Thank you, Mr. Minister. Final supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you. Mr. Speaker, I look forward to the information that the Minister will provide with regard to the aboriginal membership and the people who live in the south. I would also like to ask him if he can provide me with the information regarding the number of members on this committee who are currently doing business with the Government of the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister responsible for the Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs, Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Braden.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member has brought forward a petition that he is going to table later today on child poverty, and I think we are all very concerned about the issue of child poverty in the Northwest Territories.

Our government has recognized that and continues to provide funding increases, Mr. Speaker, in terms of food allowances. We are proposing with this budget that we have just put forward to put more money into the food allowance, which will also take into account other areas of expenditures that are referenced in this petition. We took that into account when we decided that we would move forward with increases in funding, Mr. Speaker.

Over the last year, if we approve this particular budget, we will have increased the amount of funding in this one specific area by approximately $1.1 million. That will go directly into the hands of those on income support. The question of course becomes, does that go down to the children? Are people using that to support their children? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Indeed, the question, as the Minister has pointed out is, does this very welcome new funding go down to the children? I would like to ask the Minister specific questions on a couple of points in the petition.

Is this government going to stop deducting child support payments from monthly income support assessments for clients on income support? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there are a number of areas here. The NCPS clawback is consistent with how we do it across the country, with perhaps one or two exceptions, but it was a condition by the federal government. That is reinvested within the Northwest Territories in the workers' supplement and in the Healthy Children's Initiative, Mr. Speaker.

When it comes to some of the other areas, we have taken into account that the level of support that we provide and, Mr. Speaker, we have an area of unearned income that we must take into consideration and an area of assets that are available for the individual to support themselves. So, we come to the level of support that we provide. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Mr. Speaker, will this government introduce income support rates that would allow a family of four to purchase the same amount of food as suggested by the DIAND 1998 study level? It is a substantively increased amount of food than our food allowances allow. Will the government try to do that? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I say, our program takes into account a number of areas. What we do provide is not consistent across the country. We provide the cost of housing in our jurisdiction, Mr. Speaker. We also provide the cost of utilities, clothing, furniture and we allow the individual to earn up to $400 more a month.

The Stats Canada 1999 survey indicated that Northwest Territories households consisting of 3.1 persons spent $564 per month on food. Our level of support, Mr. Speaker, today is $524 for a household of one mother and three children. We are increasing that amount with this particular budget, so we are coming close to the amount that would indicate by our national survey what would be the average spending. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Final supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Mr. Speaker, thank you. Those are all very encouraging bits of information. To give us a handle on this though, could the Minister advise the Assembly, what do we do to measure levels of child poverty in the Northwest Territories? What are our criteria? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That is a good question. It is more measured by those who are on income support rather than children on a poverty level. I think there is an area here that we could potentially look at and see how children are living.

However, as I say, I have to relate that back to the amount of income support that we provide to the family. Does that get down to the child? That is the major question. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Health and Social Services regarding my Member's statement. Mr. Speaker, the word alcoholism for most people is just a word or it is a word that most people just do not want to realize exists. Yet, Mr. Speaker, in our society, we see the effect it has on our communities, our families, children and people who try to work within our society to deal with these problems, especially the RCMP, people at women's shelters, the Salvation Army and other organizations that tell us time and time again that this is a problem.

I would like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services about the RCMP, who finally brought to light that 95 percent of their time is spent dealing with alcohol-related calls. What are you doing to improve access for alcohol and drug treatment for people who have this problem in our society? Thank you.

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