Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I wholeheartedly agree with the Member for Mackenzie Delta that addiction is a huge problem in the North and that is something that the department grapples with. When we talk about addictions and we talk about healing, I think it is important that we do work together with communities to develop approaches to bring the treatment and the services as close to the people as we can. A lot of the funding that flows from the department in this area and then subsequently goes out to different organizations does go through the health boards.
Certainly, I see the health boards as one level of government, if you will, that is closer to the communities and closer to the people where these kinds of priorities can be developed and then pursued. What we, as Members of this Assembly, as elected Members, have is a responsibility to keep these initiatives, keep these priorities in mind and do as much as we can to see relief, if you will, for the escalating problems. It seems, in some ways when you look at it, that we have not made progress as quickly as we would like to, in terms of treating these things. On the other hand, we need to develop programs and services that are as efficient and as effective as possible because this is an area where a tremendous amount of resources can be directed, but it will take everybody working together to get the most effective results.
I am just looking at the notes I made of the Member's comments here. I will close by saying that I do agree with the Member. We do need to make sure there are sufficient tools available to people who do want to change their lives.
Certainly on the issue of funding, something that has been talked about and we will talk to the standing committee again in the future, is the whole issue of funding to non-government organizations which do work in the community. The amount of time that they spend securing their funding for ongoing years. If they are core funded on an annual basis sometimes an inordinate amount of energy goes into just ensuring that they have the resources to operate.
We could look at things like multi-year funding arrangements through the boards. That is just one small area we could possibly make things more efficient. The other is looking at communities where there may be some overlap or duplication of services being delivered. There may be an opportunity for consolidating certain aspects of their operations like administration, so that it provides an opportunity for more people who are actually working in the front line positions, as opposed to a number of organizations all having to employ people in administrative roles.
We are open, the department is open to suggestions of how we can improve things. Of course, cost is always a consideration. I agree with the Member that there is room for improvement. Thank you.