Thank you, Mr. Ootes. We have a full day ahead of us. Item 2, Ministers' statements. The honourable Premier, Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Government of the Northwest Territories is a committed partner along with the Inuvialuit, Gwich'in and Canada in the creation of a new regional government in the Beaufort-Delta. In partnership with Canada and the people of the Beaufort-Delta, we are making steady and measurable progress towards finalizing an Agreement-in-Principle, which we expect to be signed later this year.

For some time, the Beaufort-Delta Interim Regional Council, a body consisting of all regional and community governments in that region, have requested the establishment of a senior level position within the region that will coordinate and focus the GNWT's work in the region and in planning and preparation for the implementation of self-government. Similar requests have also been received directly from the Gwich'in Tribal Council and the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation and one of the MLAs from the region.

Last winter, while attending the Beaufort-Delta Interim Regional Council meeting in Inuvik, I made a commitment that the GNWT would consider a request for such a position after a review of its present operational structure in the region. The Interim Regional Council subsequently passed a resolution at that meeting formally requesting such a position and their involvement in the establishment and recruitment processes.

Mr. Speaker, it is important to note that I have met twice with GNWT senior managers in Inuvik to seek their advice and suggestions on the establishment of a senior GNWT official in Inuvik, responsible for coordinating and planning at the regional level.

Over the course of the summer, GNWT regional managers and officials from the Beaufort-Delta Interim Regional Council office met to discuss this issue. Both groups supported the creation of such a position, which they saw to be an important bridge in continuing the dialogue and building trust amongst all governments in the region.

Mr. Speaker, the Government of the Northwest Territories intends to establish an executive director position in the Beaufort-Delta, as a pilot project for a one-year term. At the end of the pilot period, we will undertake an evaluation of the position. Based on the results of that evaluation, we will consider establishing similar positions in other regions of the territory.

Mr. Speaker, in keeping with our commitment to work in partnerships with governments in the Beaufort-Delta region, officials from our government will work with the Beaufort-Delta Interim Regional Office on all aspects of the hiring process for this position, including a joint interview and selection process. The executive director position will be a senior management position within the Department of the Executive and will report directly to the secretary to Cabinet.

Mr. Speaker, I expect the executive director position to be a valuable resource to both the GNWT and the Beaufort-Delta to carry out the government and the region's priorities and direction and in the planning and preparation for new governance structures in that region. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Premier. Item 2, Ministers' statements. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, here in the NWT, we continue to work hard to ensure that our Income Assistance Program meets the needs of low-income NWT residents. Through regular program reviews, we demonstrate our willingness and commitment to ensure that we have the best program in all of Canada.

Mr. Speaker, as evidence of this commitment, we have raised benefit levels on several occasions over the past several years to address public concerns about the effects of inflation on benefit levels and the adequacy of the support that we provide. We have made strategic investments in our food, clothing, shelter and utility benefits. And we have done so for persons with disabilities, for seniors and for families. Through these investments and the program's focus on helping people make productive choices in their lives, we demonstrate our willingness and desire to help people move from a life of dependence to one of self-reliance.

Over the next several months, Mr. Speaker, the department is once again planning to assess the food benefit that it provides, which includes a personal care allowance for program participants. We are also working closely with Members of this House on changing the way in which we treat the various types of income that our clients receive.

Mr. Speaker, while we have made great strides in terms of benefit levels and on the appropriate treatment of income, one of the greatest challenges that we continue to face is in ensuring that low-income families receive services in a coordinated manner from this government.

To that end, Mr. Speaker, staff from the departments of Education, Culture and Employment, Health and Social Services, Justice and the NWT Housing Corporation have been working on ways to improve the service that they provide to their mutual clients. The department continues to work cooperatively on initiatives with other government departments. These initiatives involve improving the ways in which we provide programs and services to our seniors, to persons with disabilities and to the homeless.

