Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services a question on the proposal by Fort Good Hope in terms of the proposal that they put forward on a prevention and health promotion worker in Fort Good Hope. The Minister and I had a visit to Fort Good Hope. The proposal was drafted and given to her and the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. I want to ask the Minister what is the status in terms of that proposal.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Member’s question. As he stated, we did visit the community. We had a good discussion with the chief and we also met in my office as a follow-up visit.

Mr. Speaker, we have responded to Chief Arthur Tobac on his proposal. We are interested in discussing with the community his proposal. Our staff has been directed to engage in a dialogue. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, can the Minister inform the House as to when the position will be recruited and hired for Fort Good Hope?

Mr. Speaker, I don’t have that information right now, but the position is vacant, as the Member is aware. The community has different ideas on how to address community wellness issues. I am open to that proposal. We have written to the chief that we would like to take it to the next level and work with the local leadership along with Sahtu Health Authority. I am very interested in seeing this through. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, can the Minister inform the House, inform the people in Fort Good Hope -- we have about eight months left in this government -- what does she mean by seeing it through? When are we going to have an actual person hired in the community rather than having a discussion? I think the people clearly know what they want. When can the government come up and support the community?

Mr. Speaker, as the Member knows, the chief has given us a proposal. They have very different ideas, not different ideas but a new idea of making this position work for them. He has asked us to work together jointly in rewriting the job description and hiring. Those are the ideas that I am interested in working with the chief. We also met with a gentleman who is very interested in taking on this work for the community, who is from the community and who lives there.

Mr. Speaker, the timeline is the spring. I would like to, I don’t know... What is spring in the Northwest Territories? March or April? I would like to work through this in March and in April. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask the Minister in terms of the timelines. It is usually about springtime, I guess, and hoping that by then can I get a commitment from this Minister that we would have a person in Fort Good Hope that is hired and working in the community to help with the youth on their issues and work with the families.

Mr. Speaker, we do have a set process on hiring and job description and such that is actually within the mandate of HR. For me, for now, what I want to indicate to the Member and the local leadership in Fort Good Hope is that I like the idea that they are proposing. I would like to see how we can work together to make that happen, because we need to agree on the proposal, agree on the sort of job description and what it is that we are expecting this new position to do. It is about doing things differently within the resources we have. But, so far, I am very interested in pursuing that proposal. I am afraid I can’t give you an exact timeline, because that is a different process. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I talked about the needs of daycare and preschool in Fort Resolution. I have questions for the Minister of Education.

Mr. Speaker, on an interim basis, can the Minister direct the Department of Education, Culture and Employment to provide some emergency funding for immediate repairs that are needed to the daycare and the preschool in Fort Resolution? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. There is funding allocated to the communities that have early childhood programs or daycares. There is funding such as funding for equipment and material purchases that the Member may have alluded to in that area, and also funding for other areas such as mortgage expense or rental expense on the premises that are not owned by the GNWT, but I need to work with the Member on the

specifics on that particular situation in his community. We also need to work with the local DEA, as well, as we move forward on this particular matter. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, if additional space in the current daycare preschool can’t be obtained, whether it is an addition or some internal renovations, will the Minister work with the local district authority to find some temporary space for the community so that these kids can go to preschool prior to going to kindergarten in September? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, those are areas that we need to identify within a community. There are other reviews that have been undertaken as well. They could capture that. It may have captured it in the past or not, but child daycare standards regulations does come early this year or next year. Also, the Member is referring to a temporary placement. Those are the areas that my department, ECE, needs to work with the DEA and also the Member identifying those matters at hand. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, will the Minister consider directing his department to try to provide some O and M funding to the community, whether it be through the DEA or through the band, to provide funding for the preschool to hire a half-time student to accommodate the additional that have to go through preschool prior to kindergarten? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I will commit to working with the Member and also the DEA. At the same time, there is the Early Childhood Program for start-up and also contribution funding that is available to those individual organizations. We need to deal with the matter, the detailed information that the Member is referring to. If I can get that information, I am willing to work with that and also with the DEA through my department. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final supplementary, Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am not sure if I said a half-time student but I think I meant a half-time teacher.

Mr. Speaker, earlier he talked about buildings that don’t belong to the GNWT. Would the Minister look at Education, Culture and Employment’s infrastructure plan to add funding to build a new building to house daycare and preschool in Fort Resolution? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, through this early childhood programming, we provide funding for programming. Not only that, but a portion of mortgage and also rental expenses for providers that operate on the premises and also Early Childhood Program that consists of start-up

and operation costs. Those are the funds that we provide currently through the ECE department. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. I want to follow up on my Member’s statement.

The good management of any issues requires the balanced input of all stakeholders. With wildlife, this is at least, if not more, critical than in most areas, because it is a very limited resource that is vulnerable, as we know, to overexploitation. Those with Aboriginal and treaty rights are squarely at the management table, with representatives comprising half of management board members while those without these rights have only representatives that represent both rights holders and non-rights holders. What can the Minister do to provide mechanisms to resolve this critical gap? Mahsi.