Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will answer that question, but I just want to give a little bit of background first. The Canadian Mental Health Association, the NWT division, made a decision to discontinue the NWT Helpline as well as other services while reviewing their current operations. To avoid any disruptions, the Department of Health and Social Services has been working with the NWT division to transfer ownership of the NWT Helpline, the phone number and the website, to the department.

The Department of Health and Social Services has an interim contract in place with Sykes Assistance Services Corporation, or Sykes, to operate the NWT Helpline until July 31, 2014. Sykes offers a number of speciality telephone line services across Canada and other countries, including roadside assistance to quick lines. The contract is in place for six months from February 1, 2014, to July 31, 2014, so that requests for proposals can be advertised, so we will be going out to seek a contractor.

The current contract comes in two phases. Effective February 1st we will have and we will see an

increase in operations from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. seven days a week. This is an increase from 7:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. which we had previously. Services through individual people on the line include emotional support for crisis and non-crisis situations, referral to community-based services, engaging third-party services when required and support to concerned family members and friends.

We do have a second phase that is coming into place, which is going to increase the hours of service and operations to 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and that will be coming in on March 1st .