Thank you, Mr. Chairman. There are emergency response plans that are developed at the community level. There are also regional emergency response plans, and the development of those regional emergency response plans is coordinated by our superintendent of Municipal and Community Affairs in the region. What they attempted to do with the regional emergency response plans was to identify resources that are available within other departments of the government and other agencies that work within the regions to support communities in dealing with emergencies including missing persons and other types of situations when that is needed. It seems like a good suggestion, and I am not sure whether it has been covered at this point or not, but the whole idea of involving communities as a group as a resource to support the regional emergency response plan. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. Before I recognize Mr. O'Brien, I am getting a signal from Madam Minister that she wants to speak.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I know that the search and rescue people in the Keewatin region have been doing search and rescue activities for quite a long time, and the people that I know, like in Rankin, Harry Towtongie and Tikik, a whole bunch of them already have a plan amongst the hunters that might not be written, but they do have a plan. They do know that Arviat has to contact Whale Cove and so on. They have been doing that for as long as I remember. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. Mr. O'Brien.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In reference to the Minister's reply, I did not indicate that I approached her on this issue. I think that is really irrelevant. The comment I made was, is this being considered? I think that is a fair question. This issue was raised by an elder, an avid search and rescue individual who has been involved for many years, a hunter and trapper out of Baker Lake and it is Mr. John Nukik Sr. It is my understanding that they did make advances toward the Minister's department. Their office would be in Rankin, I believe, seeking to find out if this was a possibility to help them form such a group. With that in mind, my question is somewhat unanswered. I am asking the department if they would consider possibly having a meeting with the various groups to try to formalize such a situation. It would not be necessary that a region would get involved in every search. It may not be necessary at all, but in some cases, I am sure they could use the help and if it were done in a coordinated fashion, it would be that much more efficient and effective. It could save a life. That is a comment. The question I have is, are there any guidelines that we provide as a government through your department, when an individual is lost, how long they wait to go out? We know we had situations where people were lost and as the day passes, and it seems in some cases where, if the group had been out sooner, or the government or the RCMP had been involved, possibly a life could have been saved. Do we have such a mechanism built into our plans or regulations and is that something that we should be considering?

Thank you, Madam Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will have someone contact John Nukik Sr. and tell him that he had contacted MACA and they had not responded. I have quite a few elders, Barnabas Pirjuak in Baker Lake, who can contact this individual and talk with him on a personal basis and see what has happened here. I do listen to all the elders. It is unfortunate my staff did not listen to him. This is a very good idea. We will bring it up in the regional leadership meeting which is coming up in the Keewatin. For the other part of his question, I will ask my staff to answer. Vern will answer the other part of the question. Thank you.

Thank you. Assistant deputy minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As far as the policy is concerned, my understanding is, we do not have a policy per se on the timing for searches of missing persons. The department takes its lead from the RCMP who are the lead agency in dealing with that issue, but we work closely with them, of course. We are involved with the RCMP in developing planning related to searches, but the lead department and the department that would be setting policy per se, would be the RCMP. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. I have, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you. There is a motion on the floor to report progress. Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Are you making a motion to report progress?

Thank you. There is a motion on the floor to report progress and that motion is traditionally not debatable. All those in favour? All those opposed? Thank you. The motion is defeated. We will go back to activity summary of 1998-99 main estimates, emergency services, on Page 4-8. I have Mr. Steen. Mr. Steen.

Thank you. Madam Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will ask my ADM to respond to the question.

Mr. Christensen.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The plans on how we can assist communities and other agencies can assist communities to respond to emergencies locally, these would be the regional emergency response plans. There would be a similar plan that is coordinated by our staff here in Yellowknife at a territorial level. The plan details a cooperative approach to dealing with emergencies. It does not indicate where the funding would come from for the searches or the costs, but represents a collaborative or volunteer effort to deal and assist with those types of events. In terms of funding for those events, they are dealt with as extraordinary, and costs that are incurred by the GNWT are consolidated into a submission which is considered by Cabinet or by the Financial Management Board. There are also other arrangements with the federal government through a disaster financial assistance arrangement in which the federal government helps to cost share some of those costs with us. Those are how some of the financial costs are addressed. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. Mr. Steen.

Thank you. Madam Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the Member's comments and concerns very much and he is making a very good point.

Thank you. Are you okay with that, Mr. Steen? I move on to another Member. Mr. Picco.