Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have a couple more questions and I'm hoping this is the right area. The department has $240 million, but it's divided into about six sections, so I guess I have as good a chance of hitting it here.

The first one has to do with the nurses being trained out of Aurora College. The Minister mentioned earlier that part of the expenses under this section is medical bursaries, and I'm hoping this is an area where I can talk about some of the concerns that the new graduates from the Aurora College nursing program have expressed to me. Mr. Chairman, I do believe that there is a general agreement that that is an excellent nursing program at Aurora College. I think the concern has to do with the continuity of education. More than most other professional training, nurses need not only academic and hands-on training they get at the school, but they need continuative training in the clinical settings at the hospital. In order to do that there have to be teachers and mentors and practitioners who would provide them with the support. I've been advised by nurses in training or in internship, just almost on the verge of becoming full, practising nurses, but not yet qualified or prepared to do that. They find themselves in clinical settings where almost all the nurses on shift are inexperienced nurses. We're talking about situations where one small mistake could amount to something very, very big. Some of these nursing students were very, very concerned that there just are not enough staff there or support there for them to get the proper training and proper supervision.

I know that the Minister is aware of this, and I do believe they are having some programs and money geared towards addressing that. I would like to know, from the Minister, what he is doing and whether or not he is aware of that problem and what he has done to address those. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I guess it's not quite an embarrassment of riches, but after a period of time when we're desperately looking for nurses, because of the investment we made over the last few years we have graduated 50 or 60 nurses in the last couple of years and there are more coming. Now the pressure is on us to be able to provide them with the practical experience. We have been working with Hay River, Yellowknife, Fort Smith and Inuvik to place the students and those who are newly graduated into those facilities to give them the on-the-ground training that they need. We've also invested in I believe it's nine nurse mentor positions that have been sent out across the Territories that are supposed to work with recent graduates.

One of the areas where we have to make the next step is how do we take the nurse who have worked in hospitals and in larger facilities and train them for community service. That's a separate area where it's very difficult, because in many of the smaller communities the nurses don't have a lot of the time to provide that service. So it's an issue that we're still working on in that particular area. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I believe this is an issue that has been brought up in this House by myself and other people, as well. It's something that I've probably had some exchange of words with the Minister. That has to do with the fact that while the government has made some progress in providing resources to train new nurses, there has not been an equal amount of support for the experienced nurses who would provide the resources to the new graduates. The Minister mentioned that there are nine mentorship programs being provided all over the Territories, but he has also mentioned that we are graduating nurses at a lot higher level than that. I think common sense will tell us that you would need at least one mentoring nurse for every two or something, not nine for many dozens of new grads who are being produced, and I think we are going to be producing even more. A lot of criticism in the nursing profession has been that there have been just not enough compensation and incentives for the experienced nurses to stay in their job and for us to retain them, and also to encourage them to provide support to the new grads. So I want to know from the Minister if there is any way for us to expand that support to the experienced nurses. You have to pay the trainers to train the new grads until they become fully practiced, qualified and get all the skill sets necessary for them to spread out into the communities.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, this is a complex issue. We are working in a number of areas to make sure that we have the correct balance of pay, benefits and compensation. We just finished an extensive job health job review where there was nearly 500 positions assessed, and slightly less than half went up, slightly less than half stayed the same, and 25 would drop somewhat. Those 25 are being appealed. The intent was to better recognize some of the complex skills in some of the positions like OR nurses and intensive care nurses and some of those other professions, that they were adequately compensated.

There was a recognition, to a large extent, that they were under compensated. So that has been dealt with.

We're also in a process of coming forward with a program that's going to better compensate and recognize the challenges to nurses working in the small communities; the one, two, three and four-nurse stations.

