I have a return to oral question, asked by Mr. Lewis on March 18, 1993, regarding the press release announcing the national AIDS strategy.

Mr. Speaker, on March 18, 1993, the Member for Yellowknife Centre asked me whether any research on AIDS is done in the Northwest Territories. As a result of the Northwest Territories' size and limited facilities, most of the research conducted on AIDS is applied research. Research, monitoring and surveillance can sometimes be very similar, some of the things we are learning about AIDS in the Northwest Territories that might be called "research" are:

1. The way HIV affects Inuit or Dene people. Each known case of infection is monitored very carefully to see if there are any differences in the way aboriginal people of the NWT get sick compared to southern Canadians infected with HIV;

2. The way the epidemic is spreading. The Department of Health has been looking at how the virus is spreading here compared to southern Canada and the rest of the world;

3. Why people are putting themselves at risk. What precautions do NWT residents take (or do not take) that places them at risk of getting infected; and

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.