Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Members' statements. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in keeping with today's theme of learning about and respecting the traditional way of life and preserving our wildlife, I would like to take this opportunity to speak about some very interesting and exciting activities William McDonald School is involved in, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday morning, twelve Grade 8 students and five teachers, led by Mr. Radcliffe, set off on a five-day dog mushing trip to Behchoko and back. They will be travelling with five dog teams under the supervision of the world-renowned expert dog musher, our very own Grant Beck.

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This is the first time such an endeavour has been undertaken by any school in Yellowknife. They stopped in Enodah last night. With the technology of satellite, we were able to track them down there. They lodged at Trout Rock. Today, as we speak, they are taking their turns mushing the dog teams toward Behchoko. Tonight they will be staying with Moise and Joyce Rabesca. Mr. Speaker, they won't be stopping at comfortable lodges all the way. They will be camping and learning how to survive in the cold for the last three days. They will also be stopping at Blackduck Lake and meet and learn from Eddie Rabesca who will teach them traditional knowledge including how he sets the nets and all the other things that go on in the bush.

Mr. Speaker, there is another team of William McDonald students travelling by skidoo to another area around the city to learn about traditional and outdoor living, under the direction of Mr. Jeff Seabrook.

Mr. Speaker, we are very proud of the excellent academic work our students do in our schools, but they do a lot more. Some of the William McDonald students have spent a lot of time Paging with us during this long session as well. Mr. Speaker, I know that the students and teachers involved in this dog mushing trip spent countless hours planning, raising money and organizing. This would not have happened without the leadership of principal Dean MacInnis and generous involvement by Grant Beck and his beautiful dogs. A lot of businesses and parents contributed to make this happen. I would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of them and to encourage everyone involved to have this as a regular event in their school curriculum. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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Thank you, Ms. Lee. Members' statements. Returns to oral questions. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize my wife, Judy.

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I would also like to recognize my new CA, Ms. Billie Lennie. Thank you.

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Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize a special guest in the gallery. Mr. Andrew Chatwood is a former Member of Parliament for the riding that used to be called Grand Falls-White Bay, Labrador, which included an eastern island of Newfoundland, all of Labrador and the southern tip of the Northwest Territories that is now part of Nunavut. He would like to be recognized more as the grandfather of one of our Pages from William McDonald School, Sandra Chatwood. He is also the father-in-law of someone well known to us all, Dr. Ewin Affleck. He is up there with his daughter, Susan Chatwood-Affleck. I would like to welcome them to the House.

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Thank you, Ms. Lee. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Villeneuve.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. If we missed anyone in the gallery today, welcome to the gallery. It's always nice to have an audience here. I hope you're enjoying the proceedings. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I said in my Member's statement, our region has over 70 licensed tours and establishments, including outfitters, outpost camps that cater to the outdoor tourist, as well as big game outfitters and sports fishermen. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to ask the Minister of ITI if he is aware of how many aboriginal people are employed by outfitters in the Mackenzie Mountain region. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't have the exact number at my fingertips here, but I would say unfortunately not many; not enough. We believe that if we're going to be serious about economic diversification, tourism holds out a lot of potential. But it will only work if we effectively involve local people, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Member's statement, talking about traditional knowledge and how important it is that we adhere to that and understand that. I think we can only do that with the involvement of local people, obviously. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'll ask the Minister of ITI, is his department keeping stats on the numbers of people hired in the Mackenzie Mountain region? Is his department keeping stats? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Bell.

Yes, Mr. Speaker. Between my department and the Department of ENR, we can get that information. I don't have it in front of me. We work through our regional offices, we work with the tourism operators, and we do collect that kind of information. I can certainly provide that for the Member and will commit to do so. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I look forward to the information the Minister is going to provide to me. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to ask the Minister, has his department or his people in our region heard about any types of complaints in terms of the conditions of the meat that is brought into our communities and when those meats are brought in and how they're looked after? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Bell.

Mr. Speaker, yes, anecdotally I can tell you that the last time I was in the region I did talk to our regional staff. They raised a number of these concerns that had been brought forward to them. We will sit down with our regional staff, we'll sit down with our tourism outfitters and make sure that they understand the requirements and understand how they can...I mean it may just be a matter of informing people properly, Mr. Speaker. We're certainly prepared to do that and that is a good role for government to play. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Final supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I ask the Minister of ITI, can he update the Tourism Act that can sort out some of these things that we're talking about today and maybe some of the concerns that we have from our region in terms of the Tourism Act? Can the Minister provide me an update as to that act? Thank you.