Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will be brief. Mr. Chairman, I was pleased to hear the Minister indicating in his opening remarks that the design and construction of the much needed health centre in Arviat are being looked at and will possibly be under construction in 1998-99. The Minister is aware this is a much needed facility and there has been plenty of discussion over the last few years regarding it. Having said that, I am pleased the Minister is trying to address it and is acknowledging the extreme need for this facility.
The other comment I would like to make briefly is on compassionate travel. This is a critical issue for all northerners and their families. I will speak to it as it relates to residents of Nunavut. As most are aware, there is no road system in the eastern Arctic and all families who are residents have to fly south. On many occasions they fly without an escort simply because guidelines are not as clear as they should be and sometimes decisions are made further away from the actual situation at a regional office as opposed to the local centre. This is a welcome addition to look at this and try to tighten things up. Recently, I was at Baker Lake and there was an elder I was visiting. She indicated that she was quite concerned that she was travelling to Winnipeg for some back surgery. As I said, she was an elder and she was not sure her daughter would be able to go with her or not. This would be serious surgery and a case where she would require and would only want one of her family members with her, but she was not sure if that would be the case. Another issue which arose when I was in Arviat last week was a lady that had serious vision problems, near blind, and she was having difficulties in trying to get someone to agree to allow her one of her family members to escort her while she travels to various tests and analysis that she goes through on a very regular basis. There is a need for this to be looked at and tightened up and to me it is a welcome addition and long overdue. That is all I have to say Mr. Chairman. Thank you.