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

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’ve just completed a report, entitled “The Sector Analysis and Action Plan for Screen-Based Media Production in the Northwest Territories.” We’re going to use this information, the information gleaned in that report, as the basis for a film strategy for the Northwest Territories, which we hope to have completed by March of 2015. So a lot of work is continuing to move forward on this. Thank you.

We just received the report, so we haven’t had a full analysis of it.

Can the Minister indicate the revocations of the current industry that we have in the Northwest Territories and what kind of impacts and benefits we’ve been getting from that? Thank you.

Thank you. It’s just under $10 million, the annual figure that the film industry gives to the economy here in the Northwest Territories. That’s the latest figure that I have. Thank you.

Is there currently any funding available for film production? Like I indicated, we have Andrew Stanley and a small group of people that were creating a 10-part series.

Is there any funding available currently through ITI to do any of those types of projects? Thank you.

Thank you. We have our suite of business-related programs and services through ITI. In addition to that, we also have a new expenditure-based rebate program that we’ll be launching next month, November of this year. So we’re looking forward to seeing if that can be successful in helping to attract investment in the film industry here to the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know it’s key for the film industry to have that encouragement here, but does the department currently have a link between the film industry and… I know Ice Pilots was very appealing to tourism. Is there a link that has the film industry and tourism tied together?

As I indicated, Ice Pilots has been the big attraction throughout Canada and throughout the world to come to Canada, come north, come fly on a DC-3. So, have we used that in our tourism promotion as well? Thank you.

Thank you. We have a film commissioner here in the Northwest Territories who works at the Department of ITI and she’s certainly very well-versed in the film industry, the advance of film production here in the Northwest Territories. Shows that have been filmed here in the Northwest Territories have a direct correlation with tourism, and she certainly is well-plugged into NWT Tourism and the tourism staff that we have at the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. I’ve been raising concerns on several matters, but this matter is regarding breast cancer.

Cancer is kind of a personal mission of mine and I want to ensure that the public is educated and has the information to understand that cancer can be beaten.

So my question is as follows: The evidence clearly shows that screening is critical for preventing and effectively treating breast cancer. What is the department doing to increase the number of Dene, Inuit and Metis women to receive proper breast screening? Mahsi.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do thank the Member for the question. Cancer is one of the leading causes of death here in the Northwest Territories and breast cancer is certainly a huge problem here.

Experience has shown that the best means to improve breast cancer screening is to have an organized program of systematic recall. We have put in breast cancer screening services in the Northwest Territories and those programs are

located in Hay River, Yellowknife and Inuvik. As of this summer, June 2014, the Stanton Breast Cancer Screening Program added Behchoko to their organized Breast Cancer Screening Program. We’re hoping that this will help improve screening results for communities, which has been traditionally quite low.

I would say to the Member and I would say to all residents of the Northwest Territories, especially those living in small communities, early detection is key here. The earlier someone is detected the better. We do have well man and well woman clinics in all of the health centres throughout the Northwest Territories.

I would like to take this opportunity to encourage residents of the Northwest Territories to take advantage of those well man and well woman clinics and get in on a regular basis and get screened as early as possible. Thank you.

I’d like to thank the Minister for his reply. One thing I notice is that lifestyle factors play a huge role in the development of so many chronic diseases, factors such as eating, poor diet, heavy fat, sugar and processed foods, smoking, not getting enough exercise and consuming too much alcohol. In the North our Aboriginal populations have a lot of trouble in these areas. What is the government doing about it? Mahsi.

The Member is exactly right; it’s important to live healthy lifestyles. It’s important to eat healthy and be active, and that would help you, obviously, reduce your risk of getting cancer, including breast cancer.

Right now we’re currently working on the development of a Cancer Strategy here in Northwest Territories. The five key areas of that strategy will be: primary prevention and health promotion, so finding ways to encourage people to live a healthy and active lifestyle; emotional and cultural safety and delivery of diagnosis, getting people diagnosed early and making sure that when they are diagnosed there are supports throughout the Northwest Territories that they can utilize in their journey; we’ll talk about integrating patient supports and services along that journey; promotion of screening and early detection services; and empower patients to be effective self-advocates.

But this is going to take more than just the Government of the Northwest Territories. This is going to take partnerships. We have been working with the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer and we’ve been working on a number of different fronts, including things to reduce childhood obesity through education, reducing chronic disease by improving lifestyle choices, enhance relationships between care providers and Aboriginal cancer patients, strengthen the provision of high-quality continuous treatment, and survivorship care to Aboriginal care patients. So there are a number of

things we’re doing. We’re doing that in partnership with different groups and we have been working with residents who have had or gone through the cancer journey to share their stories and talk about healthy eating, healthy living and getting diagnosed early. Thank you.

The Minister makes reference to the development of a Cancer Strategy. I understand that’s been in the making for some time.

Can he tell the House the process and timeline of when that strategy will be developed and when it could be perhaps made available to this side of the House? Plus, at the same time, will that be part of a public campaign? Mahsi.

Thank you. We intend to have the strategy ready by June 2015, but at the same time, we’re not actually waiting for the strategy to be done. The work that I mentioned, we’re already in the process of doing. This is something that can’t wait.

We continue to work on the healthy choices, we continue to work on improving methods of getting people in and screened as early as possible. The strategy will help inform the things that we’re already doing and improve even more, but we are definitely not waiting for that strategy to be done.

I’d be happy to meet with committee and provide them with that strategy in June 2015, when it’s ready to roll out, for any additional input and guidance from committee. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Does the department have specific measurable long-term targets for reducing the number of new cancer patients? Mahsi.

Thank you. Due to the changes in the NWT Public Health Act in 2009, we were able to actually start collecting information on things like breast cancer and we have been collecting that data and reporting that data. That’s going to help us set targets. The longer that data continues, the better the information will be to help us make that evidence-based decision. So the answer is yes, we’re working with the statistics we have to improve our results here in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With the recent tabling of the 2013-2014 Public Accounts, I find myself asking some preliminary questions of valid transparent government spending. The sharing of information within consensus

government is critical to the implementation of risk-free services.

That said, in the context of corporate risk management, programs and services are continually being reviewed, evaluated and, especially, audited. I wish to discuss on a very high level those departments that deal with problematic and inherent risk. With that, my questions today will be for the Minister of Finance.

The Department of Finance apparently does an annual audit work plan that targets high-risk audits approved by an audit committee.

Can the Minister indicate to the House how many approved audits were planned for the 2013-2014 fiscal year and what percentages of these project audits were completed? Thank you.