Mr. Speaker, because of our willingness and commitment to improve the benefits and service that we provide, we have developed a program that has had considerable success in helping people move from a life of dependence to one of self-reliance. The number of people requiring income assistance has fallen by almost 40 percent in recent years, and our employment rate has risen to over 73 percent. Our unemployment rate stands at 6.2 percent -- the best in the country.

Mr. Speaker, despite this success, I recognize that much still needs to be done, especially in our smaller communities. We need to provide better support and work more closely with the community organizations that provide an invaluable service to our people. We need to continue our efforts on helping people move toward a life of independence.

Our program clients, our advocacy organizations, our community partners, and Members of this House share in the success I speak about here today. It is through their input and yours that we have, and will continue to have, the best Income Assistance Program in Canada.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mr. Ootes. Item 2, Ministers' statements. The honourable Premier, Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in June of this year, we had the pleasure of advising this House that the Social Agenda Working Group had completed its report entitled Social Agenda: A Draft for the People of the NWT. Minister Miltenberger, who leads the implementation of the Social Agenda for the government, informed the House that the GNWT would be developing a detailed response to the report of the Social Agenda Working Group.

I am pleased today to advise the Members of the Legislative Assembly that the GNWT has completed this response, entitled Doing our Part: The GNWT's Response to the Social Agenda, which will be tabled later today by the Minister of Health and Social Services. In leading the government-wide initiative to implement the GNWT's response to the social agenda, Minister Miltenberger will be working with all Cabinet Ministers in co-operation with our partner agencies and organizations.

Mr. Speaker, when members of the Social Agenda Working Group held their conference in Hay River in June, 2001, we formed a partnership and committed to work together to improve the social conditions in which Northerners live. Members of the working group, which includes the GNWT, represent a broad cross-section of aboriginal, public government, and non-government agencies working to meet the needs of those people in our communities who are most in need of support. Improving the lives of Northerners is a cornerstone of this Legislative Assembly's agenda, and so this government continues to strongly support the efforts of the Social Agenda Working Group.

There are some common themes running through the ten recommendations contained in the report of the Social Agenda Working Group. These range from recognizing that governments, social agencies and organizations must fundamentally change the way in which we work together, to trusting community leaders to know best how to affect change in their own home communities.

We all have a personal responsibility to make healthy lifestyle choices. Government can contribute by removing barriers so that communities can better plan and set their own priorities. We understand that doing our part requires system wide changes and, in that vein, we have identified a series of actions -- concrete things that this government can do, within a number of departments, to make changes in areas that fall under our jurisdiction.

Our response is, therefore, aimed at identifying the steps that this government will take in response to the recommendations directed towards us in the social agenda report, to contribute to positive social change for the benefit of all residents of the Northwest Territories.

While we cannot do it all, nor cannot do it alone, we are prepared to make meaningful change in the way the GNWT does business. The Government of the Northwest Territories has a responsibility to work, in cooperation with our social agenda partners, so that we can overcome barriers and make improvements to the system recommended by those who know it best.

The Social Agenda Working Group came together out of a recognition that we can achieve a far greater impact on improving social conditions by working collectively than we can by working in isolation of one another. The response to the social agenda that we are presenting today signals the GNWT's commitment to continue the partnership started in Hay River. Mahsi cho.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mr. Premier. Item 2, Ministers' statements. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Nitah.

Mr. Nitah, I am going to have to stop you here and caution you with a Member's statement dealing with an issue that has already been dealt with in the House here. You are bordering on debate, which you would have had if you were here at that time, which you were not.

If you wish to continue your Member's statement, perhaps explaining as you began to your constituents, where you were and what you were doing. Mr. Nitah, you may continue if you wish, but only on that topic.

Thank you, Mr. Nitah. Your time is up for your Member's statement. Mr. Nitah.

Thank you. The honourable Member is seeking unanimous consent to conclude his statement. Are there any nays? There are no nays. You may conclude your statement, Mr. Nitah.

Mahsi, Mr. Nitah. Thank you for your statement. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I stand in celebration and remembrance of a great citizen of Yellowknife, Wilma Finlayson. A familiar, hard working and rock solid member of this city's business community left us on September 13th, Mr. Speaker, after a brief but final bout of illness due to cancer.

