Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do not have the exact figure here of the amount that was lapsed last year. I am just looking for the figures. The under-expenditure...I am not sure. I would have to take that as notice and get back to the Member on that.

Thank you, Mr. Ootes. The supplementary has been taken as notice. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for North Slave, Mr. Lafferty.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Dogrib Addiction Strategy, For the Sake of Our Children, was a useful tool at identifying some of the needs amongst the Dogrib people. The Department of Health and Social Services did respond favourably to the strategy and committed to working with the Dogrib Community Services Board to find innovative solutions.

One of the interesting things that has transpired is that during the Treaty 11 regional meeting, $578,000 funding was committed to establish and implement the Dogrib Addiction Strategy. Also, the Department of Health and Social Services had sent a women's mobile treatment project as a pilot project for a three-week period, to Rae-Edzo under the Alternative Programming Initiative of our department. Mr. Speaker, this would provide valuable information on the success of this program, which the department could then use as we determine whether or not this was an effective way of dealing with particular gender specific addictions problems. There has been activity going on in the Member's riding with respect to addictions and we look forward to continuing to work with the Member on the addiction front. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Supplementary, Mr. Lafferty.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Health and Social Services, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Gender Specific Mobile Addictions Treatment Program was an initiative under the alternative programming, and yes, a member of the Dogrib Community Services Board was involved in the planning for that activity. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Supplementary, Mr. Lafferty.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Mrs. Groenewegen.

I am not certain I understood the question, Mr. Speaker. I think what the Member is asking is if the presence of that one person on that stakeholders committee was the only consultation that takes place with the community. No, it is one source of consultation and input, which we take as representative of the community, but certainly there are other communications and other sources of direction that we would seek and we would listen to from the Dogrib region. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Final supplementary, Mr. Lafferty.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The question is whether you are planning to put a facility in the region.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, at this time, there is no plan in place to build a residential treatment facility, a drug and alcohol addictions treatment facility, in the Dogrib region. There are numerous different ways and approaches to treating addictions at the community level. I want to be clear. I do apologize for the misunderstanding. When I spoke about resources and initiatives in the Member's riding, I was not speaking about infrastructure in terms of a building. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister responsible for the Department of Health and Social Services. Recently, I had a round of constituent meetings in my riding and the concern arose from the meeting in Kakisa regarding medical travel. I was informed that there is no form of compensation for medical travel when any patient travels through the communities of Yellowknife or Hay River for medical attention. The only time there is compensation is when there is a referral. Mr. Speaker, there are no physicians, doctors, or nurses in the community of Kakisa and if you have to see a dentist, doctor, or a nurse, you have to travel to a larger centre. Most of the community members in Kakisa are seniors and most do not have vehicles. So, they have to rely on family members or taxis from outside the community to travel. There seems to be no form of reimbursement or any financial compensation for their travel. It can be very costly.

I would like to ask the Minister if there are any services or programs available to the people in the smaller communities to assist with medical travel costs. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Kakisa is a unique community. In fact, the Member is right. There are no resident health care providers in the community of Kakisa. Kakisa, though, is a satellite community to Fort Providence. However, the only service there is through the nursing station. So for treatment services, it is necessary for Kakisa residents to find their way to Hay River or Yellowknife. Since there are no health care practitioners in Kakisa, it is not possible to adhere to the medical travel requirement to obtain prior approval to travel. Although this is a normal requirement in order to be reimbursed for medical travel, Kakisa residents are reimbursed as long as they have their claim signed by a clinic or hospital indicating that they had been there. This rule would also apply to other communities who do not have any resident health care practitioners in the community. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you. I would like to thank the Minister for that. I would like to know if the Minister would commit to providing a staff person to travel into the community of Kakisa and explain the process. There seems to be little information on it. It might be in order to have a person travel to all the small communities and explain the system that is in place. Thank you.