Mr. Nerysoo.

Thank you. Mr. Chairman, generally speaking, I just want to ask if the Minister of the department has proceeded to develop a policy on the protection of heritage buildings in the Northwest Territories?

Thank you. Mr. Minister.

Mr. Chairman, during the current fiscal year, the museum heritage division will be developing an amendment to the Historic Resources Act. One of the areas to be investigated for incorporation into the legislation will be responsible for the preservation of historic buildings. Once the amendments have been finalized, the department will prepare operating procedures for funding restorations. Thank you.

Thank you. General comments, Mr. Gargan.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, one of the departmental goals is the cultural and artistic endeavours of northern residents to be encouraged and promoted. I keep seeing disturbing trends, with regards to that particular area, and one of them is with regard with the N.W.T. Arts Council.

I think all Members received letters from them on it, and in there, it seems that even though the cultural and artistic values of the aboriginal people in that area is very cherished, and very important, it seems to be taken as the departmental goal to eliminate that program altogether. The intention is that since 1989, for example, the contributions were first of all cut by 27 percent, 29 percent the following year, and now there is a total of about 42 percent in that same program.

So, I would like to ask whether or not, it is the intention of the department to eventually just get rid of that program altogether.

Thank you. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The answer will be the same as other answers that have been given, that this program like any other program, has to take its share of the cuts that we were requested to perform. My answer would be absolutely not, this will not be taken out altogether, because it is still important, and the goals and objectives still will exist. I know we are not feeding enough funding required here. We could do more, but at this time, fiscal restraint makes it very hard to keep that up to par, so that is why we have taken those cuts, like every other section of the department.

Thank you. Member for Deh Cho.

Thank you. I appreciate the response, but the government, in its infinite wisdom, have chosen to cut a program in half, that is very dear to the aboriginal people, and it has been the target area in which most of the cuts will take place.

I would also like to remind the Minister that the cuts started back in 1988-89, and continued, so we did not have a fiscal restraint even at that time, but the cuts have been since ongoing, and a big brunt of those cuts have been this year.

I think that I am sure, although a majority of the Members here are aboriginal people, and this government's concern about aboriginal culture, and all those nice words, that behind all that is just another way of making the government seem to care about the cultures and arts of northerners, but, in fact, we are really not doing too much in that area. I think this is sort of a token program now, as opposed to maybe a good program that started quite some time ago.

I am not sure, but I think that the way the cuts are going, it is like Mr. Antoine said, every community, every aboriginal group, in some way, are very distinct to others. Even their language is different, their customs are slightly different, and so in order to maintain that very unique distinction, we need programs to promote the cultural or artistic talents of those people.

With the limited amount, we can see that the survival of that distinctiveness will diminish if we continue to diminish monies, specifically, to try to promote and encourage aboriginal culture and art.

Thank you. Mr. Minister, would you like to respond to that?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This is a very short one. I will not attempt make legitimate, or defend what has been happening in the past, what cuts have been taking place.

However, regarding this year's cut backs, and all the fiscal restraints, we have been asked to cut back ten percent of the programs. The Member will appreciate that cultural contribution segment has been cut back only eight percent, and not ten percent.

So, I assure the Member that there will be no voluntary, other than restraint, attempt to undermine the validity, or the importance, of the cultural programs that we contribute to the communities. The department is not the only one that has been promoting it. We have a $200,000 contribution to the Dene Cultural Institute that also promotes cultural programs.

Thank you. Mr. Gargan.

Mr. Chairman, in his response, the Minister did indicate that he is not going to try to justify why reductions are made in the past, with regard to the N.W.T. Arts Council.

It is the past that we should be concerned about, because by eliminating or reducing programs that do specialize in those areas, like stories, music, whatever the case may be, we are not going to have a past, or a future. I do not think, by reducing, that you are helping, promoting, encouraging, or maintaining, those cultural values, and the artistic values of residents up here. That is one on my concerns.

The other thing that I would like to ask the Minister is, whether or not under the language bureau, or the official languages section of the department, will have the Languages Commissioner here as a witness?

Thank you. Mr. Minister.

I am not in power to ask for that particular witness in my department. We will have to wait for the other departments to appear before you. The Legislative Assembly is responsible for official languages, if you remember the decision that was made at the 12th Assembly.

As I stated, Mr. Chairman, we are participants of the reduction in spending in order to balance the budget two years from now. We are participants of that one, however, I stated in my presentation, just a few minutes ago, I said that we will make a special effort to assist clients with information about other funding program sources, how to access them, and give them ideas for fund raising from the private and volunteer sectors. There is other cultural organizations, or culturally oriented programs, such as federal Secretary of State, U.N.E.S.C.O., and other organizations that other agencies use. What we are saying, is that we are not backing out from it, because we are also lacking funding to fulfil all the obligations, or all the other requests from Northwest Territories. What we will say, is that because we are short of funding, there are other agencies elsewhere in Canada, or abroad, who are interested in assisting with the item, exactly what Mr. Gargan is talking about.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. Member for Deh Cho.

This year, I have seen copies of an agreement, a three year agreement, with regard to the French and aboriginal languages. I do not have the agreement in front of me, but how much are we getting in the next three years under that agreement?

Mahsi. Mr. Minister.

Mr. Chairman, we do not have the agreement in front of us either for French, and aboriginal languages. We could get back to the Member as quickly as we can. Thank you.

Thank you. I believe a copy will be provided to the Member. Mr. Gargan.

Thank you. Irregardless of what the numbers are, I want to know from the Minister, whether or not, due to the restraint, the numbers on the agreement have been changed?

Thank you. It is because of the restraint that the numbers have been lowered. Proceed, Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. No, they have not been reduced, this has been negotiated, and it has not reflected in the restraint.