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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I believe that is our problem. We do not have an understanding of how many people we are talking about. Will she commit to recruit more FAE/FAS medical specialists, realizing we only have one in the Northwest Territories? I believe that is insufficient. Will the Minister consider recruiting more FAS/FAE medical specialists?

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Mr. Krutko is right that we do have one pediatrician in the Northwest Territories who is a resident specialist and who also has expertise in the area of diagnosing FAS/FAE, Dr. Nicole Chatel. Through Dr. Chatel's involvement with other organizations that are attempting to work with us on this, we are developing screening tools which will help us to really more clearly define the magnitude of this problem. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the government has proposed a $2 million study regarding an Early Childhood Development Action Plan. How much of that money is specifically allocated towards FAE/FAS programs in the Northwest Territories?

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is important to recognize that quite a number of our strategies have some bearing on the issue of FAS/FAE, whether we are talking about our Mental Health and Addictions Strategy or whether we are talking about our strategy for early childhood development There are a broad number of strategies in this government which, in some way, affect health in the area of FAS/FAE. Part of the work of the Ministerial Committee on the Social Agenda is to identify coordination and collaboration between departments, but also to inventory resources that are being applied to these various pressing social issues. So at this time, I am not able to say out of the ECD initiative exactly how much is related to FAS/FAE, but it will be an exercise we will undertake as part of the commitment the Premier has just made here to identify the resources that are applied to this issue. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Minister. Your final supplementary, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier on in my term, I made an FAS statement, in 1998 and I asked the government to provide information on FAS programs such as the parent workshop, in-home support works, support in early childhood programs and speech aid programs to assist students in the Beaufort Delta region. Will the Minister please provide me with a progress report on those initiatives? Which communities were able to carry them out and what is the success rate of that initiative?

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. An important part of any initiatives, strategies or activities undertaken by our government is to be able to identify and measure the outcomes and the effectiveness of those programs. Mr. Krutko refers to undertakings of the previous government, but I will attempt to compile that information on some of the outcomes of those for him and provide them to him. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Minister. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Nitah.

The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mrs. Groenewegen.

The problems with FAS and FAE are symptomatic of a much broader problem with addiction and the underlying causes of addictions in the Northwest Territories. We recognize that many of the social challenges that we have in our Territory today are really part of a broader issue. It is our intention to attempt to approach them in a broad way as well.

The Member mentions the availability of residential treatment placements in the Northwest Territories. As we have discussed in the House before, the Nats'ejee K'eh on the Hay River Reserve with 30 beds for residential treatment is the only residential treatment service available. At this time, Mr. Speaker, there are no plans to construct or deliver more residential treatment programs, but we are looking at various other alternatives to addictions treatments. Thank you.

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

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, through a variety of ways, including things like mobile treatment, which goes into the communities, that has been piloted in numerous communities for women and for youth, through the work of alcohol and drug counsellors, mental health counsellors in our community, we attempt to address the issues of addictions.

Also, the government is not the only provider of addictions services in the Northwest Territories. We do still have the access for not only southern referrals, but also for work that is still being undertaken by the Northern Addictions Services in this region, so there are quite a number of different ways in which the issue of addictions are addressed. Residential treatment, under a 28-day program, is one of those methods. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Nitah. I did not quite hear a question. Madam Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is very important that we coordinate our efforts because the needs are great and the resources are always limited and never seem to be quite enough. It is extremely important that we coordinate our efforts amongst the various social envelope departments, and through our Ministerial Committee on the Social Agenda. We will be including consultation with other government leaders, with MLAs, the Standing Committee on Social Programs, key stakeholders and the front-line workers so that we ensure that we have the most effective programs possible. Mr. Nitah's point regarding coordination is a very important one. Thank you.