Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Members' statements. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this month and last month, many parents down the Mackenzie Valley and the whole Northwest Territories and all the students in the schools had something to celebrate. A lot of these parents put their children through high school; blood, sweat and tears of these young students. I know; I put a couple through myself, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, these parents when they first put their little ones into kindergarten, you know how time flies. The number of hours, the number of times you talk to your children, get them to school, get dressed, comb your hair, you know? Kiss the boo-boos when they get hurt in school. This bunch, of all the parents that are going to be celebrating in their heart, you know, they wish the best for their children. Some of these students have dropped out, Grade 10, Grade 9, 11, and, lo and behold, some of these students go back into school to get their Grade 12. There were a couple in our region last year that graduated. I understand this year also down in the Sahtu there's a few students going back to school. There might be some down in your own communities.

Mr. Speaker, I'm proud to say, along with the Minister and Premier who announced today, there is a record number of students who have graduated. Our students are going through the system. They are making it. In the Sahtu, you know, in high school, 33 students this year are going to be graduating from high school.

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In Deline there's 15 students, for example. Deline has always been a strong community in terms of getting their kids through the high school system. In Tulita there's only nine this year. So those numbers are improving. We can say a lot of things about our education system, but the parents, they know the value of education, they know what it takes and these communities also. So we've got to really tip our hats off to these students that are going to school in this time and age. It's not like we used to go a long time ago. So in all, in the post-secondary education system and through all different funding from the Sahtu, total of students in our whole region, 61 students at post-secondary school or certificate management, that's a huge number. So we know we've got a bright future. So I wanted to say thank you to all the parents, all the teachers, all the hard work they have done to get these students. These students are number one in my heart and number one in the Territories. You know, they've got a good future for them. So thank you, Mr. Speaker. Congratulations.

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Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Members' statements. The honourable Member from Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I had an opportunity to travel back to my riding this weekend and I would like to congratulate the 20 graduates from the Chief Julius School in Fort McPherson.

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I would like to encourage each and every one to continue on with their education and that path and also take on the concept of lifetime learning. I think it's important that they all take advantage of the many opportunities we have in the Northwest Territories and especially what we have to offer.

Mr. Speaker, on Saturday, I travelled to Aklavik to see firsthand the effects of the flood from last week. I had a chance to talk to my constituents and also work with the different agencies on exactly what it's going to take to resolve this problem. Mr. Speaker, there is a lot of flood damage to individuals' homes and also the private property and also the infrastructure in the community. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the mayor, his council, the many volunteers and the RCMP for their long hours that they've put in over the last week just to ensure that people were able to be evacuated safely and also be able to get them back home.

Also, Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the community of Inuvik for the hospitality that they gave to the residents of Aklavik when they hosted them last week. More importantly, I'd like to thank the mayor, his council, people in the emergency measures staff, especially John Picek in regards to MACA and his staff, and also the Department of National Defence for allowing us to use their base out at the airport. With that, Mr. Speaker, I'd like to thank all the departments and agencies I may have missed, but, more importantly, I'd like to thank them on behalf of the people of Aklavik for their support and say mahsi cho. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Members' statements. Returns to oral questions. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Premier, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It gives me a great deal of pleasure to recognize my former constituent who lived in Weledeh and is now living in Winnipeg, continues to be my constituent-at-large and was in town for the graduation of one of her children. Thank you. It's Ms. Major Karen Hoeft. Thank you.

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Thank you, Mr. Handley. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member from Thebacha, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It gives me great pleasure to recognize Paulette Panzeri, the director general for human resources for Indian and Northern Affairs Canada who is also my older sister and it's the first time I've had the opportunity to welcome her to this House.

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I'd also like to recognize Mr. Daryl Dolynny, a pharmacist who works at Shoppers Drug Mart, past-president of NWT Pharmacies Association who has been very instrumental in the work we've been doing on getting a Pharmacy Act brought forward.

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Recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member from Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to recognize, as well, Mr. Daryl Dolynny, a former constituent, president of Aurora World Corporation. Thank you.

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Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member from Great Slave, Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the past few minutes I have seen a constituent of mine, Mr. Lee Selleck in the gallery and I would like to welcome him to the Assembly. Thank you.

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Thank you, Mr. Braden. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member from Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Although mentioned a couple times already, I'd also like to recognize Daryl Dolynny, a well-known community supporter in the city of Yellowknife and he goes a long way to helping a lot of good causes. So thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. If we've missed anybody in the gallery today, welcome to the gallery. It's always nice to have an audience. Oral questions. The honourable Member from Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister responsible for Justice. Recently we've heard some news in the media that perhaps the North Slave Correctional Centre doesn't have the capacity that's required for persons incarcerated in the Northwest Territories. I'd like to ask the Minister, when the North Slave Correctional Centre was built, how many inmates was it intended to house in relation to how many are in it today? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister responsible for Justice, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The design was for 154 beds. I believe that's the number of beds that are there now. My understanding, the latest numbers are in the neighbourhood of 128 and 130. I don't have today's numbers, but that's fairly recent. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, is the Minister in possession of any trends or projections which might indicate that these numbers are going to increase in the near future? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Bell.

Mr. Speaker, I guess I would say that we hope not, but 128 is close to the capacity at 154. We're not there yet, but should we see pressures, we do have to talk about our corrections model. That is why you've seen some of the piloting of on-the-land corrections camps and we'll continue to look at other ways that we can do that. But it, going forward, could be a concern for us and we'll have to continue to keep an eye on it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to know if a demand for increased capacity would include re-examining the vacant space and vacant cells which now exist in the South Mackenzie Correctional Centre in Hay River. Thank you.