Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Nadli.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My final question is: Would there be any positions decentralized to Fort Providence? Mahsi.

There’s no song and dancing here. There will be positions that will be identified. As we develop our plan, we will identify those positions that will be decentralized. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are going to be on the Mental Health Act. I welcome the Minister and the department in the work moving forward. On the Department of Health’s website, there are four discussion papers and the government is asking for feedback by December 10th .

After the feedback has been given to the department, what is the timeline to get an LP,

legislative proposal, to this government for review? Does he have a timeline getting the LP to this government, so we can move forward on this act? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Moses. Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Member for his question and I also thank the Member for encouraging residents of the Northwest Territories to get involved and bring their thoughts and concerns about the Mental Health Act to the department. This is a significant act. It’s a very old act, as the Member has identified, and it’s going to take a bit of time to work through the whole process and make the changes necessary. But without input from committee and without input from residents of the Northwest Territories, it is impossible. So we need the time, Mr. Speaker.

I will commit today to have the LP and act come to committee and follow the normal process by fall next year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We’ve got about six weeks, I’d say, less than six weeks to get feedback on these discussion papers on a very important act that’s going to affect all residents of the Northwest Territories.

If the Minister and his department don’t receive sufficient feedback in that amount of time, December 10th , would the Minister be willing to

extend the deadline to access feedback on the discussion papers? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

This is the first round of collecting information after the discussion items and discussion papers have gone out. After that, there will obviously be some initial work on some drafting and working on the legislative proposal. From that point, we will be seeking input from stakeholders from across the Northwest Territories and move forward to the point where we’re closer to being ready to go forward with an LP and discussion with committee. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Outside of the Northwest Territories, I know other jurisdictions across Canada have some very stringent, very strong mental health legislation.

Is the Minister willing to look at other jurisdictions across Canada to mirror some of that legislation and things that could work in those jurisdictions that can also work here in the North? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

In the reworking of this act, we will absolutely look at legislation from other jurisdictions. I will not commit to something that I have not read, but if there is something identified in other jurisdictions that consultants

show will work in the Northwest Territories, we’re certainly willing to look at it. At the same time, the government has already done a significant amount of work on this over the years. There’s been report after report after report on mental health and addictions and other issues. We’ve got the information and it’s time to actually start doing something.

As I’ve indicated, we will come forward with the Mental Health Act, barring any unforeseen circumstances or barriers, within the life of this government. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Moses.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I did take a look at those discussion papers going forward on this Mental Health Act. I know Members on this side of the House have asked for a wellness court to be brought forth in this government.

Would the Minister be looking at possibly incorporating some type of wellness court provision within this legislation? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We’ve already committed to move forward with a wellness court here in the Northwest Territories. We hope to have the beginning aspects of it by April 1, 2014. Having said that, I’m not sure we actually need to incorporate it into legislation. It may be something that we may benefit from doing, but it would be impossible for me to say at this time without us finishing our analysis. So I will certainly have the departments, both Justice and Health and Social Services, look at it to see if it’s appropriate.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In follow-up to my Member’s statement, I have some questions for the Minister of ITI. Can the Minister provide the production numbers for this year’s summer production on the Great Slave Lake commercial fishery?

Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. The Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Over the past 20 years, the amount of fish taken from Great Slave Lake would amount to about 2.2 million pounds. In the last number of years… I think the Member asked for last year, the total exported from the NWT in thousands of pounds was 1,038, so that would be 103,000 pounds.

As I indicated in my Member’s statement, I believe that this is an important asset for the Northwest Territories, and a commodity. I’m

just wondering what the department has done to invest in the NWT commercial fishery to assist those people in the industry.

On an annual basis, we have a program that supports fishers here in the NWT. It amounts to about $225,000 a year, broken down into a number of program initiatives. But this summer I appeared before a parliamentary committee on fisheries, and basically spelled out to them the importance of the fishery on Great Slave Lake here in the Northwest Territories. I gave them some historical perspective on the fishery, where we wanted to see it go and how important it was for us to reinvigorate the fishery on Great Slave Lake.

Through the work of the Economic Opportunities Strategy that we’ve just tabled in the House this week, it squarely pointed to the fact that we need to do more with the commercial fishery here in the Northwest Territories. I have committed to putting a lot of effort into reinvigorating the fishery on Great Slave Lake. We need to find some funding. There are a couple of key areas: We need a new processing facility in Hay River. We also need to put some money into an aging fleet that’s out on the lake. Thirdly, we need to find some more people that are interested in getting into the business of fishing on Great Slave Lake.

It’s a great resource. It’s underutilized. We also need to find a way to get that product here in a domestic capacity, into stores and onto people’s kitchen tables here in the Northwest Territories.

The Minister indicated he has been working and talking to people in Ottawa. I’m just wondering what he’s been doing as far as with the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation and their monopoly that they have on the operations, and have there been any discussions about opening up the borders and opening up marketing opportunities for the fishers that are producing.

We have had discussions with FFMC as recently as earlier this year, and we see the relationship with that organization as being the key to getting a new fish processing facility into Hay River. We believe that working with them, there has been a changing of heart with the fishermen in Hay River. They’ve wanted in, they’ve wanted out, they’re back in. We do believe that there is some utility in us maintaining that relationship with that organization.

But, again, I think that’s good on the export side, but we’ve got a domestic market here in the Northwest Territories that, again, I think we really need to find a way to get fish from Great Slave Lake into stores around the Northwest Territories. With a new processing facility to be built in Hay River – and we’re going to try to find the funding to allow us to do that – I think we can certainly have the best of both worlds and be exporting fish from

the Northwest Territories and supplying the domestic market here at home.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bouchard.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister indicated the production numbers, and those numbers are quite a bit lower than we actually have the capacity to have as a sustainable quota. We have two million pounds, I think, per year where we can actually sustain that product, that volume every year for years to come. The indications are that we’re well below that quota, and what is the department doing to get more fishers into the industry, get the productivity of the current fishers up and increased, we know that that group of people is not getting any younger. How is the department encouraging investment in that industry?