Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have been involved in the coordination of the programs to some degree. However, it is recognized that most of the senior programs fall under the Department of Health. Therefore, that department has been trying to harmonize exactly how we are going to address all the seniors' needs, including how and whether or not there should be, as the Member suggested at one point in his statement, funding for the Minister responsible for Seniors, specifically for seniors' programs. Some of the seniors' programs are under MACA, some of the seniors' programs are under housing. So there is a group that is trying to harmonize all these programs together.

As the Minister responsible for Seniors, I do not really have a responsibility per se to organize all of these programs under one roof. What we agreed to do is have a committee which is looking at putting all these programs together under one Minister. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Steen. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Roger Allen. It is regarding an issue that has been brought to my attention from the community of Enterprise regarding their application to establish a graveyard in the community. The process has been a long, ongoing process and it has taken upwards of six years. To date, they have not made much gain in that area. Without a graveyard, the community has been forced to bury their families elsewhere, usually in the community of Hay River. There seems to be, although I use the word "process," there seems to be a lack of a process that is being used to set up a graveyard. I would like to ask the Minister, what is the process for establishing a legally designated graveyard in a community?

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Allen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, it is a new issue for me. I am going to have to advise the Member that I will take the question as notice today and I will get back to him as soon as I can. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Allen. The question has been taken as notice. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Thebacha, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are addressed to the Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, and deal with the issue of the recruitment and retention plan and the maintaining and enhancing of our northern staff and hopefully finding new staff as well.

This issue has been raised in this House quite a number of times in the business plans and it continues to try to address a significant shortfall. My question to the Minister is: given the fact that studies show that we tend to focus too much time on recruiting and not enough time on retention, what does she intend to do to try to improve the retention component of the recruitment and retention plan to make it easier to access? More of a one-window approach, so that our northern professionals get the help they need? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member refers to studies that indicate we are focussing too much on recruitment and not enough on retention. Studies? I am not sure which study the Member is specifically referring to, but I am pleased to report that the department currently spends about $1 million annually on programs to support students who are studying to enter health and social service professions and employees who are wishing to study in an area of value to the health and social services system. We are currently spending $1 million to enhance the capabilities of health care and social services professionals. I believe this goes some way towards ensuring that we retain these employees in our system. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is information on Web sites that speak to this issue of recruitment and retention across the world and what people in other jurisdictions have found out to be the way to deal with that issue. My question to the Minister is then with the $1 million that is being spent, can she indicate how they track and work with northern students, northern nurses, northern social workers down south to ensure they return home? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Minister responsible for Health, Ms. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the areas, specifically the educational support program which I referred to, are education leave, professional development fund, northern development fund and medical bursaries. A number of these areas do have a remissible portion based on return of service. That is one way in which we try to ensure that once we have made the investment in these folks, they will come back and serve us here in the North. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Could the Minister indicate whether the Department of Health and Social Services, working with Education, tracks all northern students or all northern professionals who are down south either getting retrained, upgraded or going for their diplomas and degrees in social work or nursing? Do they know as a government between the two departments where these people are? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Minister responsible for Health, Ms. Groenewegen.

Could I ask the Member, Mr. Speaker, for clarification as to when he talks about Education and Health working together? Is he referring to these retention initiatives I have just mentioned or is he referring to the overall recruitment and retention programs of the department? Thank you.

I guess the Minister is seeking a little bit of clarification, Mr. Miltenberger. Could you be a little bit more specific in the question?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If I could attempt to provide clarification, the question I am asking is to deal with the fact...does the government know how many people are down south -- either under SFA or being funded through the recruitment and retention program -- taking health or nursing or social work? Are they working together to make sure they track these people so they return North to deliver these very essential services we are so desperately in need of? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Minister responsible for Health, Ms. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The answer to the first part of the Member's question is yes, we do know how many students are in the south, students or employees, in the south either taking training or taking upgrading. As I mentioned, they are sponsored either by the department or by the boards. We do know how many there are.

As to what specifically we do other than the return of service agreements to ensure that they come back to the North, I am not aware of any particular program to ensure that. That is something I could check into for the Member. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Minister. Final supplementary, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Could the Minister address all those employees like the ones from my constituency who were denied education leave and had to go to other sources? They are nurses -- professionally trained northern, aboriginal nurses -- who are down south. Does the department track those people as well or does Education track those people as well to make sure we do not lose that very valuable service?

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. There are two questions there. The first question is does your department track that. That is the question, Madam Minister.