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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, are we actively soliciting proposals for the use of this facility for any nature or is it ad hoc as people are interested: just what is our process for looking at this. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. The honourable Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation, Mr. Allen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Our personal interest at this point is trying to liquidate the mortgage owed on the unit. Certainly, I want to entertain any proposal that is viable and feasible at this point and hopefully entertain those proposals that can afford to operate the facility. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Your final supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Mr. Speaker, my information is that the mortgage that we are holding is somewhere in the neighbourhood of 2.7 million dollars, it is quite a piece of change. Is there any time line on making a decision that the government is looking at? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. The honourable Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation, Mr. Allen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No, the most recent information from the Housing Corporation officials was that they were still trying to find a method to deal with those proposals and see how we can best address that at this point. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my information is that this week, staff from the Inuvik Health and Social Services Authority were to travel, or have traveled in to Aklavik to meet with the community to see if they could reach a consensus on how best to proceed with the permanent staffing of the position of a community wellness worker whose duties will include the alcohol and drug function. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is great that the government comes to our communities every once in a while and has meetings with us, but that is not my question. My question is when is this government going to fill those positions, which funding has been approved for through this legislature to be directed to those communities to have the mental health alcohol and drug workers in place to provide that service in our communities?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we are engaged in a collaborative process with the territorial government, the regional governments, the communities and the people of the communities to provide services. This is not a case of myself as Minister sitting in my office and dictating what is going to take place. We work with this Assembly to do business plans, to come up with how we are going to approach strategies for alcohol and drug and various other initiatives. In this case, there are resources there, there has been ongoing discussion with the community and the Inuvik Health and Social Services Authority. I know the Member has raised this issue in the House extensively over the last few months. We have been trying to work to get that position staffed on a permanent basis. They are in the community this week and will hopefully reach an agreement so that they can in fact staff it. There have been new resources added to increase the pay and benefits for the workers across the Territories, that is retroactive to April 1st. So we have the resources, now our obligation is to work with the communities and the regional authority to come to a way to move ahead on this without any further delay. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is pretty appalling when this government can't even hire an alcohol and drug worker. The money is there, so basically the opportunity for someone to fill that position is there. Why can't you just go out and advertise for a salary position for an alcohol and drug or mental health worker that you administer everywhere else in the larger centres? Why could you not advertise for that position?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that is clearly an option and the direction that we in the majority of cases are moving. In the communities where there is no alcohol and drug worker that's an employee of the health and social services authority, we have to work out an arrangement with the community to see whether they will be a band employee, or whether it will work for the community, or whether in fact there will be a transfer, in this case, to the Inuvik Health and Social Services Authority. My understanding is that hopefully that is one of the issues that are going to finally be resolved in Aklavik this week.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Your final supplementary, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is pretty hard for a community to agree with the Minister's comments where it basically sounds more like excuses than really doing anything. I'd like to ask the Minister exactly how soon can the community of Aklavik ensure that we have a person in place to deliver programs and services, which presently the funding is sitting in Inuvik, which is being expended by the Inuvik health board but is not expended in the community of Aklavik. How soon can the person be in place to deliver these programs for the people of Aklavik?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on the optimistic assumption that there has been a consensus reached between the Inuvik Health and Social Services Authority and the community of Aklavik, based on that agreement we should be able to proceed. The resources are there, the job description has been done and the job has been classified. All of the pieces are there to move on this. Thank you.