Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. To the motion. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Villeneuve.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise, too, in support of this motion for treatment of addictions in the NWT. I know there are many Members in this House who have been affected by addictions. We all know someone, either family, a relative or an acquaintance, that has been affected by addictions of some sort. I think everybody realizes what we are dealing with here. I know that the problem is not getting any better. It is getting worse. It is starting to really snowball. I want this government to realize that, before it actually gets too big for this government to handle, we have to really address the issue proactively, and that being by establishing treatment centres where people can readily access and they don't have to apply for government funding or any programs, fill out applications to be sent south and all the other work that goes into sending somebody south for addictions treatment.

Therefore, I am fully supportive of a motion of this nature for the very fact that it is only going to make things better. It is definitely not going to be any worse for wear for the government or for northerners in general. I want to see some fruition to the motion of this nature come about within the next year or so. I am sure it is doable. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. To the motion. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Braden.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I, too, stand to speak in favour of the motion. There are some aspects of it, though, that I would like to discuss briefly, Mr. Speaker. It concerns the suggestions or the demands that are outlined here for treatment centres that we have had very mixed success with in the Northwest Territories. For a number of reasons, various buildings and kinds of infrastructure that have been established have not been able to survive the tests and rigors of time, governance, funding and politics. I do not want to see this kind of thing repeated, Mr. Speaker.

A prime example of a very embarrassing failure for a lot of people and everyone concerned was the Sombe Ke facility just outside of Yellowknife, Mr. Speaker, which continued to sit empty but cost our government hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in mortgage and maintenance costs while we try to figure out what to do with it.

The literal demand within the motion, Mr. Speaker, from my point of view, is one that I would like to enlarge and expand to suggest that we not only need centres which can be recognized as places for people to go that can be nurtured into centres of excellence, care, attention and learning, but that these will be the centres by which

programs, services, support and outreach will be and can be delivered to our communities.

This is very much where the suggestions that are made in the Chalmers Report are what, I believe, will truly deliver the kinds of things that people who suffer from addictions need. It is not a bricks and mortar building that you can potentially walk into, sign yourself into for a few days or a few weeks and walk out of and everything is going to be okay. Perhaps those will be and certainly can be part of a continuum of care. But, Mr. Speaker, I really believe that the foundations for success must be far advanced of whether or not we have a building for somebody to walk into or a building for somebody to work out of. It needs to start in our schools, communities, our leadership and our government's levels to convince people that they can do something other than give into the power of an addiction that, if and when that happens, there is a way for them to get off that path and then a way to support them over what may be a lifetime of trying to deal with an addiction.

Mr. Speaker, where the motion talks about centres, I would like to be able to say that this can be looked at in a much broader area. We have, I think, the Minister has pointed out, since the last Chalmers Report on this, we have something like 77 wellness workers and counsellors employed around the territory. Achieving results from this is not done overnight. Where this workforce is in place, do we know what they have been able to do? Have we set the kind of bars, standards and thresholds by which to measure change and impact? Can we learn more about this and design our programs in a better way?

My colleague Mrs. Groenewegen, Mr. Speaker, has very eloquently and forcibly argued for redirecting the money that we now put into southern placements for return of these people to the North. I am 100 percent in favour of this, Mr. Speaker. I have toured some of the facilities in which our residents are housed, institutionalized at least in some places in Alberta. I know they are in other places in Canada. I would dearly love to have them back here on our own soil.

Mr. Speaker, this does not mean that what we need to do is go out and build more places and more institutions by which we simply transfer them. How can we enable them to go back at least into their own regions if not their own communities? We can't do that without the people, the programs, the sustainability, and the commitment by our government to enable this to happen.

Earlier today, I spoke about how far behind we are with non-government organizations and their ability to keep pace with pay and benefits that are offered through our own government, Mr. Speaker, and our own health and social services authorities. This is the kind of thing that will enable us to do the kind of things that are expected of us: to manage and treat addictions and help people turn that corner.

While I speak in favour of this motion, it is in the spirit that it is not taken so literally to say, well, let's just build a few more buildings and put signs on them that say addictions treatment and it will then be able to say, gosh, look at the wonderful job we've done. The job is going to be much more complex. It will take a lot more attention and more innovation than merely creating some more centres for this. It will take a much more progressive and inclusive attitude of different options.

