Mr. Chairman, the tradition of adopting here in the north, amongst Inuit and Dene, as the Member says the practice is labelled. It is customary. It is part of our tradition for family and friends to adopt children, sometimes they are grandchildren, sometimes they are cousins and sometimes they are not even related, but that is our custom.

The Family Law Review Report recommends very emphatically, that we develop no legislation, there would be nothing in the law that would say how custom adoption fits, or does not fit, into our present justice system.

What I understand is that Social Services and the courts, the Department of Justice, and vital statistics, have really been besieged by individual requests from parents, and relatives of adopted children, for instance, to change names, and to look for passports. In trying to do paperwork, there really was no system set up to deal with custom adoption. Custom adoption moved into this, because of the need for paperwork. The Family Law Review seems to suggest, and I cannot really speak about it in detail, because it is not tabled yet, but it recommended, I think you could say, that we stay out of it. All we do is try to find a way in which to make it simple.

If people want to change a name, if they want to get birth certificates, social insurance numbers for children, or passports, as a government, we should make a commitment. I think I can make the commitment now, that we will work towards making it simple for people in the communities to get through these bureaucratic wrangles, that so many get hung up on these days.

I do not think that the government ever intended to start legislating, and developing laws, for custom adoption.

Mr. Chairman, I understand up until 13 years ago, there were no female R.C.M.P. officers present in the Northwest Territories. Now there are at least twenty in the G division, so there is some movement towards recruiting women in the force, and having them present in the Northwest Territories. I am not certain if that was the full extent of the Member's question.

Mr. Chairman, if I could just make note of the previous Member's comments. Mr. Ningark, I understand, is suggesting that we should look at the suggestion that if we had more women R.C.M.P. officers in the communities, it may lend a more positive element, particularly to the female population of the communities who need, perhaps greater sensitivity, than most members of the community perceive the male R.C.M.P. officers to have.

He says that this may be a positive element to suggest to the R.C.M.P. in their recruitment policies. I think it is a very good suggestion, and I will pass that on to the senior people in the R.C.M.P. division here.

With respect to Mr. Nerysoo's question regarding Arctic Red River. I met with the Chief from Arctic Red River a couple of weeks ago, and the chief raised the same point as well. What I had said is that, in my view, I believe that every community in the Northwest Territories, whether they have any level of crime or not, reported crime, that they deserve to have some police presence in that community.

The problem is, of course, that this government, and Legislature, have never had the adequate resources to implement that. In fact, we do not really have a full say, anyway, in the way that the resources we allocate to the R.C.M.P., are used. In regard to Arctic Red River, it was one of the communities that was pointed out to the Chief Superintendent of the R.C.M.P. when I met with him. I know that housing, and office space, is one of the additional problems that we are faced with.

If we lay out money to make an officer available, and the R.C.M.P. agree to place that individual in Arctic Red River, we still have the added problem that we need capital money to build an office, and adequate housing. Right now, I understand that the federal government has to provide it, but there is a possibility that the community may take their own initiative to make those types of facilities available for lease. This was discussed with the chief, when I met with him a few weeks ago.

Mr. Chairman, just for the Members interest, if my plans unfold as they should, hopefully I will be in Arctic Red River, and the Gwich'in communities, including Aklavik and Inuvik next week to follow up on some of the meetings that I have had with community leaders two weeks ago, and to take care of some other business as well. I will be following up on the comments that both Mr. Nerysoo, and Mr. Koe, have made.

In response to his specific question, I understand that there are a total of 34 aboriginal members within the "G" division at the present time.

Mr. Chairman. I hope I did not miss anything in the Member's question, but what I understand is that these aboriginal members are roughly split half in the eastern part of the territory, half in the west. That is just my own quick rough estimate, based on the list that I have. All of them are now considered full members, full constables, in the R.C.M.P., and that the R.C.M.P. are integrating them as quickly as they can to internal full status, or whatever you call it. They are, as far as I know, very much appreciated by the communities that they serve.