Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As Members know, the Tourism Act has been passed, the regs are in development, and it will help to speak to a number of these issues as we move forward. Obviously a renewed commitment to consultation with land claimant organizations, if somebody's proposing a new tourism development they're very much going to have to do so with the support and with the cooperation and collaboration of the land claimant organizations of the region, which makes absolute sense, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Villeneuve.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have agreements with jurisdictions across Canada. All jurisdictions have a similar rule so that if somebody is ordinarily a resident in that jurisdiction, then student financial assistance from that province or territory would assist them. So for instance, if somebody spent 12 months in Alberta they would qualify for student financial assistance from the Province of Alberta and, conversely, we would provide student financial assistance for somebody who has resided in the Northwest Territories for 12 months. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Villeneuve.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The level of assistance, I guess, is another issue that we can talk about at a different time, but even though you are only a resident of Alberta for 12 months you are not entitled to as much student financial assistance as what you would be entitled to here in the NWT should you have been a resident here. I just want to know if we are going to get more and more students, with the better transportation mode, better able to move people around, students around in the NWT, there's going to be more students that will be going to private schools down in the South to finish off their high school diplomas, and I think the numbers are going to be going up because people are going to be seeing some success in that. These people want to come back to the NWT, move back to their communities and work for their people here in the NWT. How can our student financial assistance ensure that these students won't be struggling down in some place where they don't have any programs or eligibility requirements, if there's nothing like that? How can we help them from the NWT standpoint, Mr. Speaker?

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said, all the programs across Canada are designed to work together so that each jurisdiction has agreed that we will support people who have lived in our jurisdiction for 12 months. Otherwise people could be moving across or around the country to take advantage of programs where one jurisdiction might provide better support than another does. As the Member has pointed out, our levels of support are very high and what we're concentrating on is making sure that we have good high schools so that people don't have to leave the Northwest Territories. We're making sure -- and we're seeing it in our graduation rate -- that we have competent education facilities and we're seeing a higher level of graduation. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Short supplementary, Mr. Villeneuve.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Nobody's arguing the graduation rates and that's great. I know I even have some of my nephews have gone down south to private schools also just because of their social structure and it helps them to complete their high school and stuff. I just want to know what a simple adjustment here in the policy and procedures manuals would entail here. You know, to be considered. It says ordinarily a resident here in the NWT. I just want to know if they could just change it to something like ordinarily a resident, which is what these students are because they do come back in the summers and they're going to come back here and work every summer while they're in college. So can we tweak this eligibility requirement that would umbrella, I guess, all these other students that are down south? Can we do something like that, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The rules of the program have been set up. As I said, we work with other jurisdictions to try and make sure that people can't just take advantage of the higher rates of support that we offer in comparison to other jurisdictions. So every jurisdiction has agreed that if somebody is in their jurisdiction for a year that they'll provide student financial assistance. That's a typical rule across the Territories. We don't want to be in a situation where somebody who may have lived in the Northwest Territories for a period of time and has left with their family automatically qualifies for student financial assistance. We couldn't afford a program that would allow everybody in. That's why we looked for a way that we could limit the program and keep its cost affordable while making sure that we have the best levels of support out there. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Villeneuve.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't know. I'm not talking about a whole bunch of people here, Mr. Speaker. Our student financial assistance programs do provide support to about 1,500 students from the NWT. I'm just wondering, you know, if there's a student who we know whose family is definitely living here in the NWT, they've been here for generations and they don't plan on going anywhere, but they have a student down south who's attended, finished their Grade 12, graduated. Maybe they might not have graduated here in the NWT, but they did succeed in graduating and they're trying to get into college now, but they just don't have the financial backing that they would like here that they could receive here in the NWT. Is there any kind of alternative program here in the student financial assistance portfolio that would be able to top up, like the Minister likes to refer to, top up their out-of-province student financial assistance to NWT levels? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. For post-secondary education, the Student Financial Assistance Program is targeted entirely at NWT residents. In looking at how the program was drawn up, we think that's the fairest way to limit it. We have a good school system, Mr. Speaker, and we're proud of it and we would like to see more people making sure that they stay here and take advantage of that school system. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we've been hearing for a while that there may be a decline in the caribou numbers and I'd like to ask the Minister of ENR if the aboriginal governments and the co-management boards, the HTAs, have acknowledged the fact that the numbers may be declining? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister responsible for Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Mike McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have to be careful how I respond to the question. I can say very safely that we have been talking to the co-management boards and we have been working together with all the boards, including a lot of the communities. We've had information sharing sessions in most of the communities in the Tlicho area and the Yellowknife area, and also other areas across the Territories. Things have been progressing. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Supplementary, Mr. Robert McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to ask the Minister if these boards and aboriginal governments have come forward to ENR with a plan to do their part in preserving the numbers? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Michael McLeod.