Thank you, Mr. Dent. Final short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister of Education, Culture and Employment just nailed it there by saying that there's no question that attendance is a problem in the Northwest Territories. He just nailed it exactly. Mr. Speaker, he said use their funding. Well, funding is prescriptive. It takes all the wiggle room out of schools so they just can't do whatever they want to do. It's already implemented and tied to certain issues. So, Mr. Speaker, I really like this comment by saying that we will support them. Well, will we support them with direct funding to one social liaison worker for each district education authority? Will the Minister show some leadership and initiative and creativity to deal with some of these problems that are social envelope problems? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't know where the Member gets the idea that the funding that we offer to school divisions now is prescriptive. There's about $125 million that goes to schools. The only part of that that is prescriptive is the $7 million that's stipulated to go into aboriginal languages and culture, and the $16 million that has to go into special needs. Other than that, it's wide open. The schools can use the money as they see fit. We give them money that we say this portion is allocated for transportation, but we don't require them to spend it on transportation. They can put the money where it makes the most sense in their communities. That's the best way to deal with this issue, is to let the communities decide how to best handle it.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Minister of Justice, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is right. I've had some discussions with the deputy minister on this issue because it has been raised from the private sector over the past six months. We are, right now, in the process of trying to decide what level of consultation, and how much of the act we should take out for consultation or whether we should do a focused amendment or propose a focused amendment just for this one issue. Right now, that's the stage we're at, is trying to determine just how far to go with the proposed amendment. The answer to the Member's question is, yes, we're looking at it. I would hope to be able to bring something forward to this House within this calendar year.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm sure if he brings that proposal to this side of the House we'll be happy to do the public hearing for him. Anyway, Mr. Speaker, I have another question that he might be able to look into while he's considering the changes that I've mentioned already. That has to do with the limit on small claims court. Mr. Speaker, small claims are set up so that people can go and get their issues of dispute resolved without having to hire a lawyer and go to the bigger court. Right now you can only go there if you're case is less than $10,000. Many courts across the country have changed that. Alberta, for example, has changed the limit to $50,000. I think we have a lot of room to manoeuvre between $10,000 and $50,000. I'm wondering if the Minister would consider looking at that, as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I certainly will.

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

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Statistics over the last few years, Mr. Speaker, have shown virtually no change in our rates of children living in low income situations, so I would like to ask the Minister responsible for these programs in our government, Mr. Dent, a pretty straightforward question. Why does child poverty persist here in the NWT in the midst of so much activity and so much wealth? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Dent.

Mr. Speaker, I wish I had a clear, concise answer for that question. I don't. I can't say that child poverty exists because of one specific reason. There are a whole range of reasons that there is child poverty. We have, as a government, put a significant amount of money, as the Member noted in his statement, into programs over the last few years and I guess we must be just having trouble keeping up with the growth and the cost of living in an overheated economy. Because one would expect with the kind of investment that we've made with our small population, that more of a difference should have been seen. This government is struggling to find more money to put into social programs. One of the areas that we're hoping to be able to tap into is resource revenue sharing. If we're successful at seeing more money, then we're going to have those resources available to put into these important social programs. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Mr. Speaker, government has a primary and fundamental responsibility to help those who are least able to help themselves. Children are at the very top of that list, for me. I would like to know if in the universal review that our government is undertaking of some 17 different lifestyle and social service programs are we going to make sure that the welfare of children is at the very top of our consideration in this review? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to assure the Member and this House that the government shares that concern. Children are the most important asset that we have and we need to make sure that we protect their potential to develop as they should. Yes, I can assure the Member that the process of reviewing our income security programs that is being led by my department will keep children in mind as one of the priorities as we're undertaking that review.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Mr. Speaker, what does the Minister see as the biggest barriers that we face in terms of trying to turn this really shameful statistic around? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, it's really tough to find one area that is the most important. If people don't have economic opportunity, obviously their children are not going to enjoy the same sort of security that others would. You don't have economic opportunity if you don't have an education. You don't tend to be as healthy if you don't have an educated. There are a whole range of issues that we need to deal with in our society and we need to make sure that we have healthy people making healthy choices in healthy communities if we want to make sure that we deal with this. So we have a real challenge. But I think that if the Member is aware of what the Legislative Assembly as a whole has set out as our goal and strategic plan, our overall vision, that's what we're going to try and work for. The redesign of the Income Security Program is but one small part of that overall approach. Thank you.