Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just want to sort of jump in here where Ms. Lee left off with respect to the arts and crafts sector. I think we have to talk to the artisans themselves and find some creative ways to market this stuff. It is true, it varies by community. On a day when somebody comes up to you and actually has a nice quality article to sell, it's just a happy lucky day for you, you know, if you can afford it. I have to tell you, these folks need some mentoring, and they need some support, too, because a lot of them are great artists and not such great businesspeople. I can tell you some examples of where sometimes people need money for something and they end up selling their stuff, they don't have a venue to sell it, they're selling it on their own, and they end up selling it for far less than what it's actually worth. There are all kinds of scenarios that evolve. The reason why I say I think we should talk to the artisans themselves...I have to tell you something else, buying something in a store or an art gallery isn't nearly as interesting as buying it from the person who made it. I know we have this little thing in Hay River on Saturdays in the summertime -- it's called the Fisherman's Wharf -- but anybody can show up there and go into a little kiosk and sell anything that they've made. Maybe we need to create venues like that where if you go to assemblies, inevitably somebody's got a table set up and people can bring their stuff, but it's all very informal and it's all very just kind of spontaneous; it's not something that we planned for. I think there are activities that take place in the Northwest Territories where there would be people around that would be in the market to buy things and people who could supply them and I think we need to look for more opportunities to match that up.

I'll give you an example. There was a lady from Deline who made a beautiful beaver skin coat and she brought it down to Hay River the other day, all the way from Deline on the winter road, and wanted to go back with supplies, but she needed to sell this coat in order to do this. Well, it's kind of hard to walk around Hay River and find the person that should buy this coat. I tried to help her out, but inevitably I think she might have practically given the thing away just to get some money to buy groceries to put in the truck to go back to Deline with. There's not always a lot of planning and maybe the concept of operating it like a business in the sense that you put some money away for another day, it's very...It's set up in such a way that I feel that sometimes the people who are in the arts and crafts business actually don't realize what they should do for their product. I just think the government needs to spend more time talking to the folks that make these things and try to find venues...and they don't always feel really happy either about putting them in a store where the price gets marked up double. I mean I'm not saying anything against people who try to retail this stuff, but it doesn't make people feel really good either.

So I have a lot of ideas about the arts and crafts business in the Northwest Territories and I really support these people, that they have a very unique gift and unique products and, like I said, I think it would mean so much more to people who are buying them if they bought them directly from them. I'll probably get e-mails now from people in the retail sector. But even a venue set up where people could work on their product in a place people could come, would come on a certain day, even if it was only one day a month or one day a week, where people could come and they'd have a place to work; like a sewing centre in the community, like they have in Nunavut, they have the print shops. If you go to the community for something, you can go there, people are working there, they're making them but at the same time you can buy one. If you go to Dene Fur Clouds in Fort Providence, the people are working there, they're creating product, but you can buy it. Maybe some funding for sewing centres in the communities where people have a place where they could get together, they could socialize, they could make things and then there would be an opportunity for marketing, as well, but some kind of support so that they don't end up kind of getting less than what the real market value for their product should be.

Those are just a few of my ideas on supporting the arts and crafts. I have ideas, but I think we need to hear from the folks that are in the business. I think you would find if you did survey and consult with them, that sometimes they just feel that it's discouraging that they aren't able to get more and have avenues to market their product through. Thank you.