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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is very good that the Minister is moving forward with this initiative, even though somewhat late. It is better late than never, I suppose. Is it a fact that the Inuvik Regional Health and Social Services Board was prepared to go, but the department held it back so that they could pull the whole NWT into this recruitment drive? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No, I do not think that that would be properly characterizing what happened. I think that the Inuvik board did not contemplate that the entire complement of nurses they were attempting to recruit was only for the Inuvik board. We did, through the department, see some areas where there was assistance needed to be provided in dealing with Immigration Canada and Human Resources Development Canada, ensuring that the proper processes were in place for screening the applicants, checking out credentials, accommodating the ones they have here, providing for orientation, these sorts of things. We felt that a collaborative effort was better. If it appears to be something that stalled the operations, we certainly did not intend it that way. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Minister. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Thebacha, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are addressed to the Minister of Health and Social Services with regard to the two-day conference, the Social Agenda Conference coming up, which I understand is being very heavily subscribed to. I have heard a number of as many as 300 people who may be at that conference. I have some questions with regard to the logistics and time-scheduling issues.

If there were in fact 300 people that showed up and each was given two minutes to say hello and who they are and some of their key issues, that alone could consume ten hours, Mr. Speaker. That has not even touched the speeches that will go on from the Ministers and any of their guest speakers, which I would anticipate would take another two to three hours. That would give us 13 hours gone out of a two-day conference, giving front-line workers a very brief period of time to try to come to grips and provide direction on some very critical and complex issues.

I would like to ask the Minister if she could outline what the scheduling will allow for the maximum input of front-line workers, or will we in fact be in a situation like I have just described. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I just signed off today some packages that will be sent out to the Members in the next few hours which outline the agenda for the Social Agenda Conference. We have some very professional facilitators and conference coordinators who have been engaged to help us ensure that we can make maximum use and benefit from the time that we do have together. About two-thirds of the conference delegates are front-line workers. The rest are made up of community leaders, aboriginal government leaders, ourselves, Cabinet Ministers, MLAs.

The way it is set up is that we would be together in a large group setting initially in the day and there would be 20 tents set up which will provide for break-out groups, smaller groups, which would each be having one facilitator to help coordinate and keep the discussions going in that small group.

These groups will be mixed up so that you have a variety of different people from different perspectives in those groups. There would be specific topics. They would go out to the break-out groups and information brought back and compiled. I realize that it is a fairly tight agenda, but we are hoping that with the assistance of our coordinators and facilitators and people recognizing each other, we will be able to hear from all the delegates. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have a general sense of how it should flow, but there is no clarity for me in terms of the actual timing that is going to be required. As I indicated, if there are 300 people, and it takes ten hours just to say hello, and another two hours to do the speech, you have taken up well over a day of a very brief two days.

Could the Minister indicate how much time she anticipates will actually be devoted to the front-line workers being able to put their minds around some of these very complex issues? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I said, the exact time lines, the time frames and guidelines for the conference are in the process of being delivered to the Members. I think that will give Mr. Miltenberger a better idea of how much time is allocated for each of the various activities.

The intention with the front-line workers is to have a dialogue with them. It would be an exchange, an interaction with leaders. I am confident that the time frame set out, which Mr. Miltenberger can review when he receives the package, is ample, that we should be able to arrive at some good conclusions. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Minister. Honourable Members, the House will recess for a short break.

-- Break

The House will come back to order after a short recess. When we left, we were in the final minutes of question period. Mr. Miltenberger, you were on your final supplementary to the Minister responsible for Health and Social Services. Final supplementary, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I was going to ask the Minister if she could provide some tiered time lines in terms of how much time 300 front-line workers, or at least 200 front-line workers, are going to have to do work that is going to provide feedback to the government. I have estimated anywhere from ten to 13 hours just to do the ceremonies and opening procedures and the pomp and circumstance.

Can the Minister indicate, is it going to be five or six hours or eight hours? Could she indicate that to the House, please?

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. For the two main days of the conference, on Tuesday and Wednesday, it looks like we will have about six hours each day. Three hours in the morning and three hours in the afternoon. During that six hours, there is a combination of activities. There are some introductory remarks from keynote speakers. There are panel sessions, but I would suggest that the opportunity, apart from questioning panelists, I would suggest that the main opportunity for interaction with the front-line workers will be the small group sessions.

There are a couple of opportunities during the course of the conference for the small group sessions. Then we will hear questions from front-line workers, I am sure, of the panel sessions. Also, during the social activities, because some of these subjects we will be discussing can be fairly intense, we are going to have some entertainment and some social times. I am sure that as people get together over those times as well, they will discuss...sometimes the informal times are when a lot of good discussion takes place. Thank you.

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

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

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Nitah. No supplementary. The time allocated for question period has ended. Item 7, written questions. Item 8, returns to written questions. Mr. Clerk.

Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Item 8, returns to written questions. Item 9, replies to opening address. Item 10, petitions. Item 11, reports of standing and special committees. Item 12, reports of committees on the review of bills. Item 13, tabling of documents. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Antoine.