Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have spoken before in this Legislature about the very successful young offenders' wilderness program which operated for several years at Mingotuq, near Iqaluit, before it was closed by the Department of Social Services.

I am pleased to inform the House that a new company, owned by Inuit, is being formed, called Atamie Family Enterprises, which proposes to re-establish this very successful program under the leadership of Lucassie and Inookie Nowdluk, camp leaders at Mingotuq.

Lucassie, Inookie and their nephew, Adamie Itorcheak, have put a great deal of effort into planning the re-establishment of this program. The prime objective will be to instill renewed interested and self-confidence in young people whose situations with their families in communities has lead to deviant behaviour. They believe the best place to start this rehabilitation is back on the land in a community setting which has not been destroyed by town living. They propose to put the young people in touch with basic life-skills which their grandparents most likely needed when they camped on the land in spring and summer. They aim to slowly increase their sense of responsibility and feeling of confidence in their own ability to provide and hunt for the camp and neighbouring family. They plan on using a whole family approach to authority so they will experience the subtle traditional chain of command which has likely been missing for some time. Under supervision they will come to understand all aspects of camp life. Each component of traditional life will be explained and demonstrated including hunting, igloo building, fishing, trapping and dog team handling. Each member of the staff has a life time of experience with dogs, machines and maintenance, snowmobile repair, boat handling, hunter safety and first aid. The young people will also acquire new skills in such areas as carpentry and plumbing through regular maintenance of the camp's facilities and contribute to their own safety and well-being by maintaining and improving the camp's aircraft runway, et cetera. It is hoped that as their levels of responsibilities increase the resident young offenders in the camp will realize they are the authors of their own opportunities and their own limitations.

Mr. Speaker, I would seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.