Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, our funding is base-funded. Therefore, it is in the funding on an annual basis, subject to approval by the House. I certainly had no intention of removing that funding, Mr. Speaker. There was a challenge there for us earlier this year when the program ran short of funding. It required some extra funding in order to keep going because it looked like other funders who support the program were going to pull out.

Mr. Speaker, I was able to assure the program that if the other funders did not come through, we would support the program to the end of this year with that extra funding.

In the interim, Mr. Speaker, I did have someone who is interested in doing fundraising and supporting that effort. Already, some of that has come through from the private sector. That is continuing. I am supporting that process strongly, Mr. Speaker. We are hopeful we can ensure that adequate funding will continue in that. If not, then I will and I am taking a great interest in the program. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I take it from the answer from the Minister that there is a commitment for long-term funding. I am not clear as to what percentage of the program requirements this government is funding. Could he tell us what the percentage is we are funding?

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will be practical about it. I think the requirement was in the neighbourhood of $300,000 to $350,000, somewhere in that area. The funding came from a number of sources, one of which we were the principal suppliers, to the tune originally of $175,000. We are now at $225,000.

Mr. Speaker, there is still the challenge of narrowing that gap because there is always the threat of outside funding disappearing on us. That is what I meant, that I have someone who has initiated the fundraising on this from the private sector. If we have difficulty there, then I am prepared to address that issue in order to ensure that the program has adequate funding to carry on. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Ootes. Supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister if his department is working with the board to explore the different options for outside funding with federal foundations or private sources. Could he answer that please?

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Yes. I am not working directly myself, Mr. Speaker, but as I said, I have an individual who has volunteered to do some fundraising on this, and that is the route we have taken. So far it has proven to be somewhat successful. I am hoping that it will prove to be really successful.

Mr. Speaker, I should also state that we had an analysis report prepared so that we can be of help to the program itself in suggesting where the gaps may be in terms of operations, success rates and so forth, and to ensure that we can refine our contribution to this program. The program is run by a board of directors, so we want to be able to be sure that we can move forward with this program on a positive basis. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Your final supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

I would like to ask the Minister if this is the only program of this nature available to students in the North as an option. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, that is correct. At the moment, that is the only program in the Territory of this nature where we have a Western Arctic Leadership Program where students are boarded and provided extra assistance in a setting. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, following up on my Member's statement, I would like to know from the Minister of Health and Social Services what is going on in the area of recruitment and retention, specifically with the Inuvik Regional Health and Social Services Board? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member referred to a foreign recruitment initiative that came forward from the Inuvik Regional Health and Social Services Board, and the department and the board have been working closely to explore the opportunity to bring trained nurses from the Philippines to work in the Northwest Territories. That work is still in progress at this time. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister elaborate a little more as to what she means by "closely", because my understanding is that there have been some delays. The department has made some requirements, I believe, of the board in the past as to how things would flow. Can the Minister inform us to what kind of work they are doing when she says they are working closely together? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I said, the initiative commenced with the Inuvik Regional Health and Social Services Board, but in fact we had to broaden out the work that was being done on it because I believe that the number of nurses was in the vicinity of 50 that they were potentially looking at recruiting. It was always my understanding that the Inuvik board certainly did not see these nurses coming here just for themselves, so we expanded the working group to also include CEOs and board chairs from other health boards who might also be interested in participating in this initiative.

There are a couple of federal jurisdictions involved in this as well, including Immigration Canada, so there were a lot of logistical considerations to contemplate when undertaking bringing a group of this size into the country. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister inform us as to when this initiative will be ready to go and they will actually start recruiting? Thank you.

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