Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this past weekend, I returned to my home of Inuvik and held a public meeting. It was good that the Minister of Health and Social Services could accompany me to hear, first-hand from the people of Inuvik, of their displeasure with the announcement of Delta House being closed.
Mr. Speaker, for approximately three hours or a little longer -- three and a half hours as we heard the Minister mumble -- we faced questions and heard the concerns with the decision to close Delta House. I heard from the people of Inuvik of their concern with the way the information was flowing, the lack of consultation with the community itself and the concern with where people were going to get their help. Where do they go from here and what is the next step? On a number of occasions, members of the community asked the Minister if he would reconsider the decision to close the facility. Although he would not change the decision made, he did commit to giving the board and the staff a little extra time to look at alternatives. The community is thankful for that but there is still a lot of concern as to where these alternatives will come from. I would hope that as this budget goes through that there will be avenues opened up to the place we know as Delta House, to continue to help and serve the people of the Delta, as they have done for 20 years. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.