We also have a professional development fund that's open yearly to each employee. It's nearly $300,000; about $1,900...Sorry, I'm not reading this right. It's about $1.9 million budgeted for 2003-04 for professional development. There is another $239,000 budgeted in 2003-04 for advanced nurse mentorship. There is $156,000 for social work mentorship, and $110,000 budgeted for education leave; $277,000 budgeted for the nurse practitioner education bursary; $373,000 budgeted for the student support program, formerly the northern development program -- it's designed to assist northern students pursuing careers in health and social services -- $106,000 for southern educational program, a remissible bursary; and $80,000 for medical bursaries for NWT students who are away at school. This totals, for 2003-04, $3.339 million. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Ms. Lee.

Thank you. That leads me to a question of what the budget is for those similar areas for 2004-05.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, those programs remain in the budget at that level.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I should just state here that I am aware of the job evaluations that have gone on with respect to nursing positions, and I am not sure I agree with the Minister that that has settled the question, but I'm prepared to let the arbitration and appeal process take its course. In due course, I'm sure I will be making my positions known to the Minister and to find ways with the Minister on how to address some of the grievances that I know exist within the nursing profession.

Having said that, Mr. Chairman, I do have a question on a whole new area, but if there are other Members in the line-up I'm prepared to stand it down for now.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. I don't have any other Members lined up to speak on this. I guess I have Mr. Yakeleya now, but go ahead with your question, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I do believe my next question comes out of this, and it has to do with health insurance benefits for those residents who are not Canadian citizens but who come to live and work in the Territories for one reason or another. I want to state, first of all, that we want to make sure that we have a tight control on who gets our health cards. There have been lots of debates about whether or not those who are eligible who are being issued our health care cards are meeting the criteria and such, and we would encourage the department to make sure that they do the job of making sure that only those who are eligible gets them. This is an issue that our legislature has to address, and that is the fact that with Yellowknife attracting a lot of foreigners who come to work in the diamond industry, and historically we have attracted other foreign nationals who come to work it the North, whether as nannies and in many professions. I am told that one is entitled to get health benefits under NWT health insurance, if a person is eligible to work and live here. But when they apply for those health care benefits, they run into some problems and obstacles.

Another case that I've heard that happened lately is a person who came to work for a diamond mine in the North who has a work permit and, therefore, is eligible for health benefits under our insurance plan, was denied insurance because the person did not have a passport that was valid for more than six months. I'm not sure what the rationale is behind requiring such criteria. So I would like to know from the Minister if he could advise us as to what the GNWT's policy is in terms of the criteria and eligibility for foreign nationals who work and live here and who are eligible for health benefits? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, we keep our policies and regulations consistent with other jurisdictions and with the federal government. If a person is just here on a work visa, it has to be specific to the community in which they are working. If you have landed immigrant status you are eligible. Marriage to a Canadian citizen without taking the steps to deal with your visa or your immigrant status does not necessarily qualify a person for health care.

There are a number of issues that come up. We deal with them all on a case-by-case basis because they all tend to have unique circumstances. The Member is correct; the majority of concerns arise out of Yellowknife, given the size of the community and the magnitude of the community that it is in terms of employment and the transient nature of some of the population. So we attempt to be as responsive as possible, and I think I have dealt with about every Yellowknife MLA at one time or another with immigration issues in their constituencies. So it is a difficult area where there are a lot of unique circumstances. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I don't think the Minister answered; maybe he did. Am I to understand that in dealing with health care benefits for foreign nationals, it's done on a case-by-case basis, or is there a written policy or regulation that the Minister could provide us with? More specifically, I would like to know under that policy why is it that we would require...Is there a requirement for someone to have a valid visa for six months to a year or something, before one could be issued health care benefits? I think a lot of us walk around with a visa that would expire in a lot shorter period. I don't understand the requirement for that. If there is one that makes sense, I'm prepared to accept that. So could the Minister provide us with information on what the rule is? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, the issue of foreign nationals, once again, depends on the documentation that they do have and what kind of status they have in the country. But I will commit to provide the policy that we operate by in terms of foreign nationals and immigration when it comes to health care.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. I have Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Miltenberger.