Mahsi. I did already commit to the Member that I will have my department look at these programs that were offered. Those programs that the Member is referring to, if they’ve been successful in the past, definitely they can be brought back. I need to work with the Members on that and also with corrections. Those that are not on the list, we need to explore those areas as well. I know several Members have raised other programs in the past and those are programs that we’re also looking at possibly delivering in the correctional institution as well. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Your final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Also in that news story it talks about the Family Violence Treatment Program being the first of two new programs that the government is going to bring forward to address domestic violence in our Territory. I’d like to ask the Minister when the work towards the establishment of these programs was brought to the Standing Committee on Social Programs and whether or not the government sought the input of the standing committee, Mr. Speaker, and where the money is in the ‘11-12 budget to accomplish these two new programs that apparently are coming along. Thank you.

Mahsi. The Member is asking for detailed information. I can definitely provide that to him. Mahsi.

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

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have various components of the programs that we have for the issue that the Member is raising. We do provide assistance for residential programming, whether within the NWT, Nats’ejee K’eh, or outside of the NWT or some of the community programs. We have mental health and addictions workers. We’ve spent $6 million and we have 62 people working in that area right up to more acute care right out of the hospital. So we have a vast spectrum of services that we provide on this issue. Thank you.

Thank you. The issue of addictions varies from community to community and what I think the Minister and the department need to do is to develop a specific community-by-community strategy to combat alcohol addictions, and need to consult. I’d like to ask the Minister if using money for those programs, start a process of consulting community governments and local stakeholders and actually develop a strategy for each community on a strategy on addictions and wellness. Thank you.

Thank you. I don’t have all of the information for all of the communities in the Territories in front of me, but for Lutselk’e we provide $186,000 for Lutselk’e mental health and addictions. We also provide $23,000 for Lutselk’e cultural programs; $76,876 for Deninu K’ue First Nation to fund their addiction counsellor position in Fort Resolution, and in addition we provided $23,000 to Deninu K’ue First Nation for youth addiction initiatives. That’s just an example of the different programming funding that we provide to smaller communities.

I take the Member’s point that maybe we should look at this and work with the community to see how it is working and if we can do something differently and get input from the community. I’d be happy to do that.

To start with, can the Minister have her department facilitate, coordinate some community meetings with the end means of

developing some sort of community strategy on addictions and using some of the money she’s indicated already to begin the process of developing? I think that the community will build some momentum towards addressing addiction issues.

I would be happy to make the commitment to ask the staff to maybe start discussing with the Member’s constituency; seeing as we have 30 communities and we can’t start them all at once. I’d be happy to do that.

I do want to note that we are doing some work in the North, as I indicated earlier. We’ve been working with GTC and IRC and we are making some progress in that area. I am planning on making an announcement on that which is more community-based. We are doing that work but we have a vast Territory and we have very regional, different, unique characteristics. I agree with the Member that we need to be flexible in how we work with our communities and regions.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Minister consider shifting resources, both human and financial, in the area of addictions as opposed to residential treatment to community-based treatment in order to provide much needed support at the community level?

Yes, I am willing to look at that. We need to be mindful of the fact, though, that addictions and mental health programming needs to have a spectrum of services and there is a place for residential and more acute care. We have been looking at some of the money we are spending on sending people down south to institutional settings and we have been refocusing our energy on seeing if we can use that resource better within the Territories. This is what we are doing in the North. So yes, I’d be happy to discuss that further with the Member.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today my Member’s statement was on the arts and crafts centre opening up in Ulukhaktok. It would be a huge loss if we lose any skills necessary to continue our traditional arts and crafts; therefore, will this government ensure the resources are in place for the community-based workshops to increase awareness of these areas?

Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bob McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are quite pleased to be invited to participate in the official opening of the Ulukhaktok Arts Centre. It’s been about a 20-year hiatus since prints were produced in what is formerly Holman Island. The prints are world-class so we’ll certainly work very closely with the community arts centre to make sure that we can promote as many workshops as we can so that the artisans and printmakers can expand their skills and learn some new, modern techniques.

The initiative such as the Subsidiary Company Program with the NWT BDIC is an excellent way to create jobs in the communities; development services promote traditional arts. Will this government look at providing similar assistance to other community-based businesses to service the export of products?

In this 16

th

Assembly, this

government, when we looked at one of our priorities of developing a diversified economy, what we decided early on was to promote development in every one of our 33 communities. Our focus was to get at least one development in every community. We are certainly trying to make sure that happens in every one of our 33 communities.

Really good job, Mr. Minister. But now the point I’m trying to bring up is Tuk needs one now. We need an arts centre in Tuk because between Tuk, Ulukhaktok and Sachs, Sachs has the muskox, Ulukhaktok has the print shop and carving shop, now will the Minister help me to work with a committee out of Tuk to get a carving shop in Tuk? We had it about 10 years ago but it failed. Now I think that the community is looking at trying to help out the younger generation of carvers. Will the Minister commit to helping me get a carving shop in the community of Tuktoyaktuk?

When I look at the Member’s riding of Nunakput I know that there are four communities there, and in Ulukhaktok we have the arts centre, and in Sachs Harbour we have the muskox subsidiary, and in Paulatuk we have Darnley Bay. In Tuk, in addition to having the largest reserves for oil and gas, we have a building there and we can work with the Member to develop a carving centre, if that’s what the community wishes.

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