Thank you, Mr. Bell. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Ms. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my statement today I talked about this being nurses week and I'd like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services if he could provide this House with an update on our ability, as a government, to fill nursing positions in the North right now. In the past, we had been struggling to ensure that vacant positions were filled. We've used a lot of agency nurses in the communities, locums and at a probably greater cost than it would cost our government if we could have nurses come here, be recruited, retain them. I'd like to ask the Minister what is the status of the nursing shortage in the Northwest Territories today? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don't have the vacancies that we have across all the health authorities on me at this moment; I can get that information. What we have done, for example, in trying to address this, is we've worked with authorities on how we're going to use agency nurses. There is a shortage yet; we still will use them from time to time, but what we've worked with authorities on is the fact that if agency nurses are going to be used, it is to ensure that our facilities stay open, not to do a top-up, as was happening in a number of stations. We continue to work around the continued education as well, and an example of that is the community health nurse initiative and the nurse practitioner initiative here in the Territories, and that mentorship, trying to encourage that in the Territories. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yes, there has been a certain degree of success with some of those programs that the Minister has referred to, but he has confirmed that we still do have a nursing shortage in the Northwest Territories. I noticed when I was flying to Edmonton the other day, the Up Here magazine has an article called "Northern Outpost Nurses - Choose Your Adventure," and there's quite an extensive ad here trying to recruit nurses to join a venture healthcare program to go to northern outposts. I'm sure that it's similar to the agency nurses that we hire. How aggressive are we being in terms of advertising and trying to attract nurses to the Northwest Territories? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have stepped up in that area of recruitment and are going to universities and colleges that have the nursing programs beyond our own program in trying to encourage nurses to come north. Put out packages and extend the fact that we have this new program of community health nurse side and nurse practitioner side as well, and we're starting to do that work and looking at expanding it to bring more nurses to the North. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I assume there's an advertising campaign, as well; I'm assuming we go to job fairs. How many people in the Department of Health and Social Services are devoted to the task of recruitment of health care professionals to the North? If a nurse was reading this Outpost Nurses advertisement versus what we -- well, I've never seen an advertisement from us -- but how would what they're offering and what we're offering compare? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we work with the Department of Human Resources on our recruitment and retention side closely. They have some dedicated staff that work with us. We do, internally, as well, within the department of working towards what we can do and that example I gave earlier about going to colleges, universities, along with our own recruitment practice we have with our own Nurse Graduate Program. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you. I'm still not getting the sense that there's any dedicated staff in Health and Social Services or in HR that are specifically devoted to recruitment efforts; I have not seen any advertising. So I'll ask again are there any positions that are specifically dedicated to recruitment of nurses and do we have an advertising campaign? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there are dedicated staff within HR. As well, we do have some staff within the department and I will get that information. Thank you.

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

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, the honourable Minister Dent, on our income security reform, or income support reform that the department is going to be going through. I just wanted to talk about the recent payout of IBA to some income support clients in Fort Resolution that have been clawed back through their income support assistance for the month. I just want to ask the Minister in relation to the request for an exemption on the Hook Lake Bison Recovery Program and the compensation settlement on that. Will he direct the income security office in Fort Resolution to continue to treat these IBA settlement payments similar to this compensation settlement as excluded income? Will the Minister do that? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and good morning. Mr. Speaker, the government's position is that IBA payments are not compensation; they are a contractual arrangement between a band and between a company; they are a private contract. So in this circumstance they aren't treated the same way as a compensation payment. So the answer to the Member's question is no, that would not be the direction provided.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Okay, well, let's just get on the topic of compensation here and section 20 of the Income Assistance Program policies, Mr. Speaker. You know, we're treating the Japanese Canadian Redress Agreement and the Merchant Navy Agreement as compensation and as exempt. I don't know who thought that up, but any stuff like the Indian treaty money received is also exempt. It says here the beneficiary will not...your calculation of net monthly income. We receive treaty money once a year, Mr. Speaker. It's $5 a year. They've got it in here. That's an insult for the treaty money that we do receive. I would like to receive compensation included as IBA here. It says the Inuvialuit Final Agreement is treated as exempt. They receive up to $1,000 a year in compensation on this part and that is treated as exempt. Why can't we treat IBAs the same, because it is compensation for loss of property, which is the land that the aboriginals use. Why isn't it treated equally? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In fact, when we have court awards of compensation, for instance, in the residential school settlements, those are clearly exempt from our income support or consideration as income under our income support policies. Our legal opinions from Justice indicate that IBAs are contractual arrangements and are, therefore, not treated the same as compensation and that is the position of the government.