Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, recently Health Ministers across Canada made a commitment to have a program in place to help those people who have been infected or had relatives who had been infected. Right now the Canadian Blood Agency is the agency that will be administering that program.
We are aware of people in the Northwest Territories who have contracted the HIV virus by either blood products or by transfusion. Dr. Kinloch was in Ottawa last week and I'm awaiting his report from the Canadian Blood Agency. Some provinces have 1-800 numbers, others have advertising campaigns. We've collated all those methods of getting the message out and we'll be making a decision next week as to the tact that the Northwest Territories should take in getting the message out.
I would point out it is our policy that if there is somebody in the Northwest Territories who feels that by some means or another they have had a chance to have a brush with the HIV virus, they merely have to go to the health centre, to the hospital or to their doctor and we will arrange for them to get tested, Mr. Speaker. There are some people who may have gone to a hospital in southern Canada where they may have had a blood transfusion or blood products, and sometimes they might not have known that has happened. That's the message we have to get out to those people is that if you feel you are in that category, if it's within that particular time frame, then please arrange with us to get tested. As I said, Mr. Speaker, we will have that advertising campaign available next week. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.