I will close, Mr. Speaker, by asking again, or saying again, that if we can get ways by which we can measure our success, change and performance that are easily understood and then translated into actions, that will help us, as well, to grapple with this huge problem in our society. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. To the motion. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I, too, am going to support the motion that is in front of us today. I guess this time I hope somebody is paying attention to the motion. Obviously, the motion that was passed by this House back in October 2004 fell on deaf ears, as I mentioned. This one is just reiterating our belief that something else has to be done. I have heard a number of my colleagues talk about the Chalmers Report and the fact of staying the course, but, Mr. Speaker, I would suggest that if we stay the course that we are on, we will end up in the ditch. I believe that. I think our residents are demanding that we take action, that we do something.

I spoke today in my Member's statement and in my questions about the possibility of reprofiling some of our existing facilities perhaps to better utilize them so that we can tackle addiction problems. I know, having grown up here in Yellowknife, we had the Northern Addictions Services here until 1999. I was quite a bit younger at the time. I think the circumstances surrounding the closure of the Northern Addictions Services centred around not a lack of clients for the service, but a lack of money and a lack of management or whatever that happened there. There are other reasons aside from clientele that that facility shut down. That is what I am hearing from people. We need to have something like Northern Addictions Services reopened here in Yellowknife. We have to do more with what we have, Mr. Speaker.

I think this motion speaks to that somewhat. The Minister hopefully is paying attention, but it doesn't look like it. Members of this House take motions that we present to the government quite seriously. We don't like to just have lip service. The government goes off and contracts out reports that come back. We want a chance to debate findings of that report. We want a chance to stand up for our constituents, for the people who put us here, who we represent and tell them that we want residential treatment programs in some of our communities.

Again, Mr. Speaker, maybe the Minister can read Hansard to hear or read what I have said. Again, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do support the motion. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. To the motion. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I also would like to speak in favour of the motion. I think that we have pressing addiction problems in the Northwest Territories. All of our social indicators would bear that out. I think that the problem is growing. I think it requires our immediate attention. It is not going to go away by itself. It is only going to get worse. We have an obligation to those people who need our help. It is a frustrating and sometimes discouraging matter, but we cannot throw our hands up. We have to come up with creative new ideas and energy to direct toward this problem.

I don't like the title of the Chalmers Report, Stay the Course. It seems like we spent $90,000 on a report to tell us what a good job we were doing and, in fact, our statistics would indicate otherwise. I think we need to come up with some new ways. I think that community support and aftercare is a wonderful thing, but also, at certain times in people's lives, when they have the strength to do so, sometimes people need to take time out and focus and deal with issues that have been unresolved and are, quite often, the very things that lead them to have problems with addiction. So I do hope that we can reprofile facilities and dollars.

I am not suggesting that we, on this side of the House, should stand up and make irresponsible demands knowing full well that the government does not have the financial resources to meet those. I just think we need to take what we do have and use it in a way that does bring concrete results.

I really liked what the department did with respect to the smoking campaign, how we profiled people that we know and recognize in our communities to public service announcements and advertisements in the print media which held them up as role models because they quit smoking. I think we need to tell a lot more stories about people who have overcome addictions and are living healthy lives today. We need to applaud them and use them as an example of what can be achieved when people get the kind of help that they truly need.

Mr. Speaker, with that, I will be supporting this motion. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. To the motion. The honourable Member for Monfwi, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this motion that is in front of us has been highlighted and a lot of discussion took place over it during our pre-budget consultation in communities. Not only that, Mr. Speaker, when I toured the Tlicho communities the first part of February, this was a huge issue in the communities. They want to see a treatment centre in the North. They are asking why the Yellowknife treatment centre closed down and the need to have one reopened or even one in the community, the region. Just highlighting that and just increasing addictions, as Mrs. Groenewegen mentioned, it is increasing in the North, especially in the isolated communities. It clearly shows that there is a need for a treatment centre here in the North and in the communities to serve in the communities.

We see a lot of funding going south to send people over the years, even from the communities to Palm Acres or Weatherby or wherever it may be for treatment services. They come back. Really there is no follow-up program afterwards in the communities. This will provide more services in the North all through the communities. That should be taken into consideration that we need to do more in the communities.

