Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to ask some questions in the area of student financial assistance, and I have some paperwork here I would like to refer to. In December of 1997 the Minister's Forum on Student Financial Assistance was held and it made several recommendations on redesign of the Student Financial Assistance Program. While not recommending that access to the SFA Program be limited to a specific number of clients, the Minister's forum made several recommendations that would tighten up access to the program, and it was recommended that the focus of the program be indigenous aboriginal and non-aboriginals who had received all or part of their education in the Northwest Territories and persons who did not meet this criteria would still be eligible for loans on a needs assessed repayable basis.

Other problems with the SFA Program include the refusal of the federal government to recognize Metis and Inuit recipients of the basic grant as eligible for tax-exempt status. This means that Metis and Inuit students are taxed for the money they receive from the program. Dene students are not taxed and non-aboriginals in receipt of a forgivable loan and grant are also exempt. My question for the Minister is, I understand the Minister has done some preliminary work on the implementing of the new Student Financial Assistance Program. Can he tell us when we can expect to see the new program up and running?