Mahsi, Madam Speaker. Today, I wanted to applaud the government for following through with commitments that were made to my constituency. Studies are presently under way looking into the health delivery system for communities in my constituency. There are a couple of studies going on today. There is one being done by the band in Fort Simpson. This, I believe, was a commitment made a long time ago, at the beginning of the life of this government, when our honourable colleague from Iqaluit, Mr. Dennis Patterson, was the Minister of Health. He made that commitment to my constituents at that time, and it was carried through by all the other Ministers who followed him until the Premier, who is the Minister of Health and Social Services today.

This study is to look at culturally-relevant health services in the community. At the same time, the Deh Cho First Nations are also doing a study into health services in the region and outlying communities on how health services have been provided up to this time and what the future holds for our communities. I just wanted to say that health services for my constituency is one of my main concerns today and has always been, particularly the hospital in Fort Simpson. There is a long history related to that, going back many, many years.

The majority of people in my area are treaty people and they see that the provision of health services in that area was part of a treaty agreement reached in 1921. We would like to keep it that way. I must say that the professionals working in this field in my constituency are doing a really good job. I would like to applaud them for that. The types of services that should be delivered is a concern I have. More services could be provided to the communities, perhaps even better equipment could be placed in facilities so that more and better services could be provided there.

Hopefully, once this study is done, the government will take whatever recommendations that may come from this study very seriously. Mahsi, Madam Speaker.

---Applause