Mahsi. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This person is secretary to the arts council. One person. Thank you.

Qujannamiik. Mr. Koe.

So, that is one person year. Is that person located in Yellowknife?

Where is that person, Mr. Minister?

Yes, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Koe.

Okay, I just want to reiterate some of the comments that my colleague made in terms of funding to the Arts Council. Over the last couple of years or months, it was greatly reduced in the amounts of funding that they received, and the council and their activities have contributed, I guess, to a lot of the success stories that we are all aware of across the north in terms of projects, the arts festival, the T.V. Society, the video centre in Igloolik, and Northern Arts & Cultural Centre in Yellowknife, and so on.

The Members on the council are finding it difficult to continue to support individual artists or organizations because on the one hand, they are praising them, trying to support them, and then on the other hand, when they write the cheques out, they are saying they are sorry, you know, because we have cut back, we have to reduce the amounts, and the responsibility is in the department's hands. The people at the front lines, who give out the cheques, or make the recommendations, are finding it very difficult in dealing with their peers, they are the front line people and have to face the music.

I just want to reiterate that we should be looking, again, at some of these areas a little more carefully, maybe there are other ways of supporting our artists, and maybe we should look at how we do that. I do not have any ideas right now, but again, just about every activity that we looked at cut, cut, cut. I know it is the time we are in, the time of restraint, but I think our monies can be better spent, looking at ways of providing better support to some of these organizations.

Thank you. Mr. Minister, are you going to respond, or should we carry on with the budget? Mr. Minister.

Mr. Chairman, I agree that I wish we could do more for arts council, but nonetheless, there is no reduction of overall, especially the contributions were only reduced by two percent, and the overall reduction is $15,000, or six percent of the total budget. This one did not suffer as much as other departments, or other programs, that we have reduced to make up the total of ten percent. I do not disagree with Mr. Koe, I wish we could do more, because this is a very

interesting area of programs that the department is doing. Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Koe.

One other comment, every time we want to do something, it is always in terms of dollars and cents. I know the industry has become very commercialized, and it seems that we fall under that same trap. I was over in Russia a few years ago, and they take great pride in their culture, and the people that are involved in these types of activities, they are all called professionals, they are artists, dancers, carvers, musicians, and they are all professionals. We, here in the north, or in Canada, have great difficulty in trying to call people professionals for things that they are good at. I know when I was over there, we also were looking at a carving display, and the people that did the carving were wearing medals. We asked them what those medals were, and this one individual had a silver medal and displayed it very proudly on her chest, and it was for being a professional carver. She was a silver medallist, or whatever, for just being, a carver. I guess in reference to my last point, this is one way of recognizing, or how we can maybe look at recognizing, our people. Maybe we do not pat them enough on the back. I would just like to make that point.

Thank you for that comment, Mr. Koe. We seem to have a habit of taking everything for granted. Mr. Minister, would you like to respond to that? Mr. Gargan.

Thank you. Just a request, Mr. Minister, I will probably get a bronze medal from my language.

---Laughter

Can I get a summary of the grants and contributions that we have made this past year? Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Minister.

Mr. Chairman, yes, we can provide that.

Thank you. Continuing on, cultural affairs, total O & M of $996,000.

Agreed.

Thank you. Television and radio services. Mr. Dent.

Agreed.

We will consider it while you are away. Madam Premier.

Motion To Extend Sitting Hours

Mr. Chairman, I would like to move that, if necessary, we extend the sitting hours until we conclude this item. Thank you.

Agreed. Thank you. We will make sure we move along. Television and radio services, page 5-18, O & M of $1.171 million.