I'm not sure if the Member is asking during the time the moratorium was in effect. If that is her question, then I would commit to her that I will follow up with the department to see the number of applications we may have had and for what particular reason. I will share it with the Members in this Assembly. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.

Thanks, Mr. Speaker. To the Minister: My question was not about during the moratorium period, but at any time.

What are the reasons that people are asking for leases for land within the moratorium area? My understanding is it is only ever for a cabin or hunting and fishing leases.

So, I'd like to ask the Minister if he could explain to me why he will not recognize, as I mentioned in my statement, that this is a significantly different request for a land lease. This is not a cabin or a hunting and fishing lease.

Why will he not help a motivated, ready-to-go-to-work organization and people get started on their project by approving this lease as an exception to the current moratorium? Thank you.

I've had the opportunity to meet with this group and I saw first-hand their commitment and their passion. However, this area is within the focus area and I do not wish to consider making an exception to one group. If I do that, then I may have a number of applications coming forward saying, “You make an exception for one group or organization or person, you can make an exception for me.” What that would do is open the door and that will go against all the work we are trying to do.

So again, I saw their commitment and passion first-hand and I commend them for that, but this is work that we anticipate to have done by mid-2016. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Minister of Education, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. We do provide financial literacy programs through our high school programming. Part of that is Grade 10 in career and life management studies and grades 10 to 12 financial management, career and technology studies. These are just some of the areas that we are currently delivering in our high schools.

Not only that but we've reached out to community learning centres, as well, across the Northwest Territories to deliver financial literacy, and also through different departments, such as career development officers, client service officers and probation officers. Those are some of the case officers that also went through the process and delivered the financial literacy courses in the regions and all the communities. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

I'm going to ask the Minister again, is he aware of the wide range of financial literacy available through the Junior Achievement Program? Is the Minister willing to support a pilot project in the upcoming school year where the Junior Achievement volunteers - not paid, volunteers - offer courses to elementary or high school students? Because the Sahtu Educational Board wants this program to know what the Minister is talking. We want a Grade 8 program. Is the Minister willing to look at that?

I wasn't aware of the new program that's out there. If the Member is willing to share that information, by all means, we can certainly look at it. Mahsi.

At one time this Junior Achievement Program did operate in the Northwest Territories and they stopped. Now the president of the program from northern Alberta NWT chapter of Junior Achievement has confirmed they are not currently, but they want to be, involved again in the Northwest Territories. So I'm glad that the Minister has indicated...

Will he direct his staff to contact the Northern Alberta and NWT Chapter of Junior Achievement and start kicking up the dust so that we can have a pilot project in the Northwest Territories? We have a volunteer here in the Northwest Territories willing to do that type of work. Will the Minister commit to this House that this will be done and prepared to look at it for the fall session of school for the kids?

We went through all the options that we have: career and life management studies, financial management, career technology course studies that we currently deliver to top it off with other programming. So we have to weigh our options, what's the best way to deliver those financial literacy courses into communities, into regions. So by all means, if that information is shared with us, we can seriously look at it and see what options we can work with. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Mr. Speaker, our children today are challenged with financial literacy. There's money coming out. It's going to be a bigger issue for them if they do not have the financial literacy. I think it's key in today's world that we give the children the opportunity to learn how to work with money, otherwise we'll continue to have poverty in the Northwest Territories. We have to do this for our children.

I want to ask the Minister again, you know, in regards to the financial literacy by this junior program. Is he going to be pushing strong, this department, this government, to look at volunteers - not paid, volunteers - to come into our schools and provide this free of charge in light of the financial restraint that our Finance Minister is telling us of? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

When it comes to financial literacy, the courses that are being delivered in high school, the purpose of financial modules is to provide our residents with the knowledge, skills and abilities required to manage their finances from young adults right through retirement. Where Members were referring to providing tools to these individuals, we are currently providing those modules in our schools. There are 11 different modules, such as managing debt, mortgages, retirement, bank accounts, banking and credit. So these are some of the core courses we are currently delivering. At the same time, if there are other programming or courses that are available, such as Junior Achievement, we can look at it, as well, as part of our literacy course options into our school system.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. I just want to follow up on my Member's statement talking about getting agreement with the BC health authorities to benefit the residents of Fort Liard and Nahanni Butte. I'm recalling a similar discussion with the former Minister of Health and Social Services and I would like to ask questions of the current Minister of Health and Social Services.

