Thank you, Mr. Premier. Supplementary, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think that is extremely welcome news that the government is in fact moving forward with this kind of approach. I think it is good to hear Minister Groenewegen is in the lead. Can the Premier advise this House when we can expect to see such a plan tabled within this House?

Thank you, Mr. Dent. The honourable Premier, Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe the intent is for the Minister to discuss an approach that would involve coordination with other Ministers and the Cabinet and come up with some suggestions to Cabinet in the next few months about how we may best involve all Members of the Legislature in the development of what we would call a social agenda, a social action plan and further, how to look for ways to seek the full involvement of the aboriginal governments, the aboriginal leaders and other interested groups in the Northwest Territories to work in partnership on an approach that could effectively address the difficulties we see with fetal alcohol syndrome and fetal alcohol effect.

This is what we will be expecting the Minister to bring to Cabinet and ultimately to all Members of the Legislature in the next few months. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Premier. Supplementary, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I certainly support the government moving forward with a social agenda, but I believe that is going to be a very big undertaking. I think that because of the importance and the urgency of dealing with this issue, I would hope that the Premier would put an emphasis on getting a coordinated plan for this government on FAS/FAE before this House, hopefully by the May session. Will the Premier try to encourage the lead Minister to be able to develop that for the House by May? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. The honourable Premier, Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Perhaps we will be looking to continue some short-term initiatives between the Department of Health and Social Services and the Department of Education, Culture and Employment. We still need a broad approach, a collaborative, partnership approach.

As Members know, we have our agenda, Towards A Better Tomorrow, an economic plan that involves all communities, aboriginal groups, governments and the private sector in developing an economic plan, but we also need, in order to assure our people that we are thinking about their social well-being as well, something we can start calling a social agenda, a social plan.

We need to make sure that it is all-inclusive as we start to develop it. We do not want to end up with a plan that is all printed up in brochures and announced to the public. We want to make sure that Members of the Legislative Assembly are involved in this, as well as the aboriginal governments, who we will seek partnerships with. This will be the approach that I think we will take. We will try to come with something to the next session, which I believe will be some time at the end of May. Thank you.

Merci, Mr. Kakfwi. Final supplementary, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Premier's commitment to consultation and his commitment to try and bring something forward by May. Just for certainty, he only mentioned the Ministers responsible for Education and for Health. I would hope that he would remember that we are looking for a government-wide approach. This should include the Department of Justice, the Minister for Youth, as this problem touches every department of government.

Will the Minister make sure that it is a broad approach? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. The honourable Premier, Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I stand corrected. The Member is correct. There are other Ministers that I should have rattled off here on my list. My list was short, but it shall include all of Cabinet. Thank you for that.

Thank you, Mr. Premier. 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, I alone cannot increase funding to address these issues, but as Mr. Lafferty has said, there has been $2 million per year allocated over the next three years to address early childhood development. Within the four broad categories of parenting and family support; pregnancy, birth and infancy; early childhood care and learning; and community support, there is capacity for dealing with FAS/FAE. I do not have an exact breakdown of the specific dollars that would be dedicated to FAS/FAE prevention and support, but as this particular initiative rolls out we will be in a position to clearly identify which initiatives in these areas pertain to FAS/FAE. Thank you.

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

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is part of this government's objective to ensure that Northerners are trained to do all different sorts of work in the social area and certainly early childhood education is one of them. As to the availability of programs for this type of training offered by the college, I will commit to work with my colleague, Mr. Ootes, to identify what is available and to ensure that there is ongoing capacity. This also ties in with our desire to maximize northern employment. Thank you.

Merci, Madam Groenewegen. Supplementary question. Mr. Lafferty.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we will be looking at community resource centre pilot projects. We will be looking at resource kits that would be provided to different target groups within all communities. This is a very comprehensive program and it will not exclusively result in the provision of financial resources for community-based initiatives. We will also look at territorial-wide initiatives that would encompass all communities. Thank you.