Mahsi, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, as I stated, we're working with authorities on level of service and evaluation of services provided in regions and we're continuing to work with Sahtu. I can't commit if in fact out of that work we can come up with a plan and put it into the business plan immediately. It goes back into the whole delivery care model we have and that's the integrated services delivery model as a government and how that fits together, and then it's a matter of how can we fund it. As long as we continue to move forward and identify the level of service and what we can provide, we'll continue to work with authorities in that way and continue to try to address it through the business planning process. But I can't say that in the next business plan cycle we'll see a senior's facility identified at that point. We have a number of hurdles to go through before we get to that stage. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I do apologize for putting the Minister in this predicament, however, I guess what I was trying to get at is this issue will be on the government's agenda. I'm not too sure how that works because I'm not the Minister. I'm the MLA from the Sahtu region representing my people in this issue here, so I'm a simple man working for the people.

---Interjection

I surely appreciate the support from my colleagues, Mr. Chairman, in terms of this issue.

---Laughter

That's all I'm asking the Minister, Mr. Chairman, and I'll leave it at that. I just want to make sure that this is an issue that's going to be on the radar for the department and the health board.

Mahsi, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We do continue to work with the authorities on program delivery. As we continue, every budget cycle we go through, we work with authorities. You can go from both ends. One is to why authorities are overspent in areas, or if they do have a surplus. It's something we also have to have a discussion on. But mostly it's a fact around program delivery, the growth of that program delivery and what we can meet and how we can meet the needs of the communities and regions, and that all goes into the business planning process. Not all of it makes the cut, but we continue to work on an annual basis with our authorities on that level of services that we can provide in communities. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Yakeleya, anything further?

Thank you. My last point. Fair enough, Mr. Chairman, is the Minister's response. I'll take it as far as that. I'd like to ask one question in terms of our people in our region in terms of emergency home care designation in our regions for emergency needs that sometime happen on weeks for the little guys and little girls that need to be safe in a home. Not all the time, but we need to look at emergency home shelters. Sometimes these little ones that run around most of the evening, sleeping in different places for whatever reason. Is the department working with our health boards in terms of social services board in terms of saying Tulita, you have this designated place a home; Deline, Fort Good Hope, Colville and Norman Wells? I'll just leave it at that. Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the area of meeting the needs of children, for example on weekends or on an emergency basis, we work with the authorities and communities. For example, it's the category we call provisional care where on an emergency basis families can register and are registered on a list to provide care can be given a call on an evening basis or on a daily basis and asked if they would take in children for a short time. So we do have that in place and we're continually trying to expand that in all of our communities where children are in care on an emergency basis that we can find places that they can stay. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Thank you, committee. We are on page 6-38, community health programs, grants and contributions, total grants and contributions, $52.562 million.

We'll go to page 6-42, work performed on behalf of others and that's continued on 6-43 and 6-44 for a total of $17.841 million.

Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. A question that I think arises in this area here has been the chronic situation that we've had, and I think it's with the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, in the recovery of what we deem to be health benefits supplied to our people but not financed or not reimbursed in a timely fashion from Indian Affairs and Northern Development, or at least from whatever department of the federal government. I'm wondering if the Minister could give us a bit of a snapshot on how we're doing on that chronic problem.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, that is an area we continue to have difficulty in and having the federal government, through the Department of DIAND, fund services for aboriginal peoples in the Northwest Territories. The latest count we have of August is approximately $65 million outstanding. That program that's funded for aboriginal peoples is capped at a 2 percent growth rate per year and we spend more than that. We go back and forth on it and sometimes we get a healthy cheque sent to us to cover some of it, but it continues to be lagged and a time-delayed basis. We continue to provide the level of services that is needed in the North and continue to make our issues known with both the Health Minister for Canada as well as DIAND. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Braden.

Let's take a deep breath here. That's a breathtaking amount of money: $65 million in arrears. At the risk of getting into a lot of detail here, could the Minister tell committee just how old some of this is? What's the age of this debt? How much of it is more or less current and how much of it is gathering cobwebs, Mr. Chairman?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I should also, for the record, state that I have contacted and written Minister Clement on this issue, raising it as well when we were at our federal/provincial/territorial Health Ministers. I used that opportunity to raise it as well; finding that other jurisdictions that deal with aboriginal peoples in the delivery of health care in their northern regions are in the same boat, very frustrated with that. This debt goes as far back as 1999, the outstanding amounts of what we've put in, what the claim was that we sent in and what they agreed to paying. For example, in '99, it was as small as $6 million or 6.6. Then a number of years it was around three and a half, four million dollars. Lately and since '03-04 we've hit double digits in the $12 million, 14, 15, as high as 5-6.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Braden.