Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On September 17th, Mr. Speaker, a very important and informative forum was held here in Yellowknife called Solutions for Barrier-Free Housing. It was organized by the NWT Council of Persons with Disabilities, prompted by the actions of a number of self-advocates with that organization. Mr. Speaker, it was co-sponsored by our departments of Health and Social Services and the NWT Housing Corporation. Both of those departments, Mr. Speaker, have been very proactive on the issue of housing needs of persons with disabilities. The self-advocates who helped with that forum were Cor Van Dyke, Lynn Cameron, Bill Burles, Doreen Baptiste, and they spoke very eloquently to the more than 50 people who attended of the different needs of the disabled when it comes to housing. The solutions go far beyond what many of us might have as the idea that well if we build wheelchair ramps and wider doorways we have looked after things, and that's only the beginning,

Mr. Speaker, an innovative survey went out to 300 people and there were 60 returns. It demonstrated that what we need to do is go far beyond those physical amenities and go into a number of far broader areas.

We identified three priorities in the course of the day, probably the most significant one was called social marketing and this is where the community of people with disabilities should be partnering with legislators, cities and municipalities and with builders and architects to establish those needs and find ways of making them happen and making them happen affordably. This of course will help to stimulate the increase in the number of units that will hopefully be built because there will be a market.

Mr. Speaker, we also want to take a very close look at the financial incentives and disincentives that we have in our income support system, in our health care system, that affect the lives of the disabled. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.