Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, yes, it does fall under this category and we are working with a number of organizations that deliver programs specifically that we're mandated to deliver and that fits back into the program that we went through as a government on establishing where the NGOs would fit and what level delivery of programs they are involved with. That's where we got involved. So we've got a number of areas that we are working with, and have put forward forced growth on the NGO side and have got that much approval on that amount, $425,000. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I know committee was very pleased with this allocation going in and so were a number of NGOs on budget day. It seems as though we are connecting here.

Mr. Chairman, I think the Minister's answer indicated that this is a beginning. I wanted to confirm that in future budgets and business plans, are we going to be able to anticipate that there will be further allocations made to NGOs until we get to whatever point we decide is fair and reasonable and sustainable? Is this the first of what I expect or hope will be a continuation of this, Mr. Chairman?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, through the third-party accountability framework that was established in our relation with NGOs and the delivery of program services, the area this fits under is a category one area where we are accepted as we put forward our request for forced growth and it was accepted by FMBS as we did our budget planning. So anything in category one, we would continue to put forward in forced growth areas, as we have had those discussion with those groups. I can't guarantee if they will always be met. That's always the issue of a government-of-the-day and how they would address the request being made, but as part of ours and as we have shown here, it is part of what is accepted as forced growth when we make our submissions. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just a comment then. We certainly had positive reinforcement from those NGOs when the budget was released. So I hope that we can continue to look for more of this.

Mr. Chairman, also I think in this area, I would like to ask the Minister if they could provide some information on the general overall fiscal status, fiscal health of our health authorities. I believe we have seven health authorities in the NWT and as these things go from time to time, they have had difficulties and these are all very understandable, but I would like to see if I could get a snapshot of going into 2007-08 how are our regional health authorities doing, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, we continue to work with our health authorities as we establish our budgets and we do, indeed, find from time to time a number of our health authorities struggling to meet the level of services being required and the funding associated. We've worked with the government in our budget process to try to address a number of those issues, but we will continue to work in that effort to ensure that authorities receive an adequate level of service. At

the same time, we have to establish some parameters about some of the programs we deliver because they can continue to grow at a very high rate. That's why, for example, as a department we've looked at initiatives under the integrated service delivery model where we connect how we deliver services from a community level to a regional to a territorial. So that's something we have to work with. The majority of our health boards are, in fact, in a stable fiscal position. We do have a couple of them that are struggling right now and we are working with them. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. To those agencies that are perhaps struggling right now, what level of information could the Minister disclose to committee today and what options or contingencies are there to assist them through these difficulties? For instance, is this something we should anticipate in supplementary allocations? Are we due for some correction here? Perhaps, Mr. Chairman, I don't need specific details about which ones are maybe facing some difficulty, but I would like to get some sense of the total deficit. What is the financial difficulty in total that the Legislative Assembly will be asked to look at? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, we have worked with a couple of our health boards and authorities in the area of the difficulties they have faced when it comes to funding situations. This Assembly, in the past, also dealt with that through a supplementary process. As we would find throughout the year, we would establish the budgets and the amounts that would get sent to each authority. Throughout that year if they find they've overspent or the demand in a particular area is higher, they would come to us and highlight that. We would work with them in trying to identify solutions. There are solutions from, for example, if we bring forward a request to this Assembly that there could be a matching offset in the sense that they have to find some of their deficit from within as the year is going forward. Some of it is a base review that needs to be done to see if we have adequately funded certain program levels in the past. That's ongoing. Ultimately, it comes back to this forum. If it's not identified in this budget and they are overspent, I would have to come forward in a supplementary request to address those concerns. We are, in fact, in preparation of doing that as we go forward.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Anything further, Mr. Braden?

That will do, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Pokiak.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just to follow up from my colleague, Mr. Yakeleya, regarding social workers, particularly in terms of apprehension of children, in the Beaufort-Delta region I know the Minister indicated that they will come with outside resources to assist with child apprehensions. I am just wondering in the Beaufort-Delta exactly how many of your social workers are qualified to go and apprehend children that are in protective need. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, as I stated in my earlier response, when we go through a hiring process for social workers there are different categories of a social worker, what level they are at. That would be required. If we feel in a particular area, that job description, what's required would be posted, that's what a potential employee would be ranked on. So it would vary from community to community. We do have some trouble in a number of our smaller communities of trying to find our staff and we would have to go out a number of times for staffing through HR to try to get qualified staff into the communities. Seeing from time to time there are no social workers in a community, we would send from the region into the communities on a rotational basis or a trip up a number of times to offset the workload. So that's one of the areas that we would step in.

As for the total allocation within the Beaufort-Delta, I'll have to do the same as we've done with the Sahtu is get that information and provide that to the Member. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Pokiak.

Thank you. Having worked with Social Services before, going from one, two and three, and I finally decided to leave, Mr. Chairman, I understand the process of what's required in terms of apprehending children. Not only do you have to be a social worker, I understand where the Minister is coming from with regard to what level of social work you are, but you also have to have that certification. A small little piece of paper to be identified as a child welfare worker, which means that you have to have a certain certificate to indicate that you can walk into a house, apprehend the child if you have to and do that. So that's what I was getting at earlier.

I understand the Minister indicated that it depends on the level of the degree of social work that you're involved with, but I think it should be very clear here that in my experience anyway this is what I had to do, going from a one, two or three and then on top of that taking more courses to be able to apprehend children. There's a certain piece of paper. I'd just like to ask the Minister to make sure that that's what we're looking at. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the Member is correct; there is an increased level of training that would be required and we do, in this case when it comes to that level, statutory training that is required. We will get the information again, as I stated earlier, for the Member. Thank you.