In remembering Wilma, I think the word pioneer comes to mind. She and her husband Doug came to Yellowknife in 1951, migrating north from that other far flung northern outpost at the time, Fort McMurray. They came with their two-year-old daughter Susan to take up the opportunity to buy into the then fledgling Sutherland Drug Store. A few short months later their son arrived.

In the years that followed the Finlaysons established the (inaudible) and their business as a reliable, welcoming and caring part of this community. Friends will recall Wilma's ready smile, sincere laughter and her sense of giving. The business could always be relied on, Mr. Speaker, to have your fundraising raffles, your dance tickets, or donation jar always at their counter.

If you go into that store today, the thank you notes on their bulletin board will be a testimony to the groups and individuals that they have helped.

With the sudden death of Doug in 1975, Wilma carried on with new business partners, and that included the operation of one of the first sport fishing lodges on Great Slave Lake, still running today. We know that as Trophy Lodge, Mr. Speaker. Friends say that this is where Wilma really shone. She was a natural hostess with a rare gift for making you feel welcome and for making you feel like you were the most important person in her life, whatever your story or your situation.

She was a prairie girl, one of 15 children on a farm near Sully, Saskatchewan, and those prairie values stayed with her, especially her passion for curling and the success of her beloved football team, the Saskatchewan Rough Riders.

Of course her good humour and inner strength helped her with her first battle with cancer in 1999. She remained active and involved in the community until she succumbed last month in British Columbia. Friends and relatives gathered there a few weeks ago, and yesterday here in Yellowknife, in celebration and remembrance of a friend and a fellow Northerner.

Her legacy lives on in her family and that familiar business we still know as Sutherland Drugs. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to draw the attention of this House, and in particular that Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, on the plight of the Northwest Territories post-secondary students with disability. As the Minister is well aware, Mr. Speaker, I along with a number of others concerned have been working on behalf of a young man with disability in Yellowknife who was denied access to student financial assistance for post-secondary education.

This, Mr. Speaker, in spite of the fact that he was admitted to a reputable vocational college in Alberta that would go a long way to ensure that he would be free from relying on the government for livelihood, and most important have a chance at becoming the best he can be.

I am happy to advise you, Mr. Speaker, that with the help of his family and supporters, he was successful in having his denial reversed. The student financial assistance appeal board determined that, "Based on the evidence, the transitional vocational program is a post-secondary school education for the purpose of the regulation."

Mr. Speaker, I believe strongly that this is a just and honourable decision and one that is in accordance with the spirit and intent of the act and the regulation. Unfortunately, I am not sure if the Minister and the department are in full agreement with this decision, Mr. Speaker. I say this because I have received communication from the Minister's office and the department that appears to question the validity of this decision or, at the very least, attempts are being made to limit the scope of the appeal board's decision in its application.

Mr. Speaker, everyone involved in this specific case is concerned about the amount of time and effort that has to go into applying and appealing for the benefits under this program that should be available to them by the just application of the law. We are acutely aware in this House that this -- well, the group is aware -- that one success will be in vein if other students in similar circumstances have to fight each time to get to the same decision, Mr. Speaker.

We are well aware, Mr. Speaker, not every student with disability going through this process has the level of support and determination as the ones in this case. The important point is that this should not be necessary. The law is already in place by the act, the regulation and the appeal board's decision. It is the Minister's job to make sure that the decision applies to everyone under similar circumstances, no matter...

Ms. Lee, the time for your Member's statement has ended. Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, may I have unanimous consent to conclude my statement? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member is seeking unanimous consent to conclude her statement. Are there any nays? There are no nays, Ms. Lee. You may continue.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, honourable colleagues. Mr. Speaker, I urge the Minister to show his leadership in deference to the work of the appeal board once and for all, and take steps to direct the department to uphold the appeal board's decision. It is a duty and obligation of the Minister and the department to do this just thing, so that no one else under similar circumstances has to go through this process to have access to the program that they are entitled to. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. McLeod.