Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are addressing the need for capacity and we have heard the Member’s concerns. We are working with HR, as I announced, to develop a strategy for communities to train and retain. A lot of the people that work in the communities and actually had a meeting with members of LGANT this afternoon and there were probably three-quarters of the SAOs in the Territories at this meeting. There were some band communities there, and the band communities are the ones we are working with right now to form development corporations so they can own real property. We’ve made a lot of progress and the bands are realizing it’s in their best interest to form these dev corps, and then the money would start flowing to them and then they would be able to decide on the infrastructure in their community.
I have not heard yet from any community in the Northwest Territories that has said don’t give us this money, we can’t handle it. We’ve had communities saying we need some help and the regional offices are very good about going out and helping the communities, but I have had no one say yet that this is not a good idea.
This is something that many of us who have lived in small communities and who have served on small community councils realized at the time we were a very small speck in the overall government picture, and our local infrastructure, which was important to us, once it was buried in the corporate plan, we had to wait a long time to see anything on the ground. Now with all the money that is flowing to the communities, they know best what is a priority in their communities and they know best the infrastructure they need right away. There are some challenges, but I think for the most part those
challenges are being addressed. The communities are adapting very well to the new responsibility they have. Thank you.