Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Member had asked three questions about a program that we have in terms of recognizing international credentials. What we have done is rather than try and develop the expertise in house, is we have actually contracted the service with the Government of Alberta so that it is their people who will evaluate. What has to happen is that the credentials have to be sent to the office in Alberta where they are then checked for authenticity, for consistency, and the institutional status to make sure that they would qualify. What happens then is a general statement of comparability with Canadian standards is issued. So some bodies will then recognize it. There are a good number that will, but not all bodies will recognize that. For instance, the College of Physicians and Surgeons still would have to have their own criteria for making sure that a doctor was able to practice in Canada, but there are other jurisdictions across Canada or other bodies across Canada that will accept them. For instance, BC speech language pathologists, their speech language society will recognize the criteria. CGAs in Nova Scotia will

recognize. So it is quite broad and it does include organizations across Canada, but it is one where not all bodies will recognize the qualifications.

The Member had asked where people should apply. They can apply or get the address through any career centre. So all of the career centres in the Northwest Territories can make the information available. There is also a 1-800 number so that if people have questions about it they can get answers to their questions using the 1-800 number.

The Member also asked about a sponsorship program. In the Northwest Territories we don't, for instance, have a program that provides sponsorship to people who are engineers in another country and they are planning to come into the territory to work. Those sorts of programs are run by each individual province or territory, and are set up exclusively by them. So the example from BC that the Member had mentioned is one that was set up by the province of BC, and if we wanted to do the same sort of thing we could. To date, our government hasn't embarked on any of those sponsorship programs. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.