Mr. Speaker, several provincial jurisdictions that I am aware of provide for the appointment of auxiliary or special constables in their police acts. Since the Minister has just mentioned the need for community police resources, can he tell me if there are any other mechanism by which a police auxiliary or community patrols could be authorized, other than a police act?

Mr. Speaker, a police act, as I understand it, would allow for mechanisms and ways in which this government, municipalities and regional groups can provide for alternative policing than what we have presently. There is no act, just a contract for the RCMP to provide overall policing for the whole of the Northwest Territories. A police act would allow for that present scenario to continue and possibly with provisions for aboriginal police forces; for instance, the Yellowknife police force, which is a municipal police force. It would allow for regional or territorial police forces. So you may look at a police force for a particular region or the whole of a certain territory. At this time, as I said, we have looked at it and there has been some initial thought given to it, but we're not at the point where we can say with any certainty that we will get beyond that.

As Members know, we have an intensive amount of work to get done in the course of this session and before the next government, but we will, in our discussions with Yellowknife Members, perhaps be open to more discussions in order to flush out our thinking on it. We are prepared to consider a preliminary discussion paper for consideration of the next government as part of the transition paper, if that is what is being called for. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister appears, in his answer, to agree that some action may be necessary. For certainty, I would like to ask the Minister if he would not agree that the appointment, training, qualifications and administration of civilian or community patrols engaged to assist the RCMP in surveillance or neighbourhood watch activities, would best be set out in legislation rather than an agreement. Legislation could then set out duties, responsibilities, authority and jurisdiction in addition to legal liability. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I can't give an opinion on that, other than to say that is a consideration to be evaluated in the course of discussions. At this time, we are looking positively at the merits of a police act, but we are not yet at the stage where we could give any substantive arguments for or against. Therefore, it is at a very preliminary stage. Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Mr. Speaker, this government has spent a great deal of time and resources on

the issue of employment creation for aboriginal people in the north. I would like to ask the Minister, given the obvious efforts that have been made over the past five years to increase the number of aboriginal people in the employed labour force, how does he explain the fact that the employment share of aboriginal people in the western Arctic has decreased between 1989 and 1994? It has decreased from 28 per cent of total employment in 1989 to 27 per cent of employment in 1994. Thank you.

Is the Minister taking my question as notice?

Let me rephrase it. Mr. Speaker, over a number of years, our government has indicated that employment creation, especially for aboriginal people in the north, is a priority. We have been spending a lot of money in that area. In 1989, the average for the western Arctic was 28 per cent. This past year, 1994, it went down to 27 per cent. So with all these efforts that our government has been making, our percentage has dropped down. I would like to ask the Minister if he is aware of this problem and what is causing this problem for the aboriginal people in the western Arctic. Thank you.