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NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
There are high hopes, low hopes and no hopes from community leaders for the second sitting of the third sitting of the 17th legislative assembly.

Chiefs, mayors and other leaders from around the territory have expressed mixed expectations for the outcome of the next four weeks.

Hazel Nerysoo, mayor of Fort McPherson, and Phillip Blake, chief of Tsiigehtchic, were among the leaders who hope issues raised in the past are finally dealt with.

"Coming from a small community, and this has been brought up many times, is the ambulance issue in the small communities," Nerysoo said.

"The health centre staff, their policy is they cannot leave the health centre so when an accident or something happens, it's up to the community to bring the individual (to the health centre), and you don't know if you're doing any further damage."

Nerysoo said the issue has been brought to Tom Beaulieu, Minister of Health and Social Services, in the past and by more communities than her's alone.

Nerysoo added that Fort McPherson's situation along the highway system is another reason why the community should be prepared with ambulances for accidents.

"I kind of hope that they would resolve this at this (assembly)," she said. "They say they're working on it."

Blake said he'd like to see improved wellness resources in Tsiigehtchic so those who need counselling or other supports do not have to leave the community to get them.

"There are no facilities for them to do any counselling, for people to go into private rooms to discuss counselling," Blake said. "Other communities have it like Inuvik or McPherson and bigger communities but the small communities suffer because we don't have enough population.

"We don't have support systems or resources for the people and I'm pretty sure the majority of them, they want to stay in the community."

Some leaders said they had no expectations and others preferred not to disclose them.

Danny Greenland, chief of the Aklavik Indian Band, is among those who has strong faith in the MLA for his region.

He said he preferred to keep the Aklavik Indian Band's concerns between the community and Frederick Sonny Blake, MLA for the Mackenzie Delta.

Greenland said he and the community expressed their concerns to Blake before the assembly sat and supplied him with a letter on the same topic as well.

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