Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Traditional economy is a very important part in the Northwest Territories. The value that we have placed on country foods if we had to replace it with store-bought foods, we attributed it to be about $30 million, so it is a very important part of our economy.

For several years now we have been trying to establish what we call a red meat market. Over the years we have had difficulties because of the federal agriculture and inspection requirements. What we are endeavouring to do this year, and with our budget approved we are going to spend in the neighbourhood of $300,000 to do exactly that, find local markets for country food and for local fish. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, in helping to find the local markets for country food and fish, has the Minister identified areas that could have this red meat market a project going on such as the Sahtu or any other communities that support trapping and fishing in their area?

Mr. Speaker, we are in the process of identifying those areas. We have received federal funding as part of our Growing Forward initiative which would look at things like muskox, wood bison and, of course, Great Bear Lake obviously has a lot of fish, so those are the areas that we would be looking at. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, has the Minister looked at some of the fish up there in the Sahtu such as Great Bear Lake or any other fish areas such as Colville Lake where most of the economy is trapping and harvesting for the local residents there in my region where there is a pretty good percentage of harvesters and trappers that see this as a lifestyle for them?

Mr. Speaker, we are looking at locally produced food, and obviously fish is one of the foods that are available in every community. It is a matter of harvesting and distribution. We will be looking at those areas. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Has his department also looked at providing some of

these foods into our institutions such as the Stanton Hospital or Beaufort-Delta and up in the Inuvik Hospital for some of their patients that often cry for traditional foods once they get into the hospitals? They certainly look for something like that. It would help them with their recovery and health.

Mr. Speaker, that is exactly what we are intending to do, to work with the institutions and the government and so on. Most of them have started already and we want to maximize that kind of food. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister of Human Resources. The federal government, through HRSDC, the names of which I can never remember, but Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, I think, offers funding through a program called Labour Market Agreement for Persons with Disabilities. In 2008 -- that is the latest date for which I found figures -- the program offered over $218 million to the 13 Canadian jurisdictions. Of that money, which is now currently expired, the NWT didn’t get any. I would like to ask the Minister whether or not he is aware of this federal program. In my mind, it is free money which would have enabled the GNWT to advance the employment of persons with disabilities. Why did the GNWT not negotiate a labour market agreement for persons with disabilities when we had the chance? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister of Human Resources, Mr. Bob McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Labour market agreements are generally negotiated through the Department of Education, Culture and Employment. As far as the $218 million, I was not aware of it. I would have to check as to why the government did not apply. Typically, these federal programs are not available outside of the provinces, so I would think that would probably be the reason. We haven’t accessed it because it is probably not available to our Territory. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, thanks to the Minister. I would appreciate anything he can discover as to why we did not take advantage of this. I believe that there were other jurisdictions that were not provinces that did. I could be corrected on that.

Another program which is not yet expired is a labour market agreement. The Yukon last year negotiated some $218,000 worth of funding. Some of it, not all of it, because labour market agreement in this case was for sort of all employment, but some of it was specifically earmarked for the Yukon Council on Disability. I know that the Minister of HR has been talking with that group in terms of their work on getting more disabled persons employed. I would like to know, since this program has not yet expired, if the Minister has considered accessing funding under this labour market agreement to specifically assist people with disabilities. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, as a government, we are not averse to incorporating the best practices that are out there. That was the reason we approached the Yukon government, because they are seen as having one of the best diversity programs. I would expect that we would have been aware of that program. I will find out where we are at in terms of applying for money through that program. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, thanks to the Minister. I look forward to getting that information. I found another opportunity for free money. Well, it is matching dollars, but it is half free anyway. This is a federal program called Opportunities Fund for Persons with Disabilities. It offers some $30 million to provinces and territories. I know it is a federal program, but I would like to know whether the Department of HR has ever taken any action to assist employers, individuals or organizations who have persons with disabilities to assist them to access this funding to increase PWD employment. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I don’t believe that we have been doing or promoting the work of the federal government, but this is an area that certainly we can look into. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would hope that the Minister would take advantage of any funding that we have available that would increase the employment of persons with disabilities within our workforce. I would hope that he would look into this program.

The Yukon has a program called the Yukon Disability Employment Strategy. What are we doing that is similar to that kind of a strategy? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, as I indicated, we have met with the Yukon and we are basically following the approach that the Yukon government has taken. We are developing a disabilities framework that we will be rolling out this coming year and as well as any programs that we can

access money, we will be sure to pursue it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today my Member’s statement was regarding the Paulatuk housing situation we’re having over there with the evictions that have been taking place. We had four evicted already, Mr. Speaker. I was talking to the mayor this morning and he said there are eight more families supposedly on the list.

Mr. Speaker, I’m asking the Minister, will the Minister order that any evictions now that are in the works for Paulatuk be stopped in their tracks until we can deal with the issue out of the Inuvik office? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation, Mr. Robert McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is concern with the amount of arrears that are out in Paulatuk. It’s not something that they just decided that they were going to do. This was a long process that they followed to get to the eviction process. I’m not quite sure if it’s a court ordered or rental officer ordered eviction. I’d have to follow up on that. The local housing organization up there does have policies that it goes by and people are given ample opportunity to come in and try to work out a repayment plan. I have to say, Mr. Speaker, that Paulatuk, for the number of units it’s got, has the highest average of arrears in the Northwest Territories, in around $34,000 per unit. So it is obviously an issue up there and it’s one that we have to deal with as a corporation, but more importantly, the residents of Paulatuk have to deal with. Thank you.

Thank you. The biggest problem is when in 2006 ECE took this program over, all the arrears that all built up. Now that Housing is taking it back they’re seeing fit to try to get the money back, which I’m in full agreement with. The Minister always says, you know, sweat equity, everybody has to pay, and I agree with that. Mr. Speaker, will the Minister commit to me in regard to coming back to the community of Paulatuk himself to sit down with the leaders to keep the current tenants in their homes? Thank you.