Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that kind of working relationship is critical at frontline levels and at every level. Once again, I'm aware of the concerns that the Member is talking about and I will, as well, commit to make sure that that's part of our discussion. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, during our pre-budget consultations there was a suggestion that the shelters be funded directly by Health and Social Services, because some of the money wasn't always filtering through to the shelters. So I would like to ask the Minister if he and his department will consider an option like this? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As a system, the Government of the Northwest Territories has made a significant investment in setting up local authorities with representatives from the communities to administer almost 80 percent of the government's or our Health and Social Service budget. Once again, I appreciate the Member's concern. While it's an option we'll consider, our primary concern is still to try to work with the regions and the communities to ensure that these very valuable resources are supported the best way possible. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Oral questions. The honourable Member from Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier this year I talked about the need for citizen judges here in the Northwest Territories. In Yellowknife there's an annual tradition; on July 1st we have new Canadians sworn in, but through further investigation I found out that there are only 19 citizenship judges across Canada and recently I found out that we won't be having our citizenship ceremony here on July 1st, which has become quite a tradition here in Yellowknife. I'd like to know what the Minister is doing to investigate this problem about us not having swearing in ceremonies July 1st. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have recently written the federal Minister to encourage him to appoint more citizenship court judges and particularly here in the Northwest Territories. I have asked that be done as soon as possible. I have not yet been able to confirm that we will not have a ceremony in the Territories this summer, but my office, when informed by the Member that this was likely, we started to follow up on that and we will pressure Citizenship and Immigration Canada to try and find a way to have citizenship court here this summer. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Time for question period has expired. However, I will allow the Member to proceed with his supplementary question. Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Recognizing the difficulty of getting a citizenship judge here in the Northwest Territories, I approached the concept of getting our honourable Commissioner to become one of the citizenship ceremony officials. I approached honourable Whitford and he liked the idea. I brought his name forward to the department and I see Minister Dent has written a letter in support to our federal Minister, Monte Solberg. Again, recognizing the problem that I've got and the information from the MP's office, which is they will not be holding a citizenship ceremony, could I get the Minister to say today that he will agree to follow up in some type of a speedy manner? Will they look at processing the Honourable Whitford's accreditation? Would they look at that possibility of maybe making him a citizenship judge in the Northwest Territories as soon as possible? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is right that I have written to the Minister's office. We have had no response to that letter. So I can't promise that we will get a response even if we follow up again. I will ensure that we are in contact with Minister Solberg's office to let him know that it is important that we see access to citizenship courts here in the Northwest Territories and that we would like to see that take place very quickly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Time for question period has expired. The honourable Member from Great Slave, Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to return to item 7. Thank you.

The Member is seeking unanimous consent to return to item 7 on the Order Paper, oral questions. Are there any nays? There are no nays. Return to item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member from Great Slave, Mr. Braden.

Mr. Speaker, thank you, and thank you, colleagues. I would like to continue to take up the issue regarding secondary diamond industry with the Minister, Mr. Bell. In our exchange a little earlier today he suggested that maybe I was a bit behind in my homework and my communication with the principals involved in this, and I was no where up to speed on this as he was. Mr. Speaker, I would like to be able to refer the Assembly to an appointment that I had last week, I believe it was last Thursday. I spent an hour and a half with the owners and managers of Arslanian and Polar Ice Works. Mr. Speaker, I spent an hour earlier this week with a senior representative of Aber Resources to hear about things from the miners' point of view. So I am not at all going to stand here and take a cheap shot from the Minister about my not being up to speed on what's going on out there. Points that I have raised are valid and certainly come from experienced voices. Mr. Speaker, I'm going to get to my question. If the Minister wants to talk about communications, perhaps he could tell the Assembly why he decided in secret last fall to collapse the diamond projects division and withdraw from the National Diamond Strategy, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. The honourable Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'll send a copy of the letter to the Member that I sent to the Governance and Economic Development committee about that reorganization. Mr. Speaker, my concern is the suggestion that we've abandoned the National Diamond Strategy and a characterization that this was something that was supported by the secondary industry. In my consultations with all of the factory operators, they suggested to me that we needed to move on, move past this and refocus our efforts. In fact, when the issue came up in the House the last time around, I met with them again to ask if potentially they had changed their minds, because there seemed to be an advocacy for this National Diamond Strategy. They said no. We haven't met with the Members asking the questions about the NDS. We still don't support it. We are happy you did that. They continue to suggest to me that they applaud the move to move away from the National Diamond Strategy, which they didn't find very useful. So if there is some miscommunication here, if the Member is hearing something different, maybe he would like to indicate which of the factories is in support of the National Diamond Strategy and thinks it was a mistake. The mines that I am talking to are telling me different. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Mr. Speaker, when was the last time the Minister or the department briefed committee on this whole area of the National Diamond Strategy? When was the last time the Minister took the time to speak to individual MLAs with constituencies directly concerned with this? It's one of the expectations that we have in our consensus system. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. There are two questions there. Mr. Bell, you can answer one or both.

Mr. Speaker, again, I will provide that letter to GED. The last few days, I have talked to the chair of Governance and Economic Development committee about pulling together a focus group that would do some gap analysis of a number of sectors. We talked to specifically about the mining sector, the need to make sure we understand where all of the opportunities are. I am more than prepared to sit down with any of the constituents that the Member has that potentially have been displaced at the Canada Dene factory failing. I can sit down and meet with them, as well with the Minister of Education who has the North Slave career office here. I believe most of them, Mr. Speaker, have chosen to go back to Israel. Many of them were on work permits, but if there are Canadians here who were displaced, need our help, need our resources, that is our first priority. I am absolutely prepared to do that. If there are other issues that his constituents have, other concerns related to the industry, I am more than happy to meet with them. The Member need only ask. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.