Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think there are two issues that the Member is raising. One has to do with capital planning and the second thing has to do with aboriginal wellness and traditional practices in delivering health care.

With respect to capital planning, the House made a decision that we will separate the main estimate budget from the capital planning budget, and we will be obviously coming back to the House with a capital plan in the next capital plan business cycle in the September budget session; or October.

With respect to the Sahtu, from what I see, the Sahtu Health and Social Services Authority being new, they’re very new but they’re very vibrant. They’ve spent lots of time in the last couple of years building up their human resource capacity. They have done a very good job recruiting and retaining doctors for a size that small. I have met with them a couple of months ago where they have a plan on their human resources and what sort of human resource capacity they want to have in every community, in their region.

Obviously the Sahtu authority is experiencing similar challenges as every other authority. They are trying to live within our economic circumstances. But it is a very well-prepared and capable board. I will undertake to ask the Sahtu authority to give us their capital requirements, including seniors complexes in the Sahtu. I understand that we don’t have one. We have a

wellness centre that runs day programming in Deline, but I think we do need to do a long-term plan that would allow Sahtu elders and people who need assistance to live in that area. The region has to decide where and how and what kind of shape that will be.

The second question with respect to the Aboriginal Wellness Program, I could advise the Member that I met with the elders that are overseeing the Aboriginal Wellness Program in Stanton. They are looking at how to bring some of the traditional practices into our health care delivery system. For now they were mostly interested in talking to me about improving food and other services in Stanton, because they really felt for elders and aboriginal people who come to be cared for at the hospital, those are pretty much the basic things that they want to look at. They’re doing a lot of work and I’ve encouraged them and I told them that I am looking forward to what they are working on and what recommendations they will make.

I just want to also lastly add that we do have a pilot project in Fort Simpson. It’s the second year of a three-year project. We’re spending $800,000 and it’s in partnership with the Dene Nation to look at the aboriginal way of healing and health care delivery system. We are looking to see what we can learn from that and how they can apply to other areas. There are lots of aboriginal governments, especially IRC, who are very successful at obtaining federal funds to do some really interesting work. I just want to assure the Member, who I know is very interested in this area, we worked together in the Standing Committee on Social Programs on this issue and I am still committed to making some difference in that area.