That has been clearly identified when we tour the communities. Even having a reopening of these residential treatment centres in Yellowknife and Inuvik that is both in the North and also working along with the communities because even in the regions, we are talking on the Tlicho region, the Monfwi riding, where they are requesting a treatment centre because there is none in the Yellowknife area which is closest to the Tlicho communities. If there is one opening up in Yellowknife, then they can work with the centre here to deliver on-the-land programs or even aftercare programs that are badly needed in the communities, Mr. Speaker. Just a need to invest here in the North is highly critical, especially taking into consideration the home-grown communities that we face. We represent them. I would just like to highlight that.

I do support this motion with a thought in mind that there is a lot of work to be done on this as well where they need to work with the communities. We represent the isolated communities. Isolated communities have a huge impact, especially in the area of Mr. Pokiak's riding and my riding where there is no access road, all-weather road, only a winter road at times. There are more problems in those communities. I think we need to clearly identify those communities and the community members that are from those areas and to deliver, let's say, treatment centres and then the aftercare program is essential in the communities. If we can work with agencies in the communities, organizations in the communities because even though we have a treatment centre in Yellowknife or Inuvik, that's just a one-stop area where there needs to be an aftercare program, also. It's really important that we need to follow up on that, and I'm looking forward to a treatment centre being established either in Yellowknife or even I would like to see in a region. So I'm just thinking ahead where we have to have long-term plans as well where we, as a new Tlicho Government, are very interested in pursuing in that area. So this is one step in the right direction and there will be more initiatives to take place. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. To the motion. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Pokiak.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, am going to support the motion put forward mainly because Tuk is so close to Inuvik and we do have an ice road that goes back and forth. It's 180 kilometres and it's very close, and also the airlines that travel. A lot of people might think that Sachs Harbour and Holman and Paulatuk are a long ways from reaching the drugs, but they do get drugs that fly in, also. So in my travels, when I went to my riding in Nunakput early in January, you know, people were telling me, even in Sachs, the young people are into the drugs. Where do they get it from? It's the dealers that come from the South.

I know this, too, from the fact because in Tuktoyaktuk the RCMP know who the drug dealers are, but they can't do anything with them unless they are actually caught doing the selling of it and we've got to stop that now. Our young people are important to us. They're the ones who are going to be sitting here down the road as we go on, and I hope that we can respect their wishes that they live in a safe lifestyle.

Just in closing, Mr. Speaker, like I say, I'm in support of the motion. The Minister indicated that he has a heart. He's got to listen to what this side is saying. Open up or reopen those facilities in Inuvik and Yellowknife. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. To the motion. The honourable Member from Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm pleased to speak to this motion and I want to state that my support for this motion is very conditional and I'd like to explain why. I think we should be aware that there are lots of experts and frontline workers out there who do not always like it when the only message coming out of this Assembly is that we need to have a treatment centre, and I'm not saying that a treatment centre is not important, but we have to put this into perspective because it can't be about just to symbolize that we need to do something or we need to build a building or something like that. So I support this idea for a treatment centre if it's about using facilities that are there, or the physical building that we could make better use of. But, as I stated in my Member's statement, I'd like to just state that whatever we do with the residential treatment program we have to do that with very clear understanding that that is just a small cause in a whole wheel of continuum of treatment services and care and aftercare program that we must have.

I'd like to see this government, it has to move along with strengthening and supporting a lot of programs that are already there. Mr. Speaker, I've already stated that Hay River has Nats'ejee K'eh Treatment Centre; we have the Salvation Army in Yellowknife, which is going to be expanded I believe; a women's centre address a lot of concerns with women with addiction and with lots of other issues; Tree of Peace has programs; Crack Busters has a great program and it's run by very committed people and there's lots of committed clients that spend a lot of their days and nights and they're committed to the program to address their addiction to Crack Busters. AA and Al-Anon are very strong in this community. At all hours of the day and night, those programs are available and that's totally volunteer based. For years the frontline workers in our community asked for the detox centre of the Stanton hospital to be moved out of there and to be set separately, and I don't know if that is what some of the Member's here are alluding to and I think we need to have a detox centre for sure, but I just need to state that residential treatment program is just one aspect of it and it can't be the most dominant aspect either because sometimes people need to go away to another place and sometimes people want to go away out of the community and there's a lot of specialized people that are necessary to house and run these residential treatment programs. So I want to speak in favour of the motion, conditional to these issues that must be made aware.

