Thank you, Mr. Nitah. The honourable Minister responsible for Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Certainly I will be willing to meet with the people in Lutselk'e if we can set up a convenient time, I will do it as quickly as I can as soon as we are finished business here.

The department used to have a program whereby we enabled communities. We gave them money to respond to fires within the first 24 hours. They could choose which ones they were going to fight and which ones they were not going to. I would be happy to look at reinstituting that kind of program. I agree with the Member the local people know best where the areas at risk are and some of the fire behaviour. So if there is a way of doing that, then I would like to talk to the Member and to the community about it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister Handley. Final supplementary, Mr. Nitah.

Thank you. There was no question there. It was more of a comment. Thank you Mr. Nitah. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Thebacha, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is addressed to the Minister responsible for Health and Social Services. Yesterday she tabled a document entitled It Takes a Community, A Report on Northwest Territories Child Welfare Services. There are three points that I would just like to highlight, Mr. Speaker, if I could.

In summary, the Northwest Territories child welfare services are functioning precariously close to the edge. On the other hand, child welfare services are well positioned to take great strides forward. There is also a state of readiness throughout the Northwest Territories as people are anxious to take charge of their own destiny. Mr. Speaker, there are 58 recommendations under seven key areas. I was wondering if the Minister could elaborate on how she intends to respond to these recommendations. Some are training issues, some are process issues. Many are significant cash issues. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have had a chance to look over the report. Obviously, the department will be formulating an action plan with costing and looking at the various recommendations, prioritizing them as to which ones are most critical and need to be addressed first. I think the report was very good. It was an excellent investment. This review was not initiated under my tenure as Minister, it was actually initiated by the former Minister, and it is probably one of the best pieces of consultative work and reporting that I have seen during my time in this government. It certainly gives something for our department to sink our teeth into, and for me as a Minister to act upon.

The implementation of the recommendations will be done over a multi-year approach, and we will prioritize recommendations to address the most critical areas first. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like a little more detail from the Minister in terms of the process she has outlined. For example, there is a recommendation for 22 new social workers this year; that is a big money item. Could the Minister indicate whether there will be a plan in place that will be a part of the business plan and process that will take place this fall? Thank you.

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

Thank you. Yes, there will be evidence of the recommendations of this report in the business plan that is being prepared, and as for things such as the recommendation for increasing the complement of social workers to deal with the case load, as Mr. Miltenberger and everyone in this House knows, we are faced with financial restraints, and this will be phased in on an incremental basis.

Yes, we will be looking at the recommendations, specifically the one that he mentioned of increasing the number of social workers over a period of time. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is an important piece of work. I was wondering if the Minister could also elaborate on how this report and the recommendations will link into the long awaited forum report; in the Minister's response to the forum with the recommendations they made as a result of their travels across the Northwest Territories? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, the response to the Minister's Forum on Health will be tabled in the House tomorrow, I believe. There will be sections of that report, input and feedback, which will compliment and coordinate with this particular, more specific report. We will try to ensure that we identify the linkages of that information with our actions that we take as a result of this study. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, a number of these recommendations, as I indicated, relate to process issues. How we do business, how we can improve the existing system by making structural and administrative changes. Those should not take a lot of time. Could the Minister indicate if her staff will be looking at those things that they can address immediately, in addition to the longer term, two to three year phased in issues that she has referenced already? Thank you.

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

Yes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is right. Some of the recommendations that are made will not require any additional significant resources, and some, we can look at right away. Certainly, many of the issues that have been raised are already being addressed and recommendations acted upon. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to pick up along the line of questioning I had with the Minister responsible for Aboriginal Affairs yesterday. In his response to my question, he stated that if negotiations fall within the policies presently in the Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs, there will be no need for Cabinet to be consulted.

I would like to ask the Minister if he could provide me with a copy of the policies from the Ministry's policy manual?

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister responsible for Aboriginal Affairs, Mr. Antoine.