Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I guess one of the biggest issues is that things are picking up in the Deh Cho, so that's what the communities have been asking. They're saying, look, we're being overwhelmed by these huge volumes of binders of information that we have to go through. That's what I was trying to get from the Minister is if there is a specific program designed to help the communities with this need. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There's no short answer to this, but I do understand what the Member is talking about. In terms of communities' ability to intervene and the environmental impact statement process for the pipeline, they are challenged. There are reams of information to sift through. I've been discussing that with my colleagues, most specifically with the Minister of MACA, but also with the social envelope Ministers. We had a meeting this morning to discuss some of these challenges. We are looking to provide some help and looking to come up with a framework that will have some answers and provide some solutions for communities. In my travels in communities, I'm hearing the same things. We're hearing that they are challenged in terms of capacity. We want to make sure that everybody can have a meaningful involvement and participation in this process.

To the broader issue of economic development initiatives in general, we hope that this BDIC legislation will be more flexible, less prescriptive, allow for broader partnerships, and allow for communities to not only get access to GNWT programs and services, but be able to lever that with federal money or other money that is available. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Final supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to thank the Minister for that answer. He covered just about everything.

---Laughter

I'm glad for that. I just have one question I'm curious about. I hope there is not an interruption in service when we split RWED in providing service to the communities. If the Minister could assure me of that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Bell.

I can give the Member that assurance. I also want to say to the Member and other Members, if issues do come up and there are things that arise and Members believe it is as a result of the transition process, I want to make sure they bring them to my

attention as quickly as possible. We want to work with our regional staff, as I said, to make sure this is a seamless transition. We want to make sure there's no interruption for our clients and this is of utmost priority. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger. During a recent information session with Crack Busters on Monday, there were a few items that the addictions counsellors and Dr. Wheeler, who was there, had brought to our attention that I believe the government should be paying close attention to. I'd like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services a few questions. The first question is what type of public awareness and education is this government doing specifically to address the pitfalls of drug use? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have public information that deals with right personal choices, active living, healthy choices, not to use alcohol and drugs. We don't have anything tailored specifically yet to the new drugs, specifically the one the Member referred to, which is crack cocaine. I also attended that meeting, which I found very informative. We are also intending the target part of $1 million for further prevention with youth in terms of an awareness campaign that focuses on substance abuse, alcohol and drugs, as well as the ambulant concerns that have also been raised. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister didn't mention the fact that the government had anything specifically dedicated to drug use and the troubles that drug use brings to our youth and our families here in the Northwest Territories. The other item that they mentioned is what are we going to do as a government to address the long-term residential care that's needed and the treatment that's needed for these individuals? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as was indicated yesterday by the folks that did the presentation from Crack Busters, they have a program that's not residential-based. Its success hinges on being able to be in the communities, responsive to people at the community level where they can work through their issues and their support groups that are there to assist them after the 22-week Crack Busters program is completed. Mr. Speaker, I still share the same conviction that our focus has to continue to be working with the communities at the community level, which is why we've invested money in community wellness workers, mental health workers, clinical supervisors and why we intend to proceed with year three of that program to get further resources at the community level. As well, we still have the resources, which we are trying to work on and improve at Natse' Ejee K'eh, and access to southern treatment referral if you need it. We also have arrangements in Yellowknife with the Salvation Army with the program that they offer. As well, we're going to move ahead on doing a better job and bringing on line a medical detox facility at Stanton. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last year the Regular Members on this side of the House brought forward a motion in regard to reinstating treatment centres in both Inuvik and in Yellowknife and I would like to ask the Minister today what progress has the government made on addressing that motion that this side of the House made last year. Has there been any progress made and when are we going to see residential care and treatment centres finally addressed by this government? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we're continuing to work and advance the agenda for addictions and mental health, as I've lain out. There was a motion in this House and the intent is to improve the services and we're working on that. The Member indicates that we need two or three or four new facilities and I'm saying that our energy and funds are better spent at the community level. When we can quantify and demonstrate that we will have facilities that will be fully used and we won't need any other southern resources, then I'll be happy to move forward with the project in putting it into the capital plan, but you would have to get in line with other capital projects. But at this point, I can tell the Member that if we built three or four new facilities, they would all be underutilized and we don't have the numbers to quantify the need for that number of capital projects. I want to maintain, Mr. Speaker, if I could just reiterate, the focus, in my opinion, has to continue to be at the community level to get resources on the ground, working with families, with individuals, with other groups in the community to get people to make the right choices and not just build bricks and mortar and facilities to deal with them once they've got an addiction problem. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Your final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we need to work with community groups, yes, I agree with that. That type of work should happen, but we're here today and we still don't have treatment centres. How long is it going to take for the government to work with the community groups to get us the treatment centres that our communities are demanding and the residential care that our communities are demanding? How long is the work going to take? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I've been involved directly or indirectly in this business dealing with alcohol and drugs now for over 20 years, and I've been involved that long in trying to advance the agenda dealing with alcohol and drugs. As Minister, I've been here for over three years and made significant strides, especially moving from the Chalmers report and we're going to continue to do that. We have a plan and we intend to stick to it and it's not just a case of banging up residential facilities all over the place when we know that a few years ago we did that and we ended up closing most of them because they were underutilized. We have not yet focused properly on prevention at the community level on getting people to make the right personal choices and to invest the resources at the community level, and not just have centralized facilities that are going to take up all the staff and resources we have. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.