Thank you, Madam Speaker. At the present time, the Department of Renewable Resources will follow with the fur strategy that was tabled in the Legislative Assembly. The first step the department is taking is hiring a person who will train in a fur grading centre and learn to properly grade fur. This, I believe, will be the first step towards being able to identify wild furs that are harvested from the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Supplementary, Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I would like to thank the Minister for that answer, but I need to clarify what he means by the first step. By hiring a trainer so our people in the north will be able to grade furs, what stage are we on in this first step? Has this trainer been hired? Has there been a competition for that? Are people identified to take this course? What stage are we on in this first step? Thank you.

Minister of Renewable Resources, Mr. Arngna'naaq.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. At the present time, I believe the department is putting together a description of what the trainee would be doing. Exactly where they are at this point, I'm not certain. I believe they will be having discussions with a fur grading centre, though I'm not aware where they are in those discussions at this point. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I've been interested in the fur industry for many years. There are a lot of people in my constituency and in the rest of the Northwest Territories involved in the fur industry. At this time of year, people are getting ready to go out and start trapping. Every year for many years, we have been trapping fur and sending them south. The way I see it, and from learning as much I could in the last few years through international travel and so forth about the fur industry, I think our trappers are not getting a good price for their fur because we are locked into sending our furs to an auction down south.

Is there any way in the fur industry to try to identify northern furs as exclusive furs so that we have better prices for our trappers? Thank you.

Minister of Renewable Resources, Mr. Arngna'naaq.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Yes, the department has had discussions with the various fur grading centres and have tried to set up a system where the fur grading centres would be able to keep the NWT furs separate from other furs. But, at this time, we are not aware that this will be possible. It is something that the department is working on, to keep furs harvested in the Northwest Territories separate from furs harvested elsewhere. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Final supplementary, Mr. Antoine.

Madam Speaker, the furs that our trappers get in the north are top-quality furs. I think they should be regarded as exclusive furs, and therefore, the prices for them should be at the top level of pricing. I would like to ask the Minister if he's aware of the condition of the fur market today? Is it improving, staying the same, or decreasing? Thank you.

Minister of Renewable Resources, Mr. Arngna'naaq.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I fully agree with the Member that our furs in the Northwest Territories are some of the best in the world. I hope that we will continue to show that we have top-quality furs that are going out on the market. At the present time, Madam Speaker, I am not certain what the exact prices are on fur, but I know the price of fur has increased slightly. The price on fur varies from year to year. I know the price on fur that is sold to the fur grading centres is higher than they were a number of years ago, and whether it will continue to rise, I am not certain. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Lewis.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Justice. Parents have difficulty these days in deciding what they should allow their children to watch on television. You can simply turn the switch off or cut the cable off. Each province decides what the community standard is before they rate films. In the NWT, since we don't have any such body to decide what the rating should be and whether it is all right for a five year old or a certain age group to watch a particular film, how do we determine what the community standard is? Do we have any kind of way of deciding what the rating should be of films that come to the NWT?

Thank you. Minister of Justice, Mr. Kakfwi.

Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Inuvik, Mr. Koe.

Mahsi, Madam Speaker. Over the past week, there have been a lot of concerns raised about the behaviour of people from the affects of alcohol and in line with the rulings of the court of Alberta and the Supreme Court of Canada. These rulings are dealing with extreme drunkenness and the behaviour caused by that. This is of great concern to residents in the north, in particular to women. I would like to ask the Minister who is responsible for the Status of Women, what

activity is the Minister's department doing to raise this issue with our federal counterparts, so that we can offer protection to the women of the north?

Thank you. Acting Minister responsible for Status of Women, Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I, too, heard the concern on CBC Radio. I don't know what the department is doing. As far as I know, there is one woman who works at the Status of Women and that is Bertha Norwegian. I will work with the Minister of Justice to write to our federal counterparts and let them know that we are disgusted with the rulings that came out in Alberta; that is, people are getting away with abusing women by pleading that they are drunk and insane. That is abuse of the justice system and it should be corrected. Thank you.

Supplementary, Mr. Koe.

Mahsi, Madam Speaker. Is the Minister aware of any other work that has been done between our territorial officials and other provincial officials responsible for women's issues, to try to develop a common strategy to review these rulings.

Thank you. Acting Minister of the Status of Women, Mr. Morin.