Madam Chairperson, the area that we are dealing with in terms of community wellness programming is a broad area that ranges from residential care, alcohol and drugs to family violence shelters. I cannot give you the specifics today, but I know for a fact that in the 44 communities that offer home care, there are some of those home care programs that fall within the community wellness programming that are run by bands. I cannot be more specific until tomorrow when I can provide a list of which communities directly deliver home care, which is one of the community wellness programs. Thank you.

Madam Chairperson, if I can stick to the example that I used in terms of home care programming, there are very specific guidelines that lay out how to design and deliver a home care program and yes, they are made available to each community. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. Madam Chairperson, I would like to know how the community wellness programs are being allocated. In the community of Arctic Bay, the hamlet of Arctic Bay had requested under this program to improve the church to have a small office for the Minister and probably a small morgue included in that. They were to hire the young offenders or people that are not employed to work on this church and it was turned down by the Department of Health. I would like to know how these community wellness programs are allocated? Thank you, Madam Chairperson.

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. Madam Chairperson, there are regional allocations of the Brighter Futures and Building Healthy Community's dollars that are provided directly to the health and social services board who distributes it to the communities. That is where I understand that the approval process is.

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. Madam Chairperson, are there any clauses that when communities try to help out these people in respect to the community wellness, why they were turned down. Can the Minister answer me why this program was turned down when this proposal was trying to help out the community itself? Thank you, Madam Chairperson.

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. Not knowing the specifics of the proposal and the approval or the process it went through, all programs and applications have to fit certain criteria to receive funding. That is why you have a regional committee that approves that. I would suggest to the honourable Member to get the background. Certainly if we can provide the information, we can find out why the program might not have fit the criteria or why it was turned down. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. In terms of community transfers, there is a broad range of opportunity. What we first suggested is that discussions need to take place between the regional board and community. I personally have attended a variety of meetings where those kinds of discussion take place. We really have not tied very tight parameters around this. What we are suggesting to people is they need to understand the kinds of resources available in the community, and they need to understand the range of services that residents of that community draw on, that really are held outside the community, whether they be in the regional centre or in Yellowknife or in a southern province. We need to share quite clearly, and we do it in the kinds of guidelines that the community gets involved and direct delivery needs to comply with in terms of the legislation, the guidelines and standards that are in place. If I look to discussions that took place in the community of Hay River, created a board, has direct program responsibility, employs the staff and owns the buildings and delivers all programs that can be delivered inside that community, then they rely on Stanton and Edmonton for other aspects of service. Thank you.

Certainly, I can see these discussions going to the point where a community might employ the employees who work in that community. It is one of the cautions that we put on the table at the same time though because when we have small boards that have a tough time recruiting across the country for adequate resources, our advice to communities is that they make sure they do not get too far out on their own in terms of how they support those kinds of programs. Certainly we do not see the possibility to duplicate things in a community that are already available at the regional centre. I think we have to take a fairly practical approach in terms of what is actually possible to be allocated on a community by community approach. Thank you.