Mr. Chair, they have done some research with this veterinary program last year.

They looked after 172 dogs last year, in terms of going to the communities. Again, Mr. Miltenberger said there were no programs in the department that speaks to these services. They do work very collaboratively with the veterinarians. It’s the fourth year now they’ve been in the Sahtu to provide services for the people in the small, remote and isolated communities such as Colville Lake. I know there are other communities that can certainly use this service. Is the department anywhere close to looking at providing a new program, a new service of vets such like the one we have in the Sahtu or that requires more thought, more discussion? Because I know the Sahtu certainly has benefitted greatly and we appreciate it from the University of Calgary. As a matter of fact, there are several people, youngsters that are looking at even becoming veterinarians because of this program. Last year, personally, I had people come to my place and I fed them, offered them a good meal, and they helped me look after our little dog there. I see it very valuable. People are pretty happy and receptive to seeing them come into the community, and they work long hours.

Again, we want to show our appreciation to the staff at the Sahtu regional office of ENR for bringing these people in and helping them. It’s just that it seems that there’s a little more comfort in terms of coming into our region knowing that they would be supportive of a program that they can fall back onto when they come into the Sahtu region. Thank you.