Thank you, Mr. Bell. Short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Minister's comments and willingness to look at something like this. Would it be more effective to move certain things for the GNWT, Mr. Speaker, in terms of the fur pricing programs, the Western Harvester Support Program, and the other programs that the Minister is responsible for? I would like to know if the Minister would make a commitment to sit down with the people in the Sahtu region, their harvesters and trappers, and talk about what is the best, and most effective, method for this government to assist them in their lifestyle and their business. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will certainly have all regional staff engaged with those who are doing subsistence harvesting and hunting, those who are marketing the furs in the South. I think we do need to have this discussion at the committee level. I assure Members that the easiest and most simplistic way for us to handle this, at my level, or at the political level, or at the bureaucratic level, is not the most important thing to me. The most important thing to me is that this makes sense on the ground in the communities for those trying to access our services. That is who we need to keep in mind. We need to make sure that our program and service delivery best meets their needs. Whatever I can do to make that happen, I will. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, would the Minister work closely with the Minister of ENR in terms of a type of an effective program that would work best, and bring back to Cabinet and say, this is the best way? We have overlooked a simple process of how do we best get the program into the trappers who are not privy to the information of how to operate. It is a one stop shop for trappers. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think the best approach would be for both I and the Minister of ENR to come and have this discussion around roles and responsibilities in terms of the traditional economy and our programming with committee. Armed with that information, and that feedback, we can have a discussion with Cabinet and deal with the issue. I first propose that the two of us come and engage the committee in this discussion. I hope that is acceptable to Members. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. My question today is for the Minister responsible for the Financial Management Board, with respect to our hiring policies and procedures. I know that we are expending great effort to hire aboriginal people. I think that we are doing the best job we can. We are doing exceptionally well. However, I think we are failing in hiring our people who are classified as northerners. I believe it is the P2 category that we use. I am wondering if the Minister has any statistics that show that there has been a decline in hiring northerners over the past two years, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister responsible for the Financial Management Board Secretariat, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the work that we have been undertaking within the Human Resource Service Centre has taken a fair bit of time to organize and restructure, and that has caused some problems, as does any occasion when you start to amalgamate different programs into one.

We are back to running a service centre the way we planned it. We are trying to catch up with a backlog. The area of P2, as the Member has raised, is a northern hire, or someone who has lived half their life in the Northwest Territories. It is something that we have had to look at. It is a concern that has been raised in the past, as well as the affirmative action policy itself. What we have undertaken to do in the area of human resources, is to look at what we would call "employment equity," which would take in affirmative action and a number of other initiatives we are doing to try and ensure that we are doing the best we can for those that are working for our government, as well as northern residents and aboriginal people within the North.

We are working on a paper to bring forward. We will share that with Members, once we have a bit more work done on it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. The enquiries I have been getting back in my riding is that I am a northerner. Why aren't I being hired? What is happening is that a lot of southerners are being hired, as opposed to northerners. They are not clear on what the distinction is there, why that has happened. This report, or this examination, that the Minister is speaking of, Mr. Speaker, when will that be concluded?

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I hope to have something ready for Members as early as November, the middle to late November. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Braden.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. My questions this afternoon are for Mr. Miltenberger, the Minister of Health and Social Services. It regards the services that northerners can expect when they have to go outside the Northwest Territories for medical or clinical treatment.

Mr. Speaker, most of our outside requirement is handled at the Capital Health region, or the network of hospitals and clinics in the Edmonton area, and, from my information, Mr. Speaker, very capably so over the years. But when a patient has a procedure that is not available through that Capital Health region contract, there may be, or have been, some issues drawn to my attention about whether or not NWT patients are on some kind of priority, or lack of priority, with other patients. When a northerner requires care in a facility outside the Capital Health region, what are the protocols, or the priorities, that a northern patient can expect in relation to other patients from the outside province? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, outside of the Capital Health authority, if we are going to talk specifically about the Province of Alberta, if we want to access services in facilities or communities like Ponoka, then they have an Albertan first -- looking after their own citizens first -- and then they have another category for out-of-province applications, which is where we end up having to get in line. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Is there anything that our government can do to go to bat for a

ortherner if they have to get help from some other institution? Do we always have to take that second place, or perhaps, even worse, that line of thinking, Mr. Speaker?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have made efforts to advocate on behalf of our citizens, but it is much more difficult outside of the Capital Health authority area, where we have a very good level of care. Thank you.