Thank you. Minister of Justice, Mr. Ng.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Through the courts, under the Criminal Code and Victims of Crimes Act, the judiciary has the right to impose fines against people who are convicted and to direct these funds to the victims' assistance funds. I couldn't say exactly how much is received on an annual basis. It is my understanding that the victims' assistance fund has a balance of $336,000 as of March 31, 1996. Thank you.

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Roland.

Mr. Ng.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, with respect to the funding I was speaking about earlier under the victims' assistance fund, that money is accrued and dispersed, not to individuals. It's disbursed through a victims' assistance committee which is appointed by myself. That committee reviews applications of non-government organizations that provide support to victims through projects, through training, through program delivery, public awareness and research in those types of activities, so it wouldn't be direct to individuals. However, there is also the Criminal Injuries Compensation Act which, as Members know, is currently under review through the Budget Measures Implementation Act. Through that fund, there are

direct monetary applications that can be applied by victims of crime to receive funding.

Thank you. Mr. Roland, supplementary.

Mr. Ng.

No, it wouldn't. The fines that would be imposed by the court would go to the victims' assistance fund that I had mentioned earlier. Thank you.

Item 6, oral questions. Mr. Erasmus.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister responsible for the Financial Management Board. Mr. Speaker, Yellowknife is the largest community in the Northwest Territories and it also has the majority of the GNWT-owned buildings. My question for the Minister is what is the approximate amount of money paid by this government to the city of Yellowknife in grants in lieu of taxes for those buildings. Approximate; I don't want to be put off with a technical answer.

Minister responsible for the Financial Management Board, Mr. Todd.

Mr. Speaker, I certainly wouldn't want to put my colleague off on that important question and I would want to ensure that it was an accurate reflection of the actual costs, so I will take the question as notice and report to him on Tuesday. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Todd. Item 6, oral questions. Mr. Barnabas.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I listened with great interest to the Premier's statement about his meeting with the Prime Minister. What subjects were discussed at the meeting with the Prime Minister? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Like I said in my Minister's statement today, we discussed many issues. We mainly discussed where the North was going. We talked a bit about the constitution in the West and the process that we see to develop a new Western Territory. We talked about Nunavut and how well that was going along. We also talked in general about the Northwest Territories. On my part, it was a very enjoyable meeting. I finally met a person in Ottawa who was very knowledgeable about the Northwest Territories and very concerned about the Northwest Territories, as well as who I thought was a person very committed to working with the Northwest Territories to overcome the issues we have. And we talked about devolution, as well. Mr. Speaker, thank you.

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Barnabas.

(Translation) Thank you, Mr. Speaker. (Translation ends) ... agree to transferring responsibilities for managing natural resources to the Government of the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Prime Minister of Canada is very committed to doing that. We have our own work to do here in the Northwest Territories amongst our aboriginal partners. He started that job when he was the Minister of Indian Affairs, and he made a public statement in this Legislative Assembly, when he opened it, that he would like to see that job completed. Also, he would entertain coming into the Northwest Territories, I believe, once we have something prepared that we can present to him, to show that we've done our work from this end in the devolution of oil and gas to the Northwest Territories and other provincial-type jurisdictions. Thank you.

Thank you. Item 6, oral questions. Item 7, written questions. Item 8, returns to written questions. Item 9, replies to opening address. Item 10, petitions. Mr. Morin.