Will the Minister commit to making an invoicing agreement with the BC Health Authority? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Minister of Health, Mr. Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As Canadian citizens, residents of Fort Liard and Nahanni Butte have the ability to receive medically necessary services anywhere in the country that they wish. The NWT actually has a reciprocal billing arrangement with all the provinces and territories throughout the country under our obligations under the Canada Health Act. These agreements ensure that residents obtain medically necessary physician and hospital services when they are temporarily outside of the Northwest Territories without having to pay up front. This is true everywhere, with the exception of Quebec who will likely bill up front and then, through our reciprocal billing, we will reimburse. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I think the Minister's talking about someone who wanted to privately do it, but what we're talking about is residents not having any confidence of using our health care in those smaller communities and it's sad to say that, standing up here today. But the residents want to have an arrangement with BC Health and I think one of the barriers was the electronic medical records, so we've got that now.

I was wondering if the Minister can move forward with making an arrangement where residents of Fort Liard and Nahanni Butte can go to Fort Nelson for their health care needs. Thank you.

First and foremost we should be working with the residents of Fort Liard and Nahanni Butte to restore their confidence in the health care system. We are moving forward to make significant changes in how we provide services. I did have an opportunity to visit Fort Liard and Nahanni Butte and I have been working closely with the public administrator and CEO, trying to find ways to restore that confidence.

If somebody is sick, they should use the health centre. But as a resident of Canada, they do have the right to go wherever they chose and we do have reciprocal billing agreements.

Our challenge isn't with our ability to ensure that those medically necessary services are paid for, because we have agreements in place. Our challenge is if an individual chooses, under their own choice, to go to, say, Fort Nelson for a doctor's appointment and then that doctor in turn refers that person to home care or some other diagnostic process, they will often refer within their own system for which we don't have reciprocal billing agreements. If somebody wants to receive home care and it's ordered in BC but they want it delivered in Fort Providence, we actually have no records of that order actually taking place, which is, I think, the point the Member is trying to get to.

We need to make an arrangement with BC. But before we do that, we're actually working on refreshing our agreements with Alberta and Nunavut and that's going to help inform the discussions with BC, should we choose to go in that direction.

I've asked the department to complete a bit of a cost-benefit analysis to determine whether it's actually going to be feasible to establish this specific service agreement for residents of the Deh Cho between the NWT and BC and that will also help inform the discussions. But in the meantime, somebody who wishes to go to BC will not be billed for medically necessary services.

I think the Minister touched briefly about one of the core issues. The core issue is that they're being turned away from the health centres; they are being given aspirins and they don't have the confidence to say... In fact, in a couple of cases - the Minister was there - we heard residents just say, “Okay, fine. I've got a sick child. I'm going to Fort Nelson to get my sick child's needs taken care of.” That shouldn't be, Mr. Speaker. Our health care system should pay attention to all of our constituents who are out there, take care of their needs, identify what exactly is the problem and that's what I'm getting at. I'm talking about that they should be getting referred over to Fort Nelson for quicker attention and for their health needs. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I did visit Fort Liard and Nahanni Butte with the Member and we did actually have this conversation and we want to have the best health care possible here in the Northwest Territories. We want to make sure that when an individual goes into that Fort Liard Health Centre, they're getting proper treatment and diagnosis and referral as appropriate. Currently, it's a referral within the Northwest Territories or to Alberta, and as I indicated, we're going to finish our work with Alberta and Nunavut which will help inform future discussions with BC.

But, Mr. Speaker, in the meantime, when we were in Fort Liard and Nahanni Butte, I asked those residents who were expressing their concerns to work with us. We have a quality assurance professional in each of the authorities who can help us make improvements within the local delivery systems and address those concerns that have been raised.

I strongly encourage residents who are having issues to please get in touch with the quality assurance staff in the Dehcho authority so we can look into the issues that the residents are bringing forth so we can fix them and work with the communities to restore the confidence in the system.

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