Thank you, Mr. Premier. Final supplementary, Mr. Nitah.

Thank you, Mr. Nitah. We have the question. The honourable Premier, Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it has been made clear by the aboriginal governments as well our officials that we need to take some time to review the history of devolution and discussions on revenue and the Northern Accord. It is important that all of us have a common understanding and common definitions, that we understand the concepts. As well, with all of the leaders and governments that are discussing this, we have also agreed to an appellate process to make sure that our people in the communities understand and appreciate and support the agenda items that we are engaged in to ensure that there is a broad understanding and support for it at every level possible. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Premier. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question today is directed to the Minister responsible for the Department of Health and Social Services. It is further to my statement earlier today about how so many of us in the public are so skeptical of government studies these days. Often, we see that not enough action is coming out of these reports.

One example may be this report that I have in my hands, which is called It Takes a Community. It was a study done by the Child Welfare League of Canada on the dire situation of child welfare in the North. I wonder if the Minister could advise this House as to whether she has had the time to review the recommendations and what action she has taken, if any, on those recommendations? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the department and I have both had a chance to look at the recommendations contained in the report that Ms. Lee refers to and some of the action we have taken in response to the report is contained in the critical investments that we have identified for the Department of Health and Social Services in the budget that we are in the process of considering now. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Minister. Supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the report contains no less than 58 recommendations. I realize that one of them has to do with additional funding for child welfare workers and part of that has been addressed. I wonder if the Minister has any plans to do anything about the rest of the 58 recommendations, one of them being necessary changes to government structures.

Mr. Speaker, may I ask the Minister whether she is planning on doing a formal reply to the report to the House or to the Social Programs Committee? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The critical investments that I just spoke of that will be contained in this budget that we are considering now include a broad range of coverage on the recommendations that were received in the report.

We recognize the need for more people in the area of child protection and more workers because of the caseloads and the workload which child protection workers are faced with right now. We recognize that required training specific to child protection is required. We recognize that child protection workers need resources in their communities and in their regions with respect to where they might be able to place children that are in at-risk situations.

So there are quite a number of elements that are covered under the critical investments. I could not say exactly how many of the 58 recommendations are addressed in our initial request for $1.2 million to respond to the report.

As far as the response, the department has developed a three-year action plan to respond to the report's recommendations. If the Member has not received information about that, I will undertake to get that for her. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Minister. Supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to remind the Minister that all Members here would recall that she was very enthusiastic about this report. She talked about this report in this House with great fanfare and I would like to really see concrete action coming out of this report. So, Mr. Speaker, I wonder if the Minister could commit to providing us with a report that shows clear linkage between these recommendations and what she is planning to do. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when we consider the $1.2 million critical investment that the department has requested and put forward in our budget, we will show the clear linkages between the recommendations in the report and what we plan to do. We recognize that this is not sufficient resources to address all the recommendations, but we do believe it is a good start and it will address one of the very critical recommendations in the report, which speaks to the number of workers that we have working in this field now in the North. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Minister. Final supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, many of the Members here have met with the child welfare workers on the issues that they face. One of the things they were facing was the fact that they might not meet the requirements under legislation under the resources they have now, because they do not have enough resources. So, Mr. Speaker, if the Minister could provide in the report, once again, a very detailed account of how she is following up on these recommendations. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Ms. Lee is correct about the recommendations contained in the report and that we feel they are very relevant and very constructive and we may not have the resources to implement all of them, but we still do recognize that this review was required and that more resources are needed and I hope that I can look forward to the support of the Members of this House for this initial investment of $1.2 million. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Minister. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Hay River North, Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned in my Member's statement, the issue of family violence has been an issue very important to this House. Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind the House that the women's resource centre in Hay River has not had an increase in their funding since 1996. The women's resource centre has submitted three requests for an increase in their funding to the Hay River Community Health Board and they have not received a response to their request. Would the Minister have any information as to why their request has not been entertained by the Hay River Community Health Board? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Delorey. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Madam Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Mr. Delorey is correct that the NGOs receive their funding for this program through the health boards. This is money that is devolved to them. So as to why the health board has not responded to this request or included it in their budget planning, I cannot answer that question. That is a responsibility of the boards. As for increases, the board did provide an increase under the contribution agreement to the women's resource centre in the 1999-2000 budget. That increase does remain in place for the fiscal year 2000-01.

There has also been an increase to health boards of two percent to address the cost of utilities and we are checking into this matter right now to find out if this two percent increase has been passed on to the women's resource centre.

As for their request for an additional $100,000, I would need to speak with the health board to find out what their response has been to this request. Thank you.