Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, in all of our communities, there are many elders who form a very important part of our social fabric. Our elders pass on their knowledge and experience to their children, to their grandchildren and, for some, to their great-grandchildren. Since my election one and a half years ago, I have requested that the GNWT provide elders' residences in both Coppermine and Cambridge Bay, as elders in both of these communities have asked for these facilities.

It is my understanding that the Kitikmeot region was scheduled to have its first elders' facility constructed in Gjoa Haven since 1988. For various reasons, the capital funds for this project have been deferred, year after year.

Last year, all funding for elders' residences was deferred in the capital estimates due to the unresolved issue of CMHC housing funds being virtually eliminated.

Madam Speaker, for the 1995-96 year, the Department of Health and Social Services reinstated the capital funding for elders' residences in Fort Norman and Fort Resolution, which were two of the deferred projects from last year. However, the capital funds for the elders' residence in Gjoa Haven, within the Kitikmeot region, has been entirely deleted from the capital plan.