YELLOWKNIFE (November 7, 2012) – Commissioner George Tuccaro, Premier Bob McLeod, and Speaker Jackie Jacobson presented Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medals to the longest-serving members of the Legislative Assembly yesterday.

Michael Miltenberger, MLA Thebacha, and Jane Groenewegen, MLA Hay River South, have served in the Legislative Assembly continuously since their first elections in October 1995. Both have served as Cabinet Ministers, including terms as Deputy Premier.

 Mr. Speaker last week in Winnipeg my colleague Mr.

Mr.

• Thank you for inviting me here today to speak with you about what the GNWT has planned for the 2013/14 fiscal year.

• The GNWT’s 2013/14 infrastructure budget marks a return to more historic spending levels after delivering unprecedented infrastructure budgets totaling more than $1.1 billion over the previous four years.

AKLAVIK  (October 16, 2012) – Four Aklavik residents were honoured with the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal on Friday.

Premier McLeod presented medals to:

PAULATUK  (October 16, 2012) – Edward Ruben of Paulatuk has been honoured with the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. Jackie Jacobson, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, presented the medal to Mr. Ruben on October 10.

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Thank you. I am pleased to be here today and to see so many people that have an interest in the sustainable economic development of Canada’s north. I would like to thank Conference Chair Bob Gomes, the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce and World Trade Centre Edmonton for bringing us all together to talk about ways we can encourage and support northern economic development.

Thank you for inviting me to be here today.  I would like to speak to you about the place of the Northwest Territories in the world and how fostering strong relationships has been, and will continue to be, an important part of promoting social and economic progress in the North.

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Good Afternoon, I would like to welcome all of you to the launch of Family Violence Awareness Week.  I am particularly happy to see a number of young people attending this afternoon.

Sadly, once again this week we are reminded that violence against women is a very real problem in our communities. The Northwest Territories has the second highest rate of family violence in Canada and we know that many incidents are never reported.  So it is not a surprise to you when I say we have some work to do.

YELLOWNIFE (September 13, 2012) – The Gwich’in Tribal Council (GTC) has signed the Devolution Agreement-in-Principle (AiP) and will rejoin the negotiations to transfer Crown land and resource management responsibilities from the Government of Canada to the Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT).