Thank you, Mr. Kakfwi. Supplementary, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister referred to concerns regarding a possible challenge to the Charter of Rights that such an exemption would cause. Could the Minister provide me with some clarification on what grounds the challenge to the Charter of Rights would be made? I was not clear.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. The Minister responsible for the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Charter of Rights provides that everyone should be treated equally under the laws of this country. To provide for exemptions, are provided in only certain parts of the Charter.

In the case of hunting rights, because we are a public government, our laws have to reflect equal treatment to everyone. I believe there are provisions under the Constitution for special rights for aboriginal people. Other than that, everyone expects to be treated equally.

So to advance the notion for provisions that would provide an exemption, different treatment to certain members of the public such as the RCMP and the Armed Forces, would be seen as being treated unequally. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Kakfwi. Supplementary, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank the Premier for his response. But I am aware that seven other provinces in the country have made the type of exemptions we are talking about here today for DND and RCMP officials. To date, there has not been a single challenge to the Charter of Rights on this issue. I am wondering if the Premier feels this would be a different story here in the North than it has been across Canada. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. The Minister responsible for the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, the Honourable Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I think we have a very different circumstance here in the Northwest Territories. The possibility that we could have a court challenge is very real. Thank you.

Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The Minister responsible for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you for the question. I have attended the meeting the students had with the Yellowknife MLAs several weeks ago. Of course, I was there today for lunch. It is a very important program, and one that I am certainly very interested in. I also advised the officials from the SADD organization if they could contact me so we could possibly look at areas where we can participate in this particular program, to see if it could be applied in other areas, as well as seeing what kind of support we can provide to this program as a department.

Thank you, Mr. Ootes. Supplementary, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So the Minister has informed us that as of today, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment is not involved in supporting the SADD organization. I think that is a very big concern. I think the school system could be involved in this process, because there are schools in every community. This could be an outlet for starting a SADD organization in every community. Could the Minister confirm that to date, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment is not involved in the SADD program?

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The Minister responsible for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In an indirect way, I suppose the department is involved because we fund the schools through the district education councils and the school boards here in Yellowknife. In that sense, we are involved. I have to be honest with the Member, I am not sure if we have our people here at headquarters working on this particular program. That I do not know.

What I am saying to the Member is that I am interested in this particular program. I am interested, as I said to the individual today, in knowing more about this program and seeing if we can use this to apply it elsewhere.

I spoke to some of the students about this before and also to some of the officials about it. No action has been taken on that yet because I am waiting for some further response from them. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ootes. Supplementary, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister inform us that when some action is being looked at or beginning to be taken, he will inform the Members of this House? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The Minister responsible for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said, I have just spoken to them again today about this. I think you will see us follow through with this in the next short while.

I recognize that this is an extremely important area. We do have problems throughout the North with sobriety. I think if we can introduce a successful program like the SADD program, and involve more of our students, all the better. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ootes. Final supplementary, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister, on my previous supplementaries, has said that it is a good program. We agree with that. But I have asked the Minister if he can inform the Members when he will be able to start something with this and get back to the Members? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The Minister responsible for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do not know what the intricacies and details of running a program of this nature are. We are certainly prepared to look at it. I will ask the department to do that immediately. But I do not know at what stage we can expand this particular program.

The program is somewhat unique here in Yellowknife at the moment. But I think it is important to extend it wherever we can. To repeat myself, I am interested and I am going to pursue it with the department. We are going to work on it as quickly as we can. Thank you.