Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Last Friday the Minister responsible for the Workers' Compensation Board tabled in this Assembly a glossy version of the various activities of the WCB in the last year. The Minister related to us the cover story of this magazine which featured an inspirational story of a man who entered into Canada from Czechoslovakia who, after a serious work-related injury persevered and, through determination, returned to work.

Mr. Speaker, I'd remind the Minister that there is, in too many cases, a very unglossy version of affairs to do with the cases of some injured workers in our WCB. I would relate again to this Assembly the case of Mr. Ivan Valic, an injured worker who was injured some 19 years ago and continues to seek a resolution to his issues, especially

those regarding chronic pain. Mr. Speaker, on December 14th of last year, Justice Virginia Schuler of the NWT Supreme Court ruled that Mr. Valic's rights in regard to the Charter had been violated, that his right to natural justice had been denied. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to suggest that perhaps like the gentleman featured in the WCB's magazine, Mr. Valic is also an inspiration, but there's an irony here in that he's an inspiration not in the case of overcoming person adversity and suffering, but rather that he continues to struggle valiantly against a bureaucracy and a system that seems to have gone out of its way to trample his rights.

Mr. Speaker, when Justice Schuler granted Mr. Valic's request for a new tribunal there was a hope in that ruling that such a tribunal would be struck in a timely manner. We are now coming up 10 months and this is just not acceptable, Mr. Speaker. It shows again that our WCB, the Appeals Tribunal, and the various processes that we should have working on behalf of injured workers are indeed, in some cases, continuing to stymie them. Mr. Speaker, it's been 10 months since Judge Schuler's decision and I wonder what is meant by her request for timely consideration in the view of our WCB, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause