Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I have said several times in this House, the assessment of how the program is working is done on a continual basis. The senior management get together regularly. The deputies from the departments get together regularly. The Minister of the Housing Corporation and I discuss issues as they arise, as well. So we are satisfied that we have found ways to deal with all of the issues that have come up, up to this point. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the list of people that the Minister mentioned that he spoke to, the deputy minister, all senior administration, but they are not the people that are being assessed. Have they spoken to tenants and are tenants telling them that this is a program that is working? These are the people that this program is designed for. We are speaking to everybody else but the tenants. Have they spoken to the tenants and got their opinion on the way things are working? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In fact, we do deal with local housing authorities and LHOs. We bring people together who are working on the front line to tell us the problems they are running into. The numbers of complaints that we are hearing have diminished tremendously. We are not getting very many complaints at all. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I sometimes wonder if there are 84,000 people in the Northwest Territories: 42,000 that they speak to and the other 42,000 that we speak to, because we are getting complaints from tenants that this is not working. The Minister says that he is getting no complaints. We are getting complaints, Mr. Speaker, that this is not working. Is there an option of transferring the responsibility back to the NWT Housing Corporation who was doing a good job of looking after it in the first place? Is that an option? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the reason we did this is, as Members in this House know, we have $120 million that goes out every year as direct subsidies to people in the Northwest Territories. That is before we add the $6 million that we are putting into the Income Support Program next year. We were in a situation where we had 17 programs run by seven different departments that did not mesh. We had situations where a person would earn, or a family would earn, an extra dollar and have $200 clawed back by either the housing authority or by income support. We need to find a way to make sure that our programs work better together. We have families living side by side who are getting different levels of support right now because one family went to the housing authority and one family went to income support. It is not reasonable that governments provide two levels of support to two families in exactly the same circumstances. But that is what has happened because we haven't had programs that are coordinated and designed to help people effectively, efficiently and fairly. We need to make sure that we are properly targeting the people who need government assistance the most and that we are doing it in the right way. We think that the best way to do that is to ensure that we have a comprehensive and cohesive program. You can't do that if all of our subsidy programs are divided up among different departments. So we think that we have taken the best approach here. We know that we have resolved issues. We think that putting the subsidies together into one department will eventually mean that we will have a much better articulated program and one that is more supportive for all Members in this House. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Final supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is interesting we hear what everybody else has to say and I still go back to the fact that we are hearing from tenants that this is a program that is not working. The assessments are coming in late, termination notices are given out more than they ever have been before. I know it because I have people coming to me who have been terminated and because of policy, there is nothing we can do about it. We can go and ask the questions, but it is just not working out for them. We are hearing from people who are getting termination notices. We talk about one-stop shopping. It is not about one-stop shopping. Is contracting out to the local housing authorities the assessment forms an option? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Oral questions. The honourable Member for the Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have one question or maybe two. It depends on how the Minister responds. I have a question for the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources around the implementation and the question on the traditional knowledge policy. I have written the Minister a letter. I asked the Minister if he would consider some options. I want to ask the Minister on the traditional knowledge policy how it is being monitored. Is it a policy that is being used by other departments in regards to this traditional knowledge policy?

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources delayed the department in ensuring that traditional knowledge is utilized in all the different departments in the government. It is something that we continually remind the Ministers and departments to ensure that that happens.

Our policy, I believe, is hitting the 10 year mark. We recently had some discussion over the whole policy and how effective it is, and whether it needs to be revamped, at a recent conference in the community of the Hay River Reserve. It is something that we are going to undertake to do, is revisit the policy and do some consultations with the community as well. It is still a valid document that can still work or we need to make some adjustments to it, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am very interested in what the Minister said. It will be utilized in all departments of the Government of the Northwest Territories. It is hitting a 10 year mark. I am looking at how effective it is and look at some revisions based on the Hay River conference. Mr. Speaker, I have asked the Minister, would he look at the process of consultation in our communities? We have just come out of Kelly Lake in the Sahtu and TK workshop with the

elders and it seems like we need to do some serious consultation with our people to get their knowledge implemented into this government in terms of the knowledge that they possess in our communities. Would the Minister get a commitment on some serious discussions with our people on this policy? This is their life. These are their thoughts here to go into operation of this government. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We would certainly commit to doing consultation with all of the different aboriginal governments in the Northwest Territories when we do a review. We would like to hear from the communities and from the different people in the community on how they feel this could be improved.

We have a number of programs or a number of initiatives that we could point to that show that we have a lot of success in this area. But, of course, there is always room for improvement. We would like to make sure that this program continues to grow and is a benefit to the community. So we will certainly undertake to talk to the people in the Member's riding and all the other different ridings in the North.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you. I look forward to those discussions across the North here and especially in my riding. Mr. Speaker, would the Minister then also commit to some of the department senior bureaucrats to be at this type of discussion with our people to come there with an attitude of listening to see how important these traditional knowledge experiences and wisdom are implemented to the government departments? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. McLeod.