Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to raise a number of concerns. I will probably be going over my allotted time. I want to indicate, Mr. Speaker, that there were comments that had been attributed to the Government Leader, in the September 7, 1992, edition of News/North, that could be interpreted as indicative of inconsistency in the application of policies.
The news article states that Ms. Cournoyea indicated publicly that the people of Tuktoyaktuk, Nunakput, should have been told a man who was carrying the A.I.D.S. virus was returning to their community. This conflicts with the position taken in November 1988, when Ms. Cournoyea was Minister of Health, regarding disclosure to the communities, or even regions, when two individuals with A.I.D.S. had been reported.
The position attributed to Ms. Cournoyea in the News/North article also conflicts with the existing establishment policy in the Department of Health. Section 2(a)(ii) of the Government of the Northwest Territories policy manual states, "only the executive council has the authority to approve major change to a department establishment policy."
As senior Minister of the Executive Council, the Government Leader signs each establishment policy. On January 10, 1989, the former Government Leader, the honourable Dennis Patterson signed a Health establishment policy which stated, "in the absence of N.W.T. regulations or guidelines, recognized Canadian standards shall be maintained" with respect to the delivery of health services.
A similar policy was also in effect in 1988. When Ms. Cournoyea was the Minister of Health, she was asked by Mr. Arlooktoo, at that time the Member of the Legislative Assembly for Baffin South, on November 7, 1988, to confirm radio reports that two H.I.V...