Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just to clarify, yesterday there was an indication that rates have not changed for foster care since I believe it was 1996. This is in fact not correct.

In 2007 there was a review of foster rates done here in the Northwest Territories, and from the results of that review, the rates increased in most of the communities in the Northwest Territories based on an assessment of food costs, including baby formula, operation of automobiles and trucks, household cleaning supplies and other paper goods, personal care items, water, fuel and electricity, reading materials and other printed materials. These are the criteria that were used in determining the rates, and those rates, as I indicated, increased in most communities in the Northwest Territories.

On top of that, we also added an age of child amount, which increased the base amount that was provided to foster families by either four, three or five dollars, depending on the age of the child. This was done in 2007. Following up on the recommendations from committee, we are doing another analysis to make sure that the rates are still appropriate, and we're working very closely with the Foster Family Coalition who is partnering with us on this review of the individual rates. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.