Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would also like to ask the Minister if he would commit to the involvement of his staff regionally, because we are going to be sitting down with the new parks superintendent and, of course, the band and the Metis president. This is a very important issue to Mayor Martselos to talk about how we could possibly do this at the regional level as well. Would he commit to his staff being involved when that meeting is set up? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. McLeod.

Mr. Speaker, we certainly will involve our regional staff in our discussions with parks. We will also consult with them as to any prior discussion that may have been held and be able to relay that information to the Member. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Monfwi, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. (Translation) Mr. Speaker, my previous statement, I would like to ask the Justice Minister a question. When we call the RCMP station, they forward the information to Yellowknife. (Translation ends)

...Member's statement, the community of Behchoko has serious concerns about the safety of its Tlicho speaking residents who do not have the ability to access RCMP in their own language around the clock. Mr. Speaker, what is the Minister prepared to do to ensure our citizens have the ability to communicate with the RCMP around the clock in the Tlicho language? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Minister of Justice, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Member for the question. This is an issue the Member has raised a number of times. We've had discussion in committee about the challenge. I think it's particularly heightened in the Tlicho region where there are many unilingual speakers. We want to make sure they

have access to the RCMP. So it is something we have raised with the RCMP. I am prepared and have indicated to the Member that we would go into the community and talk about policing issues, along with the Minister of MACA. We will be doing that shortly after session. I think we need to propose a number of potential solutions and discuss how they may work. One of the things we know is that Justice has piloted a program called Can Talk, which involves translation of something like 150 languages for court services and other justice programming. It is something we have offered to the RCMP and I will follow up with those discussions. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Supplementary, Mr. Lafferty.

Mr. Speaker, in light of the recognition of the Tlicho language as one of the largest aboriginal communities and we also speak our language, I am glad the Minister recognizes that. We are faced with a dilemma in the community where there is a lack of communication between the departments. a lack of understanding. Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister, could the Minister commit to hiring a full-time Tlicho speaking, whether it be receptionist, clerk or dispatch, at Behchoko detachment for after hour services. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Mr. Bell.

Mr. Speaker, I think it's best that we sit down with the community and talk about some options. Obviously the concern is after hours and we need to come up with some sort of 24-hour mechanism in order to do it in a cost-effective manner. We have looked at solutions like this translation service through the telephone. I am not sure that that would be adequate. It's possible we can work with other departments and talk about the need maybe at the health centre. Potentially there is translation there that we could borrow. Mr. Speaker, I will say that this is a problem. We can't go by the number of asks, because I have a feeling that many people would not come forward with concerns when they know the service isn't available. So I think the first step is to go to the community and talk about how we might provide a service like this. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Supplementary, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when the opportunity arises in a partnership, we are always happy to join forces with departments or the Ministers. On this particular issue, the community would like to see some results, whether it be this year or next year, but the sooner the better. So I would like to ask the Minister if he's willing to make a commitment in this House, whether this will be part of the business plan cycle for 2007 to implement for next year. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Mr. Bell.

Mr. Speaker, I can't make that commitment on behalf of the RCMP. Obviously we don't provide them direct operational advice. We can't indicate to them where they have to put their resources, but I will raise this with the RCMP. I will come to the community and I will give the commitment to the Member in this House that we will work to find a solution. I know this is a need in the community and I do appreciate the region's support in this regard. So we will work with the region to try to address this problem. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Supplementary, Mr. Lafferty. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can't guarantee the accuracy, but my information that we have through our discussions with a joint venture group has indicated that the costs, because of the winter road situation to the mines, will run around $100 million. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday in Yellowknife, it was plus five degrees. I checked the weather before I came downstairs, it was plus three degrees in Yellowknife and it was plus nine in Hay River. So I am getting at the fact that the climate is changing. Does the Minister of Transportation have any estimates on what it would cost to turn the Ingraham Trail into a year-round road, not of paving or chipseal quality, but simply a year-round access road to the diamond mine corridor? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't have a firm number on what it would cost to build an all-weather road. We have been working with a joint venture company, stakeholders that utilize this winter road and had looked at a number of options including an all-weather road. I think there were 18 different scenarios that we were looking at as options. They narrowed it down to two or three. We haven't scoped it all out. An engineering firm has been hired to do some of the early assessments. We certainly will work with them and support them, but I don't have a firm number at this point. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.