Mr. Speaker, what we have to remember, and I said this in my Member's statement and anybody who is familiar with addiction issues knows that the people with addiction problems have to learn to live with that addiction for all of their life, in all aspects of their life, and I want to state that I come from a family with a lot of addiction growing up. It's not just a local problem in Yellowknife; it's a problem in different parts of the world where I grew up and I am surrounded in my personal life by people who have faced this head on and I know lots of strong survivors of addiction issues and they will all tell you that it's a challenge and struggle every day, and going to a treatment centre and getting dry for two weeks or six weeks or eight weeks is just one aspect of that. We need to support them in how they'll deal with jobs, socializing, just getting out there and just living with all of the ups and downs of life that we all need to deal with every single day.

So as I stated earlier, Mr. Speaker, I would like to really encourage this government to use the technology available to coalesce, and refine, and strengthen what we have there and let the people know what we have. For all that we do, and the millions of dollars that we spend, and all the work that the NGOs and frontline workers do, people from all across the territory should be able to call and say I want to know what crack is about, what is this crystal meth about, there's a drug dealer in my town and they should be able to call the RCMP without the fear of repercussion, for example. There should be a 1-800 line. I think the helpline experiment has worked really well. It has served especially those families with young kids who have all sorts of issues every day they need to ask about. I think we should have something like that for the drug problem. We have these mental health and wellness workers in every community. Do people know? They should be able to go to that line and ask who do I talk to in my community about drug issues and where should I go to get treatment. What is the government doing? Even in my position as an MLA, it is not always clear who in the government is working on this area.

So I just want to stress again that it is a good thing for us to pass a motion to say treatment centre, treatment centre, treatment centre, and what are we doing with this building and that building and that is an important thing. But I think we should be very mindful of the fact that this is not a simple problem, obviously, and it's not a problem that can be addressed by one or two things. I do believe that there's a lot being done by the government, and there's a lot being done by NGOs and there are lots being done by just regular citizens who've had enough. You know, the COPS Program is one thing. There's just a lot being done and I think we could just do better, and government could take the leadership role in coalescing that, packaging that, and letting everybody know what's going on, and I look forward to working with the Minister and government in that regard. Thank you, Ms. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Ms. Lee. To the motion. The honourable Member from the Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the motion before us is very sensitive to the people in the communities. It's very sensitive, emotional, close to home for some of them and some of them may be saying it's about time that, again, we, as Members, push forward a motion like this to give some direction to the Department of Health and Social Services and the government. I did have some feedback from the last motion that we supported on this side and people said yes, it's about time and we got some positive feedback and comments to our last motion, and they were hoping that they would see some shift in the direction of how we take care of our people who are suffering from cocaine, heroin or alcohol or any type of forms of addictions that they may have and that there may be some real results coming out from that motion. However, that still needs to be seen. So this second motion, it looks at the issue of some legal issues in terms of individual rights versus the community rights and the certain laws that now children tell us, well, you can't tell us what to do and some people in the communities say, well, you can't tell us what to do, and it gets into some sticky issues in terms of the legalities of the abuse of alcohol or any other forms of addiction.

Mr. Speaker, it also gets into the issue of the economics. My understanding that the territorial government is going to pull in millions of dollars on revenue on the sales of spirits, liquor and other alcohol. So we talk about the economics of how do we fund a treatment centre or existing building or program. So we're getting to that type of an issue of the economics and per cost per client in the centre. So all these type of issues that we get into the economics and do we look at it from a business point of view. Mr. Speaker, the political will is on this side to look at treatment centres or a new shift in the direction of staying the course by Dr. Chalmers in terms of her recommendations and her findings in the Northwest Territories and how do we deal with the addiction issue and other issues that tag along with it. So there is some political shift on this direction to move into new directions and I'm not too sure how this motion will be taken by the ministry and the department and the government.

Mr. Speaker, we talked about the social impacts and again it's something that's close, sometimes its painful, sometimes it's frustrating. We know the costs as we're going through our budget process; we know the costs of not taking care of issues such as the addiction to crack, alcohol, gambling or any other kind of addiction that we have in our communities. We know the social costs and we keep bringing it up and it's no wonder on this government, under the Social Programs committee, has the highest percentage of the whole territorial budget. It's just phenomenal now the amount of money we put to social issues. I mean, for 42,000 people we have a budget of $1 billion. Surely we could do some good with this, but it seems like we're just putting on solutions that don't seem to be getting us anywhere. So I really want to remind the Minister that we need to make some changes and I look forward to any type of suggestions.

