Mr. Chairman, perhaps I should have been clearer. If the case is that it is going to be fully occupied, then we would have to reassess so we are building to take in a few extra. I know that the facilities should be looking to future needs, as well as immediate needs. So, I will reassess this to see why it is only being built for immediate occupation.

Agreed.

---Agreed

Agreed.

---Agreed

Agreed.

---Agreed

Agreed.

---Agreed

Mr. Chairman, I just wanted to ask the Minister whether or not there is any direction that the department is going with regard to group homes, especially with them being put in major centres as opposed to smaller communities where they might be more cost effective in delivering the programs. Of course, having them in major centres...Most people in the centres are aboriginal people. I think if we are going to be enhancing any kind of aboriginal values or even traditional foods and that, these group homes should actually be based in smaller communities where there is direct cultural links, language links. Also, the traditional food could supplement the operation of those centres. I would like to ask, if the long-term goal of the department is to keep building these centres in large communities for the purposes of economy, would they look at them being built in the medium or smaller communities.

Mr. Chairman, I have not really had a discussion with the department on this matter but I am aware of the situation, mainly because some communities have much more heavy support leaning towards foster care; where people take youth into their own homes. There are some areas where we do have a contract with a family who runs a home, which may be theirs or it may be a charity lease where we have the facility but we pay a specific family to move into the residence to work with the youth. Other than for extreme medical circumstances, I think that it's important that this issue gets addressed along with the other areas we are talking about: what are the elders' needs, what are the other community needs?

Certainly, keeping youth in the communities and close to their family group probably would create a bit more of a supportive type of treatment. At the same time we're also faced with a lot of youth that have to get away from their community because they've got themselves in a situation where they are not criminals or anything like that; it's just that sometimes you get yourself into some kind of trouble and you need another place to go. I am concerned about the issue of where we house our youth and I think that with the department, I really would like to address that with what has been indicated in many of the communities: how do we look after the youth in the community, whether it's through group homes, foster care, or in some circumstances, where there are some innovative ideas such as outdoor treatment centres. It varies across the north but I have not pursued this right at this point in time, but I will make a commitment to see if the department and the consolidated department can address this program requirement alone and in concert with the other needs of the community and try to come back with some type of plan that would build that into community needs.

Mr. Chairman, what is a psychiatric half-way home? I am not informed on this and would like to know what it is. Thank you.

The requirement for a psychiatric half-way house was identified in 1985 -- that's a long way back -- in a review of the physically and/or mentally challenged persons conducted by health and social services. Additionally, a proposal to establish such a house was included in the model for mental health services tabled in the Legislative Assembly in 1987. The half-way house will fill the current gap in mental health services between programs available at the community level and programs available at the Stanton Hospital psychiatric unit. The original intent of the program was to provide supervision and counselling, with the aim of assisting patients to become self-supporting so that they may return to their communities and families. That's the explanation of a psychiatric half-way house.

This decision was made in 1985 about this psychiatric half-way home. How did you determine Yellowknife to be the place that it should be built? Was it just because there are more people here that are that way or what?

---Laughter

Mr. Chairman, I believe that the reason Yellowknife was considered was because the psychiatric program is in the Stanton Hospital here in Yellowknife and like anything else, when you step out of an intensive program and go back out there, you know you may have to come back in. I believe that was the rationale behind it; to have that flexibility so you don't send the person all the way home and if turns out it was too soon, they can easily come back into the main psychiatric program at the Stanton Hospital.