Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we did have, I think, a fairly detailed public presentation on this area with the standing committee. Basically we're in the same position we were then. We need to get this budget approved, at this point we will begin to establish positions, get the job descriptions written, get them evaluated, and then pursue staffing. We are reaching out to schools right now to try to find people. If the schools have people who are qualified who are doing similar work now, we are certainly absolutely open to equivalencies. Hopefully we will get some of the existing people to come over and work with us, and we're intending to have them in place prior to the next school year.

Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Mr. Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I appreciate the Minister's answer. I understand, through this whole process, we haven't done the job descriptions. Is that correct? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister Abernethy.

We have a project team to pull together all of the relevant details and information to draft some job descriptions, but until such a time as the budgets are approved, we're not going to go ahead and draft job descriptions. Most of the information has been compiled; we still have to follow our process, job descriptions, submit them for job evaluation, get position numbers, go out for recruitment, but we're really targeting being up and running for the school year, so September 2018. I think we've got more than enough time to do that.

In the meantime, we still have been reaching out to schools and other groups to try to find -- you know, it's certainly created a level of interest in these positions so that, when we do recruit, hopefully we will have people with an interest out there already. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Mr. Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess my concern is the job evaluation process. I've seen, in other departments, the process take up to a year, and that is a huge concern for me, especially with the need for these positions. In my riding especially, some of the challenges that we've been facing. So I guess my question is: does the Minister feel comfortable that these job evaluation processes are going to go smoothly? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister Abernethy.

Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Mr. Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I thank the Minister for that answer. Can the Minister commit to keep me informed, as well, on updates on what's happening? Especially with the Deh Cho positions. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. No, but I will commit to keeping the chair of the committee informed. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Mr. Thompson.

That was a good little humour, and I thank you very much. So what I'll do is I'll get the chair to give it to me; we'll work on that. In my final closing comment here, I have to applaud the department. I've said this before in my reply to the budget address, and I have to applaud the Department of Education, Culture and Employment for taking this unique way of doing things. I mean, I was a little skeptical or concerned with it. I had long conversations with the Minister and people back home on this, and I, again, thank the department. I thank them very much. It is muchly needed, and I'm just hoping that we can fill these positions and meet and help our residents as we move forward. So, again, I'd like to thank the Minister and the department for doing this and taking this initiative, and the Minister of ECE and their staff, too. At that point in time, thank you; that will be my last question in this area. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister Abernethy.

Thank you, and we're looking forward to rolling this out. I mean, we know there are going to be a few challenges along the way, but we heard from the kids. We heard from the kids, and they indicated this is an important tool and resource they need. I'm happy to see the support we have from committee, and I'm happy to continue to push this forward over the next four years, this year starting in the Deh Cho. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Any further questions? Ms. Green.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, when the standing committee reviewed the business plan, we made a recommendation that the department look at developing a safe house pilot project so that communities that don't have family violence shelters, which is most of the communities in the NWT, would have a place that women and children, primarily women and children, could flee in the event that they needed to for their safety. I'm wondering if the Minister has given any consideration to developing this idea along with the NWT Housing Corporation? We thought that it could be dual-purpose; it could provide shelter for family violence and emergency homelessness. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We've have some conversations between the Minister and me about whether or not there are houses available, and other things, but we haven't really fleshed anything out, and we don't really know what's available. I'm prepared to have more conversations with the Minister as well as committee, but when it comes to this particular area, my first priority is to get a formula developed for the shelters to make sure that we are getting the money that we need to the shelters and getting that stabilized first. That doesn't mean that I don't hear the Member. It doesn't mean that I don't think there's value in what the Member is saying. I'm just setting some priorities, but I am prepared to have more conversations with the Minister to explore the concept, to see what is possible. I think it's important to have more conversations with committee on this one, and get some more creative solutions around this, because there is certainly some need out there. If we could use it for multiple purposes, that might be the best way to go.

So nothing significant, other than a few additional discussions. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Ms. Green.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So what I hear is that this is a discussion point. I guess what I want to say is I appreciate that your priority is the formula, but I want to say that my priority is the safety of the women who live in the 11 communities that don't have police and they don't have shelters. Like, they are really in a stuck place when it comes to protecting themselves from a violent partner. So I really encourage him to keep talking with the Housing Minister and with the standing committee about a pilot program to see whether there is some possibility here for us to provide safety to women in communities where they don't have it, either through the police or through a family violence shelter. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister Abernethy.