Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Mar 29/00) - Newly-appointed Northwest Territories commissioner Glenna Hansen gets sworn in at a ceremony at the Great Hall on Friday.

The ceremony will feature the Aklavik drummers and include the unveiling of a new display of the official symbols of the NWT, a display that includes rough and polished diamonds presented by BHP Diamonds.

The ceremony begins at 3 p.m.

United call for action

Regional divisions were put on hold Monday, as MLAs gave unanimous support to a motion urging the federal government to immediately provide full pension and severance payments due former Giant mine employees.

"This is absolutely disgraceful, the way these people have been treated by their former employer," said Frame Lake MLA Charles Dent, who introduced the motion.

"I think the federal government should be ashamed that their legislation continues and sanctions this treatment," said Dent.

Pension payments to 59 former hourly workers will drop by 25 per cent starting April 1 because mine owner Royal Oak underfunded the pension. Dent said money from the fund was invested in Royal Oak shares in 1997.

"When (the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development) was talking about how to transfer assets, how to address the cleanup problem, they had completely forgotten the needs of the workers," said Range Lake MLA Sandy Lee.

Brendan Bell, representative for Yellowknife South, urged the federal government to consider changing bankruptcy law so workers get first priority among creditors.

More leadership needed

North Slave MLA Leon Lafferty said cabinet needs to provide some direction to those representing the government in negotiation of the Dogrib final agreement.

Lafferty said the Dogrib believe a final agreement could be reached within two months, but are being hampered by territorial negotiators.

The rookie MLA said he and Dogrib chiefs are planning to meet with Premier Stephen Kakfwi and Aboriginal Affairs Minister Jim Antoine to confirm the government's commitment to completing the Dogrib Final Agreement.

Good news, bad news

The territorial government predicts it will be in better shape than originally anticipated by the end of the 2000-01 fiscal year.

Finance Minister Joe Handley said Monday the government projects the deficit will be $42 million rather than $61 million.

"It's still a deficit, so it's not entirely a happy situation yet," said Handley last week. On Monday Handley said he plans to announce in June that the deficit will be reduced further when he introduces the 2000-01 budget.

Just over half of the improvement comes from the postponement of $10 million in capital projects planned by the previous government. The government's budget for the first four months includes $51 million in capital spending.

MLA Charles Dent, chairman of the standing committee on accountability and oversight, said no list of the projects that have been deferred has been provided to ordinary members.

Addictions staff out of luck

Staff owed money by Northern Addictions Services will get sympathy, but no more money from the government said Health and Social Services Minister Jane Groenewegen Friday.

Answering questions from Range Lake MLA Sandy Lee, Groenewegen said NAS was providing services to the government on contract.

Any outstanding pay owed workers is the responsibility of the directors of Northern Addictions Services.

Groenewegen said the government had advised the directors it may be wise to get insurance to protect themselves from such a shortfall.

$225,000 man

During an exhaustive review of the interim budget for Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, regular MLAs were keen for more information on a $225,000 contract for advice on diamond business.

A diamond dealer in Antwerp has been contracted to consult the government and inform them about the latest developments in the world diamond business.

"For instance, the recent international (rough diamond) conference. That didn't happen just by accident," said Minister Stephen Kakfwi. "For the first time we were invited to speak for Canada by the industry."

MLAs questioned Minister Kakfwi about whether the consultant is working full-time for the government for the money he is being paid.

Kakfwi said this is not the first year of the contract and that the money is well spent, as evidenced by the development of a Northern diamond industry. He promised to provide a full report on the services the consultant provides.