Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Today I want to make a statement about an interagency statement on social issues. The groups represented here today serve thousands of people across the NWT. They are diverse groups, but they share a common concern for the alarming social problems of our people.

First, the Status of Women Council states that approximately 4000 sexual assaults took place in the NWT last year. The majority of the victims were girls under the age of 19. Number two, the Yellowknife Day Care Association states that there are about 2300 children in the NWT who require child care, but there are only about 700 licensed spaces available. Sixty-six per cent of the women in the NWT with children under the age of six work outside the home.

The NWT Federation of Labour states that thousands of northern workers and their families, especially single mothers, workers without unions and youth, suffer from inadequate enforcement of outdated laws such as the 1974 Labour Standards Act. One million dollars spent on RCMP squads here in Yellowknife could have hired a dozen qualified inspectors to make sure NWT safety laws and workplace laws are properly enforced.

The national action committee states that one in 10 children in the NWT goes to school each day without food in their bellies. The Learning Disabilities Association of the NWT states that the 1986 census reports that 44 per cent of the NWT residents over the age of 15 are functionally illiterate. Seventy-two per cent of the aboriginal people over age 15 are in this group. Each year in the Northwest Territories, between 700 and 800 students leave the school system before graduation.

Northern Addiction Services states that in the spring of 1991 they opened a new 32-bed rehabilitation centre on the Dettah Road. The Department of Social Services provides operating funding for 20 of the 32 beds. Shortly after opening the new centre, the Department of Social Services commissioned Linda Bell, president and chief executive officer of Bellwood Health Services, to perform an evaluation of Northern Addiction Services. What are the government's plans for implementing the recommendations?

The YWCA states that...