Thank you, Madam Chair. On the basis of what the Minister just said, I have two questions. One is, given the difficulty associated with this commission and the fact that it's so hard to determine diagnoses, is it safe to say that we do not have a mechanism yet to identify FASD as a specific disability nor do we do that in terms of determining treatment or benefits or the people with suspected FASD? Are there cases where people have been specifically diagnosed as having FASD and, once they are, are there accompanying programs they can enter into, or is it a case where the people who are suffering from this largely go undiagnosed and they just tap into different programs as they're available?

My second question has to do with the partnership that the Minister mentioned, the Pacific Northwest, this Minister-to-Minister level partnership, from what I understand. What is the time frame in terms of the work that this group is doing to see when we're going to know more and to know answers to those questions that we're discussing here? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, when dealing with individuals, often assumptions are made based on behaviours. There are times, depending on when alcohol was ingested by the mother, when there may be some clearly visible features that are indicative of an individual with FASD which would be a clear indication of what may be at issue with this individual. But the Member is correct that there are assumptions made that the high number of FASD people

are individuals that there may be in the Northwest Territories, but there isn't a lot of testing done.

On the time frame for the partnership to show results, all the jurisdictions have been working on FASD on their own. What we've done is there's been an agreement to coordinate and concentrate the research efforts. That was done through a fairly extensive process that's being put together so that it's located in Vancouver and Edmonton and they are going to continue to work on it and they are going to share their work not only in Canada, but in the States and wherever this work is being done on FASD. I can't give the Member any specific timelines on when they are going to have success in any particular area. It is just ongoing research and work. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. I have Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I have a few more questions for the Minister while we've got him here. One of the things I heard the Minister mention was the fact that there are currently five vacancies at Stanton. Is that correct?

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Miltenberger.

Yes, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you. Five vacancies of registered nurses that is. If there are only five vacancies, why would Stanton look at closing a ward down due to lack of available staff? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Murray.

Thank you, Mr. Murray. Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Madam Chair. So you're not closing the surgery ward due to a lack of nurses. Is that correct?

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Murray.

Thank you, Mr. Murray. Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you for that, Mr. Murray. I'll move on now to another issue I brought up with the Minister last year when he was here and that was the issue of a palliative care unit at Stanton. Currently people live their entire lives paying dearly in terms of taxes and other things that they pay to the government throughout their whole lives. I think it's important that when it is time to go and some people get diagnosed with a terminal illness and they know that their days on this earth are numbered, I think it's very important that we have a place where people who are terminally ill can go and live their last days on this earth with as much dignity and respect as possible and I don't know if that is currently the case here in the Northwest Territories. I think if we can get some funding or we can look at channelling some funding in to make this happen, it's an initiative that this government should take on. Thank you, Madam Chairperson.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, this is indeed a very sensitive, crucial area. There is capacity in Stanton on the long-term care side, as well as other facilities I have been in that have capacity with families who may have an individual, as the Member indicated, who is dying and where there is capacity for the family to be together where it is set up to be as comfortable and as soothing as possible so that the family can be supported along with the individual. In Stanton, as I indicated, the capacity is there and since we have the public administrator here, I'll ask if he would speak a bit more specifically about the services at Stanton. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Murray.

Thank you, Mr. Murray. Mr. Ramsay.

Yes, thanks, Madam Chair. I certainly wouldn't want to downplay the work that our staff does out there. I know they do a yeoman's job out there and they should be commended for doing that. I guess what I am trying to get at here is not necessarily the staffing. That's another issue. What I'd like to get at is a dedicated ward for palliative care where the atmosphere and the surroundings are much different than they are in the long-term ward or any other ward in Stanton for that matter, because it needs that extra nice touch, I guess, Madam Chairperson, that people should be afforded and an area for families to gather. Maybe the rooms could be nicer. It's just something I think and feel strongly about that I don't think the government pays enough attention to, especially for people who are terminally ill like I mentioned. I think we can go a ways in getting there.

The staffing though -- and I do commend the Minister and his staff out at Stanton -- I think they do a first-rate job, but we need to give them, I think, a few additional tools to be able to look after people in their last days if they are terminally ill. Thank you, Madam Chairperson.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Miltenberger.