Mr. Speaker, the 2002 alcohol and drug survey reported that 78 percent of people 15 years and older in the Northwest Territories have experimented with alcohol. That's 2002. I'd really like to see the survey report on 2006 in terms of what age limit, what's the percentage of young people who are experimenting with alcohol. If you talk to any person who worked in the addiction field of the addiction use of alcohol or crack cocaine, they will tell you how easy it is for the young person who is not fully developed as a mature person, how easy they can get hooked on the types of drugs that are flowing now into our communities and how easy it's accessible to those young people. They're very innovative in terms of getting alcohol or drugs. That's the society and culture we're going to be faced with in the next couple years.

So I wanted to say that it said in the 2002 survey that Yellowknife has a greater density of alcohol use in the communities, our large centre here. So this is why I support that we continue to work on such programs in large centres as Yellowknife, opening up the existing facility that's sitting out here at Detah, at the facility here, open up some facilities in Yellowknife, but also looking at that Inuvik one as a good possibility of opening up there for people in the Delta. You know, it's people first, Mr. Speaker, and also in Nats'ejee K'eh in Hay River, continue supporting those. We need to make those centres valuable and worthwhile and change some of the programming that hasn't been working. Maybe change some of the ways that we do programming. It's astonishing that in 2002 there's a survey report that 56.5 percent of people responded that in the small communities that they drink more than five drinks when they sit down. They go on binges, they go crazy. Then we get into other issues of children and family.

So, Mr. Speaker, these studies, these reports have really shown that we do need these programs in these larger centres. We need some home-based programs in these smaller communities. Even in the report of Mrs. Chalmers, she reported on page 14 of the small communities that more importantly the aboriginal input, it says here, Mr. Speaker, areas for developing and strengthening, aboriginal input, monitoring and involving in every step. Approximately one-half of the Northwest Territories residents are of aboriginal ancestry. Many of the most challenging problems are related to providing service in aboriginal communities, collaborate and get involvement of the aboriginal communities in designing the building and monitoring ongoing program development is of critical importance to this motion here.

So, Mr. Speaker, in closing, I want to say that I hope that this motion creates some innovation solutions at the department level, at the Minister's level, in terms of looking at ways that we could promote and have a legacy in the Northwest Territories of having healthy people in our communities. Create that legacy because we sure aren't doing it right now.

Mr. Speaker, I saw on one TV program in the United States where high school students where they had high school programming curriculum that was involving alcohol and drug issues. Actually that program that was shown a couple years ago where this school was doing a sobriety high. The only way they got into or stayed in that program was that they maintained their sobriety. Students were graduating from Grade 12 were in sobriety. They used it and they went to their classes. If they were having a hard time, they would go into a special program where they would have their 12-step meetings. Families would be involved in creating their life in a healthy manner. Why can't we do that in the Northwest Territories? We leave a lot of issues to the teachers and sometimes these young teachers they're not quick to handle some of these issues. We'll leave it to social services; we'll leave it to the mental health; we'll leave it to the RCMP; we'll leave it to the nursing station, or we'll leave it to the parents. You know, we cut up the issue so much that students say sit down, now get away, after the third one I'll get away because these workers are so overworked. They're dedicated, I know they work hard, I know there are good people working in communities, but it doesn't seem that we're working together. Let's create a department-wide initiative. Why don't you do a pilot project called sobriety high? These kids are 15 now. I understand there's some of them 12 and 13 years old drinking in our communities. Families, it's part of their culture.

So, Mr. Speaker, I want to look at that in saying that families are the key to helping with this issue right across the board. We should have something within government that supports families, employment and families who are going out. If there is an issue of alcohol, cocaine, drugs or whatever, that they have some priority in terms of helping them. Put it under one roof, a one-stop shop.

So, Mr. Speaker, in closing, I will support this motion. Thank you very much.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. To the motion. The honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, will be supporting this motion. Growing up in Inuvik in the early '70s, we saw a lot of alcohol abuse going on. Everybody here probably has seen it at some point in their lives. Now we see some of these people who were abusing alcohol decide to seek treatment and they have done well for themselves, really well. I said before, I have the utmost respect for them.

