Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I would like to speak on an issue that has a major impact on our communities, especially those families who are dealing with family members who find themselves in situations dealing with illnesses such as cancer. One thing that we find in a lot of our small communities is that there are no palliative care programs to assist our communities. They have programs in the larger centres to help with the families that help them out whenever they need to be relieved. It is a very stressful time in a family's life to have to give someone care who is a loved one, but also deal with an illness such as cancer.

I've raised this question with the Minister in this House several times. Again, the smaller communities are being left out of programs that are being administered in the larger centres. I feel that we in the small communities need just as much assistance as they do in the larger centres.

This issue came up at the Gwich'in Tribal Council assembly in which there was a lot of debate around the number of cases of cancer we're seeing in our communities, and of the tough times that community members are having to cope with the lack of full-time nurses in our health centres, closure of our health centres, having no resource people such as alcohol and drug or mental health workers to help the families cope with the problems that this brings.

Mr. Speaker, here again it shows that this government does not have compassion for the small communities when it comes to administering programs. You have programs for palliative care, you have nutritional programs, you have other programs that are being delivered at this time at regional hospitals and regional centres, yet no effort is being made by this government to ensure those programs are extended to small communities.

So again, Mr. Speaker, I will be asking the Minister questions on this matter. Why is it that small communities again are having to cope with problems for which there is assistance available in larger centres. For some reason, however, you can't find the money to make it down to the small communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will be asking questions on this matter to the Minister. Thank you.

---Applause