Legislative Assembly photo

Roles

In the Legislative Assembly

Elsewhere

Historical Information Stephen Kakfwi is no longer a member of the Legislative Assembly.

Last in the Legislative Assembly November 2003, as MLA for Sahtu

Won his last election, in 1999, with 61% of the vote.

Statements in the House

Question O128-12(1): Authority To Release Information In Department Of Social Services December 15th, 1991

Mr. Speaker, just a couple of points. One is that I do not know that to be true, any more than the Member can say that she can make specific allegations about specific individuals, but I do know that there have to be a few things remembered here. One, is that in a discipline process that we take for employees, they must have some access to some of the information the government has in order to make sure they represent themselves in the best way possible in that process, and that is not a process in which we deny government information to.

Secondly, they are not responsible for the actions of their unions. The unions work on behalf of their members and in the end I think the unions use information that comes to them in whatever way they want. There is no recourse, as well, I think for employees that suffer under managers or supervisors that must be brought to light, in their opinion, so there has to be some flexibility in the kind of iron hand we would try to extend over employees. As I said, this type of thing was looked at some time ago and it is still my view that the actions that were taken were reasonable and there is nothing to revisit at this time. Thank you.

Question O128-12(1): Authority To Release Information In Department Of Social Services December 15th, 1991

Mr. Speaker, I think as employers we wish to have some statement from each employee that basically says they will respect the office they are going to occupy and the responsibility they would have to use the information and materials available to them in a reasonable way during their employment with us. That is what I understand the oath of office and secrecy to be demanded for. Thank you.

Question O128-12(1): Authority To Release Information In Department Of Social Services December 15th, 1991

I think I indicated last week that we did look at it at the time and it was our view that there was no violation. Thank you.

Question O128-12(1): Authority To Release Information In Department Of Social Services December 15th, 1991

Mr. Speaker, I think that it should be said, as I said earlier, we had looked at cases where allegations were made about the conduct of employees in the past, and it was the view at that time that the actions taken by employees were reasonable, and that the information that is being bandied about again now is information that was released publicly by the union representatives, who are duly assigned members on staff in the Government of the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Question O123-12(1): Hiring Of Personnel From Outside The Country December 15th, 1991

Mr. Speaker, on the first part which I have taken the liberty to interpret myself, we take the question of Mr. Bernhardt or the way he phrased it, the answer should be no, because there is no policy. That is what Jeannie Marie-Jewell was getting it. The way I interpreted it was to say: Would I look at the situation that is in existence there? That is why I said, yes.

On the concern that the honourable Member is making now, I would say we are going to look at the situation that I responded to earlier today.

Question O117-12(1): Policy Re Hiring Non-canadian Citizens December 15th, 1991

Mr. Speaker, I think we should just cut out all this technical stuff and deal with the original concern that the Member for Kitikmeot raised. The question was: Why are we hiring non-Canadian citizens to work in positions of the Government of the Northwest Territories? My response was basically saying that we do not have a policy geared toward promoting the hiring of non-Canadian citizens for positions within the Government of the Northwest Territories. If I did not say that, that was the intent of the original question as I understood it, and the intent of my response as I made it. If Hansard does not reflect that, then I understand that technically it is too late to correct Hansard.

I understand the Member pursuing this line of questioning, but I would say that we have to look at whatever procedures we have for departments in a government that hire non-Canadian citizens to carry out the duties they want, such as doctors, nurses and perhaps engineers, and get back to the Member. I would have to ask for the details on that. Thank you.

Question O117-12(1): Policy Re Hiring Non-canadian Citizens December 15th, 1991

Mr. Speaker, I will make corrections to Hansard in that case. Thank you.

Question O117-12(1): Policy Re Hiring Non-canadian Citizens December 15th, 1991

Mr. Speaker, I had not made a commitment to develop a policy to hire non-Canadian citizens. I do not have any intention of developing such a policy.

Ministers' Statement 19-12(1): Tungavik Federation Of Nunavut Claim December 15th, 1991

Thank you. I am pleased to announce to the House that the Tungavik Federation of Nunavut and the federal government have concluded successfully land claim negotiations in Ottawa over the weekend. The Hon. Dennis Patterson was present at the negotiating session on Friday night, where agreement was reached on the outstanding issues.

The initialling of the claim is an important step, both for the Inuit who have been negotiating the claim for about 15 years, and for the creation of a new territory called Nunavut. I am sure that the Members of the House will join me in offering congratulations to the Tungavik Federation of Nunavut on the successful negotiations of the initialled document.

---Applause

Contained in the claim is an affirmation of the Inuit ownership over 350,000 square kilometres of land, including 36,000 square kilometres of land with subsurface rights; the provision by the federal government of $580 million, in 1989 dollars, in the form of a capital transfer to be paid over the next 14 years; detailed provisions which ensure participation by Inuit on boards with responsibilities in the fields of wildlife management, land use planning, water management and environmental and socio-economic reviews of development proposals.

A very important article in the agreement is related to the political development of the new territory in the Eastern Arctic called "Nunavut." The article confirms that the federal government will recommend to Parliament, legislation to establish a new Nunavut territory with its own legislative assembly and public government. There needs to be much discussion before this occurs, and the article further states that a political accord shall be negotiated between this government, TFN and Canada. This accord will establish the date of parliamentary legislation, the types of powers of the new government, certain principles relating to the financing of the Nunavut government and the time limits for the coming into existence and operation of the new government. As the Members of the House may appreciate, there is much work to be done on the development and approval of this accord as the parties aim to reach agreement on it by April 1 of next year. It is expected that the Inuit will vote on the acceptance of the claims settlement in the late spring, with the ratifying legislation being introduced into Parliament a few months later.

---Applause

Question O109-12(1): Readvertising Of Job Competitions December 12th, 1991

Yes, Mr. Speaker, I will do that.