On the other hand, we see other people who didn't know when to quit and most of them are no longer with us. That's sad. We send people to Poundmaker's or to the one in Hay River, and part of their teaching there is on the spirituality side of it, which might be good to them but it's not good and doesn't apply to the people in the Beaufort-Delta, just like ours wouldn't apply to them.

That's why you speak to a lot of experienced frontline workers up in the Beaufort-Delta and they know we need a treatment centre there in the Beaufort-Delta with a strong, strong family program, an on-the-land component of it. Sometimes we look across the floor here and you think we are asking you for buildings, just put up buildings. We are not asking you for buildings. We are asking you to build options for these people who want to get some help.

---Applause

One of these things is these people come back from these treatment centres, as Mr. Lafferty spoke to, and there is no follow-up. You bring them back into Inuvik or one of the Beaufort-Delta communities, they come back from Poundmaker's, you fly them down every so often for follow-up, I don't think so. If they have a residential treatment centre where if they feel like they may be slipping and they need to go and get a little extra push in the right direction, they have a place to go. That alone would make a difference and I know there are a lot of people up there who believe strongly in this, and they have said so publicly.

The government has programs on prevention and most of us in here will agree that a lot of it is personal choice and prevention is a big part of it. The government has some good programs on prevention. I know prevention is a high priority to them, but sometimes prevention doesn't always work.

Again, Mr. Speaker, if these people decide that they need to get some help, then the option has to be there for them to go and seek help close to their region instead of having to send them somewhere where there are strangers there, you send them down to the city, they go back into the small community after being in the city and they may have learned some new stuff.

So that's why we all, on this side, push for regional treatment centres and don't look as us asking you for money to build buildings. As I said before, some of these people want help, they need help and they want it closer to home, more in tune with their beliefs and their spirituality. So I am supporting this motion. I think it's a good one and hopefully, Mr. Speaker, next year we won't be coming back with the same motion.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. To the motion. The honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, seeing that this is a critical area for us as Members of the Assembly and government to deal with, when you look at our budgets and what we try to do and try to put in place, it is critical. We have been listening to Members regarding the motion that is out there. Ultimately, Mr. Speaker, it will come down to a partnership, in a sense. As individuals, we all have to make the right decisions. As a government, we have to give them the tools, as Members have been saying. Seeing that this motion is directing us in a certain way here regarding the treatment facilities, as a Cabinet we will be abstaining from the motion. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. To the motion. The Chair will allow the Member who moved the motion some closing remarks before we go to vote. Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Very quickly, we had 10 great statements from this side of the House and I personally applaud every one of them because they were all decent, as ever.

---Laughter

Now this is the eleventh. Mr. Speaker, let me tell you a story. I had a friend who was addicted to drugs. He decided he thought he could fly and he jumped off a bridge. It's a sad story. Addiction to drugs was the tragedy.

I had another friend, as I was growing up, who thought he could swim. I never saw him swim a day in his life. The day he decided to swim was it.

Mr. Speaker, I can tell you another story again about a friend who drank a lot when he was a youth. He decided he should drive with a bunch of people in the truck. I can tell you one of the people that was with him in the truck, and it wasn't me, is now blowing through a tube, Mr. Speaker, and can't walk on their own.

Mr. Speaker, I can tell you another story by saying some brothers were drinking and had an argument and shot their sister. The sister isn't around.

Mr. Speaker, how many times do we have to raise this flag in saying we need attention to this matter? This is a serious matter and I appreciate the Minister of Finance saying they are listening very carefully. That is very touching.

It troubles me because I remember a lot of these stories when I was a kid growing up in Fort Simpson and I remember them here in Yellowknife when I came to school to live at Akaitcho Hall. I am sure all Members on this side of the House can tell you stories. Actually, it's really bothering me, now that I am thinking about it.

The fact is, Mr. Speaker, status quo has become the norm and I think we need to end the cycle. It's a troubling issue when I think of those people right now, and there were more. The crisis is out there. I don't need to finish this. The crisis is out there. The fact is we are asking this side of the House, can we do something. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The Chair will call a vote to the motion. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried.

---Carried

---Applause

Motions. First reading of bills. Second reading of bills. Consideration in Committee of the Whole of bills and other matters: Bill 18, Committee Reports 5, 6 and 7, and by the authority given the Speaker by Motion 9-15(4), Committee of the Whole may sit beyond the hour of adjournment until it's ready to report, with Mrs. Groenewegen in the chair.