Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Minister did not advise me though, does this now take us to where we were recommended to be by the report done by the Child Welfare League in terms of staffing? I know, for instance, that report suggested Yellowknife was down by about 10 social workers at that time. That is almost two years ago. They told us that the Deh Cho were down by almost as many. Those were the critical areas for investment. Have we seen those two regions brought up to where they should be according to the Child Welfare League?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, this is year two out of the three-year plan. Another 11 PYs are scheduled for 2003-2004, which have not been approved. I can give the Member the proposed numbers, if he is interested.

I think Members would find that of interest if the Minister is prepared to share it with us. It is not particularly relevant to this year's budget, I guess, but I certainly would be interested in knowing it.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Maybe it would be most helpful if I just gave this copy to be copied. It has the three years, last year, this year and the projected year for next year.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have no more questions on this page.

Mr. Chairman, I had wanted to ask some questions regarding Metis health benefits to the Minister, which was raised by a number of the Metis groups in the Territories. I would like to ask the Minister if he could tell us what his plans are for the Metis health benefits, for any portion of the health benefits that will be tendered out? What are his consultation plans in regard to dealing with the different Metis health groups out there?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have written to the Metis organizations, the South Slave, the North Slave Metis Alliance and the Northwest Territories Federation. I have committed to a meeting in March to bring in the three Metis organizations to look at how the Metis health benefits are structured and how they are delivered. The initial program was done in the days when there was a Metis Nation, which no longer exists. I have written and copied the MLAs to that meeting.

We also are in the process of having the administration side of the payment of the benefits, once they have been determined, which has been done through Blue Cross up to this point, had been put out to tender. That process is still under way. It is just an administrative function that does not affect the eligibility or the policy of the Metis benefits that have been agreed to.

Those are the two particular areas, but the big one being that I have committed to the meeting with the Metis organizations, given the interest in some areas of, for example, the South Slave Metis have indicated very clearly that they are very interested in possibly delivering the Metis benefits to their own members. Given the concern and the fact that there are now three organizations, we are bringing them all to the table to see where we go from here. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It is blatantly obvious, I guess, that the Minister has certainly changed his position from when he was sitting on this side of the House and insisted that this program stayed intact and no changes be made to it. Now that he is Minister, he has indicated to us that he is planning to break the program, at least the management component, apart.

Are the aboriginal, the Metis groups being given a heads-up that is what he is in fact going to be presenting to them when they meet with him in March? Is he telling them "Come here prepared to take your portion. We are planning to break this up?" Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I am saying no such thing. There has been some interest expressed in some quarters to look at the possible delivery of this program by the South Slave Metis, for example, to their own members. There is the concern that was raised over the Blue Cross tender, which was just an administrative function on the payment side. Given the concern and given the fact that this program was initially developed a number of years ago with the Metis Nation, I am inviting all representatives of the Metis representatives to the table to discuss this issue. There have been no commitments made. I am not telling anybody what they have to do. This program exists now. It was approved by Cabinet and there will not be any changes that are not sort of agreed to and then have to go back through Cabinet and hopefully whatever changes, if any, would have to follow due process.

It is an opportunity to bring the Metis representatives to the table to talk about this program. I know there are concerns about the level of service as well, which is also there for discussion. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, I request that we go back to page 6-22.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for correcting me. I apologize. I have one more question regarding the Metis health benefits. The biggest factor that was probably to the demise of the Metis Nation of the Northwest Territories was that the definition of a Metis was something that could not be agreed upon by the northern organizations and the South Slave Metis and the North Slave Metis and what is now the Northwest Territories Metis Federation.

By considering breaking out the different portions of the Metis health benefits, I really question what is going to be utilized. What definition is going to be used as the determining factor of what is a Metis? How does the Minister plan to address that? I would like to ask that question, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, that is obviously a very critical question, the definition of what is a Metis? I do not have a clear answer. I know there are different definitions used. To a certain extent, it has cost implications. It also has other program implications. It is obviously going to be one of the items that we have to look at as we look at how this program evolves. Thank you.