Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When was the plan approved by Cabinet, and was that plan shared with the social programs committee or Members of this House? Thank you.

Minister of Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have kept the social programs committee informed, we've kept Cabinet informed and we've attempted to keep the MLAs from the Inuvik region informed. If I have not quite met the mark on that, as my colleague indicated in his opening statement, then I apologize for that and I will redress by offering a full briefing of all the information that we do have that you may have not seen in detail. Thank you.

Item 6, oral questions. Member for Deh Cho, Mr. McLeod.

Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First of all, I should state that any time we're dealing with a school facility, Mr. Speaker, we're very concerned to ensure that facilities are adequate and we can contribute to them. With respect to the Member's question, no, we didn't go to Cabinet for the $200,000, because we had a commitment, Mr. Speaker, from the band to provide the $200,000. Mr. Speaker, originally the Chief Sunrise School was identified as requiring upgrading, but then it was decided that KFN had provided additional funding so the scope of the work could be expanded, Mr. Speaker. From there, the scope of the work did expand and the band itself had stated they would contribute $200,000 to the project. Thank you.

Supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I've had the sense for some time now that the Minister never went to bat for us, and I'm very disappointed. The community was always of the opinion that this was a last resort; because Cabinet had turned us down we had to put in the money from the community. I understand now that that was not the case at all. I would like to ask the Minister if he could tell me how many other communities in the Northwest Territories have had infrastructure facilities for education. We, in the smaller communities that have a high aboriginal population, believe it's a community right. Yet on the reserve, which is 100 percent aboriginal, we're paying for classroom space. We have students in the hallways, we have students in the gym, we have students taking classes in the foyer, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister, can he tell me how many other communities are paying for their own classroom space. Thank you.

Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Minister Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, with regard to the question itself, I don't have the answer to that. I would have to check back to see and check with our department. But, Mr. Speaker, I should point out that we looked at the school and identified a need for a renovation and a small expansion. But at the request of the community... The community requested that this be expanded. It has to be remembered, Mr. Speaker, that within the school is an aboriginal headstart program, as well, and that particular program is a federally-funded program and normally the federal government provides capital funding for projects. We've not been able to obtain that money for this purpose, Mr. Speaker. So in a sense, we are meeting the needs of the school, but there's a program within the school that's really federally initiated and operated. We understand the need within the community, but that became part of the challenge here, Mr. Speaker. I think the community was very generous in its approach here to offer to provide funding for expansion. But it was beyond the scope of the original project, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it's obvious that the Minister does not recognize the aboriginal headstart students as students. It's one of the most successful programs in the aboriginal communities throughout the North, and it's very disappointing once again to hear the Minister give his answer that these are not real students. I would like to ask the Minister if he would then consider the $200,000 as a loan or a contribution. I understand that other communities, such as Yellowknives First Nations, have made contributions towards their school with a repayment attached to it. Would the Minister look at this whole scenario and consider this as a loan with repayment sometime in the future? Thank you.

The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First of all, Mr. Speaker, I do recognize that the aboriginal headstart program is made of students and they're extremely important. We have an early childhood development program with this government that addresses this whole area. To suggest that I don't classify them as students or am not interested in it is not correct, Mr. Speaker. I'm very concerned about early childhood development and the benefits that can offer.

Mr. Speaker, the fact is that this is an early childhood program, not a K to12 program and we provide funding for K to 12. Mr. Speaker, with regard to the request, I'd have to check to see what other programs have been operated under that basis where funding had been provided and then repaid, Mr. Speaker. I just am not familiar with that, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It would be interesting to see how the Minister is going to put a price on the aboriginal headstart program and its worth and measure the cost without having this program housed because there is no other facility to put this program in the community. I'd like to ask the Minister with my final question, what are the options that he looked at? We understood that he went to Cabinet, we find that's not the case. Did he look at anything else or did he just go to the chief of the council with his hand out? Is there any other option he can point to that he looked at for accommodating this request for additional classroom space? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Mr. Speaker, I'd have to just go back into my memory to see what actions we did take. It seems to me we had checked about the aboriginal headstart program to see if we could obtain funding from the federal government to assist us in this particular process. That's from my initial memory here, Mr. Speaker, and we did go to Cabinet, of course, with regard to the school itself in terms of providing the financing for this. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ootes. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development on mine cleanup. Mr. Speaker, the funding commitments for the second year of the three-year contaminants site accelerated action fund program will soon be made. It's urgent that this government communicate their position to Minister Nault if we want to get a federal agreement on the preferred option and then to start implementing it.

Mr. Speaker, in September, the Minister said in a letter to Mr. Braden that the department was reviewing its decision on deep disposal option for arsenic at Giant. When will the department finalize its position, Mr. Speaker?

Thank you, Mr. Dent. The honourable Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Antoine. Supplementary, Mr. Dent.