Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In May of 2001, the Premier of the day then tasked a steering committee to develop a partnership that would work on the issue of disabilities to promote inclusion of persons throughout the Northwest Territories through their disabilities. With that task force, they devolved through their Disability Steering Committee, they developed a partnership that identified five key areas, and I suspect my good colleague to my left, Ms. Bisaro, will be referring to them as well.

Under education: ensuring the...(inaudible)...free lifelong learning opportunities that maximize the potential of individuals with disabilities are realized.

Under employment: enhance the employability of persons with disabilities, encourage re-entry into the labour market and support more work opportunities.

Under income: design a system that is representative to the needs of persons with disabilities and provides for an income safety net which rewards individual's work efforts to the greatest extent possible, but which provides financial assistance if self-support is impossible and insufficient to meet the basic needs.

Under disability support the goal was to ensure that disability support provide for an active participation at home, at school, in the community and they maximize personal and economic independence.

Finally, the fifth area was housing, a goal to ensure that persons with disabilities will be provided with a range of housing opportunities that are affordable, accessible and that maximizes their independence.

At the time it was very forward thinking and all those involved should be applauded, but in 2008, when the Minister of the day presented to the House the NWT Action Plan for Persons with Disabilities, it was a leap forward. But that's as far as it went. Since that time, begrudgingly, the NWT Council for Disabilities has been trying to follow up to find out where it's gone. They had one question, which was: what's been accomplished? Other than a flurry of activity and scrambling for a little bit of excitement, little has been shown for the great report that was put together to change and improve the lives of people with disabilities.

The NWT Disabilities Council took it upon themselves to get out there into the communities, talk to service agencies, reach out and find out what's really happening on the ground. They found that there are so many people in the Northwest Territories - in the range of 16 percent, I believe it is - 14.6 percent of the population has a disability.

Although time is running out, this issue is still vibrant and very important. Rather than me extending my Member's statement, I'll have my good colleague to my left, Ms. Bisaro, pick up where I've left off. But it's an important issue all the same.