Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the Member has raised a number of issues. First, I would just like to speak briefly to the concern on the part of the Member, in her opinion, that I am not interested in working with others or talking to people or hearing what they have to say.

Mr. Chairman, since November, I have travelled extensively. I have managed to go to 23 communities, and many of them more than once. I met with the leadership in all of those regions. I met with all the boards, the board chairs. In every community I have been to, I have toured all of the facilities and met the staff and tried to spend time to talk about the issues.

This whole area is of critical interest. It is in this area that I have been paying very close attention to since I became a Minister. As the Member indicated, this social agenda document is not a government document. It is a document put forward by the people, the committee that was involved in doing it. We have indicated in this House that we will come up with a process in terms of how we intend to respond and by the fall, we want to be able to put a response on the table.

There is a clear area within our mandate in terms of programs and services that we deliver, like health and social services, education, housing, justice. In fact, if you look, all the programs the government delivers have a link to a social agenda, healthy communities and healthy families.

This document is a broad document for the whole Territory. It speaks to the responsibilities of aboriginal governments. It speaks to the responsibilities of the federal government, of NGOs, of individuals and of communities. So as a government we can speak to the areas within our mandate, but for other areas, given the principle of working together in collaboration and consensus, we have to consult and we have to talk about how we are going to look at this document and how we intend to proceed with the ten main recommendations.

I will be meeting next week briefly with the Intergovernmental Forum, which is made up of representatives of the federal government, aboriginal governments and the territorial government, to talk at the invitation of Minister Antoine about the social agenda and to get a sense from all the parties at the table as to how they intend to proceed. At the same time, work is proceeding as fast as possible in the area of the action plan for Health and Social Services and the 40-some action items identified.

Mr. Chairman, the action plan and all the work that has been done by all the consultants and all the visits to communities by people indicate very clearly that yes, we have a system under stress and under pressure. We have the folks at Stanton whose work conditions are not what they should be. We have staff shortages. We have mental health and alcohol and drug workers who work for very low wages. We have many needs in the small communities. We have issues related to medical travel and issues related to just about every program area we are responsible for, such as housing, education, special needs and inclusive schooling.

We have a problem with alcohol abuse in this Territory. It underlies just about every social problem we deal with. The issue of our own personal responsibility and the role models that leaders are supposed to be, those are all issues that cut across all organizations and governments.

Mr. Chairman, this document seeks to provide a broad frame. The Government of the Northwest Territories is one of the principals involved in having the document done, and now we are in the process of trying to come up with a careful, measured response that recognizes the complexity of the issues. It is consultative in its approach for those areas outside the mandate of the Government of the Northwest Territories. Thank you.