Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As far as I know, the employees did get locked out prior to their strike deadline that was issued to the employer. Can the Minister's department do more than just monitor at this point in time? Of course, time is of the essence in this whole issue. We have people who want to come home and want to get treatment here in the NWT by people that they know and have received treatment from in the past, I am sure. What can the department offer besides just monitoring? Can we provide some mentoring, perhaps, Mr. Speaker; anything besides just sitting back and monitoring the situation? I don't think that would suffice for clients and families of Nats'ejee K'eh. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I have tried to state earlier, the situation we find ourselves in is a difficult one. Our goal is to ensure those that were receiving services continue to receive those services and people who request services around the addiction area can get support. We are looking at that. We will continue to help them out. As for the facility in the Northwest Territories, we are going to work with them to the extent we can, encouraging them to get back to the table. Ultimately, we have a number of things that have to be looked at. The fact is that there is an existing contract in place for delivery of that service. As well, there are other unions involved. So those are things that do come into play when we review this any further. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Final supplementary, Mr. Villeneuve.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Let me ask the Minister if the added cost that the GNWT or the Department of Health is incurring because we have to send these clients down south, is that cost over and above what we are providing in terms of what contracts are in place to the treatment centre today? If they are, why doesn't the government just provide that additional funding to the centre so they can meet the terms and conditions that maybe some of the employees are demanding? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have to look at the existing cost of providing that level of service in the Northwest Territories with the existing contract in place. Ultimately, if the department is to continue this, we would have to look at other areas where we can come up with our savings or with additional money to continue this. That will have an effect on how we proceed with this as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is an area that is extremely important to our department. As the Member pointed out in his statement, we have brought in a directive requiring schools to use the aboriginal language and culture funding for that purpose. We know that some schools are having trouble finding enough qualified instructors, so we have expanded the program. The program design work has been done so that the curriculum now goes for two full years. I would allow it to be a certificate program. It could be brought in. So we are ready to move to that. But, Mr. Speaker, at this point, the funds have not been identified to bring the program in as a full-time program. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in light of the ministerial directive clarifying the use of funding provided to deliver aboriginal and language programming in our schools as Minister Dent had identified, Mr. Speaker, can the Minister tell this Assembly how any schools in the NWT can be expected to employ a qualified ALCIP instructor when it takes them five years or more without funding or support to achieve this goal? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We think it would be ideal if all of the people who were teaching language and culture in the schools had the ALCIP instructor course. That is not a requirement. We understand and recognize that elders in our communities are very able to transmit the knowledge of language and culture to students, so we believe that it is possible for schools to provide this training now. But I agree with the Member, that it would be ideal if we could expand the programming. That is the goal. I talked to the college. We are looking to identify funds and would hope to be able to bring this program forward as a two-year certificate program in the near future.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Just focussing on the expansion of the department's vision and focus, would the Minister consider instructing the Aurora College to deliver a full-time ALCIP program in Behchoko as well as all communities in the North so that these communities can offer aboriginal language programming as set out by our own directive? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The intention, now that we have the curriculum and as soon as we can find the money or identify the funding to offer this program, is to offer the program in various locations on a rotating basis. So it isn't going to be offered every year in every community. We don't think that there would be enough uptake to be able to do that. We want to make sure we have the critical mass of students and instructors. We are only planning to offer it in one community for two years and then move it around the North in that way to make sure that everybody has access to it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Final supplementary, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to see action results focussing on the

expansion from the department's perspective. Can the Minister commit in this House that this can be implemented in the fall time of 2007? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can't make a commitment on next year's budget until we have that budget in the House. I hope that we are going to be able to implement the program next year. We will do all that we can to ensure that we can see it happen. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Thebacha, Mr. Miltenberger.