(Translation) Thank you, Madam Speaker. In my constituency, during the late summer and early fall when ice begins to form and the glaciers start running through our passages, many of these glaciers are old formations and they start to break up during the summer months. This has been a problem for the communities in my riding, particularly for Resolute Bay and Grise Fiord. Just this last summer, we almost did not get our annual sealift because of too much ice in the area. In fact, the Russian ice breaker was unable to make it to Grise Fiord because of the ice.

At this point, I have a concern. Any time in the future should the annual sealift not make it to those communities because of the ice, the government will have to be in a position to plan for provisions such as heating oil to ensure that they have enough supplies if an annual sealift doesn't make it in.

The airstrip and the runway are too short so that large planes aren't able to land there, except in the months of March and April when we can get airplanes landing on the ice to provide heating oils and other necessities. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Baffin South, Mr. Pudlat.

(Translation) Thank you, Madam Speaker. I'm making a Member's statement with regard to this spring there was a large TB outbreak and there were a lot of people in the Baffin region -- I'm not really such about the number of people -- who had TB, especially from Cape Dorset and other Baffin areas.

Madam Speaker, this is a concern of mine, as well. I remember years ago when we were younger when there was a TB outbreak; I know, Madam Speaker, that the people of Cape Dorset pulled together to send people out for medical treatment. The people helped each other out as much as they could.

Madam Speaker, I would like those people who get struck by TB to be assisted by the medical services staff, especially the people of Cape Dorset, so this disease will not be spread throughout the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Inuvik, Mr. Koe.

Mahsi, Madam Speaker. I rise today to speak about sports in the north. My colleagues, Mr. Pudlat and Mr. Zoe, over the last few weeks have raised issues about the status and support to various sporting events and support to communities to host sporting events in the Northwest Territories.

In sports there are many people involved; there are the athletes, there are officials, cheerleaders and organizers, and they all participate one way or another. There are many sporting events and gatherings in the Northwest Territories. We have regional community games which mainly focus in on northern games, which include the Arctic sports and the Dene games. We also have indigenous games, as was mentioned by Mr. Zoe. The next set of annual games are in the United States. There are spring carnivals and festivals in most communities. We also have Arctic Winter Games and Canada Games.

These events, Madam Speaker, help keep our people busy, especially our youth. There's an adage that if you have a healthy body you're going to have a healthy mind. So that's something that we should continue to support.

There are several questions that have to be raised, though, and that is are we focusing our energies on the right events; are we spending our finances supporting the right things? Madam Speaker, these are issues which concern organizers and athletes in communities, and these are the ones, especially in small communities, who don't have a lot of corporate sponsors to turn to so that many athletes don't have the opportunities to get the experience and get to places where others are more fortunate to get to.

I would like to just say that this government has to look at and review how and where our financial support for sports in the Northwest Territories is going. Mahsi.

---Applause

Thank you. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Kitikmeot, Mr. Ng.

Thank you. Item 3, Members' statements. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Yellowknife South, Mr. Whitford.

Thank you. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Yellowknife North, Mr. Ballantyne.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I have a question for the Minister of Justice. I just looked through the famous red book here. Mr. Gargan keeps it handy, so we check the Liberal bible here everyday to see if there is anything interesting.

---Laughter

Madam Speaker, I notice there is not a lot of emphasis on programs for victims in the red book. In his discussions with the federal Finance Minister and in the face of impending massive cuts, has the federal Justice Minister indicated to our Justice Minister that he intends to fully support victims' programs here in the Northwest Territories?

Thank you. Minister of Justice, Mr. Kakfwi.

Supplementary, Mr. Ballantyne.

Supplementary, Madam Speaker. In the last five years, I think we have made a lot of progress in the area of programs for victims. The Northwest Territories, I think, is one of the more enlightened jurisdictions in the country. But, we still do depend on some federal funding for some of the programs available here in the Northwest Territories.

Has the Minister made a strong representation to the federal Minister to at least protect existing federal funding for victims' programs?

Thank you. Minister of Justice, Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Ballantyne.

Thank you. As I said, Madam Speaker, during the last few years we've come a long way. But, I think it is recognized by everybody that the rights of the victims, to this point, are still nowhere equal to the rights of the accused or the rights of somebody convicted of a crime.

Can the Minister give assurances to this House that he will aggressively pursue, with the Minister, the continuation of the existing programs we have for victims throughout the Northwest Territories?

Thank you. Minister of Justice, Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Baffin South, Mr. Pudlat.

(Translation) Thank you, Madam Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Health and Social Services. Last week, I mentioned that elders have to have a better place to live. Like I mentioned before, there should be an elders' centre in Cape Dorset. This has been talked about for quite some time now. I wonder if the Minister of Health and Social Services or her department has done any planning to put an elders' centre in the Cape Dorset area so the elders in my constituency and community could stay in their own community instead of going to different communities or regions. Thank you.

Minister of Health and Social Services, Madam Premier.