helen Gruben, who is the former chair of the Mackenzie Delta- Beaufort Regional Conference back in the mid-80s to the 90s. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the context of your opening statement, and in recognition of this being Seniors Week across the Northwest Territories, I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of our seniors a happy and spirited week, including our guests in the gallery this afternoon.

Today, Mr. Speaker, there are four seniors who I want to say a special hello to, three of whom are currently in Stanton Regional Hospital. One is a dear friend of mine, Mr. Pete Fraser, former Member of this Legislative Assembly. I had a chance to meet with Pete last evening, where we shared a few laughs and discussed some of the happenings in our Legislature.

The second senior who I would like to speak about and who I have just met is Ms. Elizabeth Giroux, mother of Edith Mack, the secretary to our honourable Minister responsible for Justice, Mr. Antoine.

Thirdly is a lady who is currently in the Saint Therese Hospital in Fort Vermilion, Alberta, but takes an avid interest in our daily proceedings. On behalf of the residents of the Mackenzie Delta I want to wish Lena Malegana all of the best and a happy recovery.

Finally, Mr. Speaker, I want to say another special hello to my aunt, Dolly McLeod who is also resting and recovering in Stanton Regional Hospital. She informed me last night that she watches us with interest during our daily deliberations here in the House. As you know, Mrs. McLeod spends the majority of her life maintaining our traditional bush lifestyle approximately 40 miles southwest of Aklavik.

Finally, Mr. Speaker, I want to wish all of the seniors who are watching all the best in health and happiness. I cannot go without saying hello to a very special friend; my most sincere wishes to Cece McCauley, who is a great supporter of mine. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to go back to the theme of National Aboriginal Day. In recognition of National Aboriginal Day, Mr. Speaker, and with the concurrence of my fellow Member for Mackenzie Delta, I would like to speak of some very important aboriginal people from the community of Aklavik.

Mr. Speaker, quite often a community of this size experiences a lot of grief. In the past year, Aklavik has gone through such an experience. Today, Mr. Speaker, I would like to personally acknowledge a few people who worked hard to assist the community to overcome such grief. These people, Mr. Speaker, are the Reverend and Mrs. Chamberline Jones, the pastor of the All Saints Aklavik Church, who officiated at many of these funeral services.

Others who should be recognized for contributions to the community are Moses Qutek and Wilson Malagatee, who assisted in digging the graves many times. Two important people in Aklavik as well are Barb and Norm Larchy, who work very closely with the grieving families and dedicate much of their time volunteering during the funeral services.

There are also those who worked very hard to prepare the food. There are two specific ladies I would like to acknowledge, who I feel need special attention, Louise Akalnak and Florence Furlong.

Mr. Speaker, there are many others who should be acknowledged as well. I hope I did not miss anyone. I want to say that it is you people who make the community a healthy community and lessen much of the sadness.

I want to also make special mention of the Aklavik Singing Group, who often performed and lightened the community's spirit during times of sadness. I would like to close by saying I hope they keep up the excellent work. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the cadets we see here in the Legislative Assembly this week are representative of air and army cadets of the Northwest Territories. Some of the cadet units in the NWT have been in existence for over 35 years. Today, there are nine army cadet corps and one air cadet squadron in the Northwest Territories, where the cadets' program continues to enrich the lives of hundreds of our youth.

Therefore, today in the House, I would like to take this opportunity to recognize the NWT cadet movement in the Northwest Territories.

The primary focus of the cadet organization is citizenship. It aims to develop in our youth the foundations of good citizenship so that they will become valued and contributing members of society. We need not look further for examples than the fine young pages that are here today in the House.

We have also seen the cadet displays outside put on by the Rae-Edzo Cadet Corps and by the two Yellowknife cadet units. This afternoon, at the break, we look forward to the reception and the demonstrations.

Mr. Speaker, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment has also recognized the contributions that the cadet movement can make to the education of our youth. Through designated cadet courses taken at summer camps, cadets can receive high school credits.

The cadet movement depends upon a large number of volunteers. Volunteers lead the cadet corps and squadrons. Volunteers are active on parent or sponsoring committees and sit on league executives. I would like to pay tribute to those volunteers and thank them for their generous donation of time and effort. Their valued abilities and dedication are truly appreciated.

We would not have cadets without the Canadian Forces, therefore, I would also like to thank them and their northern based personnel for the tremendous work they do for cadets. It is truly appreciated.

Mr. Speaker, I know that we all wish air and army cadets, their leaders and their civilian sponsors all the best in the future, secure in the knowledge that they have captured our interest and that they have our support. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, I am more than pleased to offer that to the Members of this House. If I can, I would like to present it in a written form. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Although I have some background information on the previous projects in Alaska, I do not have the specific numbers with me this morning. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to advise the Member that we have reinvested profits from previous projects back into social housing programs in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, this is a pilot project. I had advised the Member yesterday that we will not know how much we have realized until the project is complete. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I could not agree more with the Member here. I believe we have all extrapolated the philosophy from the Sessional Statement where it puts a priority on Housing. In terms of resource development, Mr. Speaker, we have gone into the communities and regions, trying to identify what is the most affordable way to build houses. I agree there is a great opportunity for our communities to develop secondary industries to meet the housing needs. I look specifically to Fort Resolution where they have a large inventory of timber. I believe we can put our resources into the community. The Premier and I have discussed it at some length a few weeks ago that we could develop lumber products to build rafters and floor joists. Those are some of the things we should really be looking at in the long-term, to utilize our northern resources.

Obviously, on free enterprise, I agree we should develop northern products. It is just going to take a matter of time, consistent with our vision statement, consistent with the policy of this government, with the philosophy of change as to how we are going to make revisions to the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation's overall delivery system. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.