Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we are going to be moving forward with 258 long-term care beds here, in the Northwest Territories, over the next. I think it's the next four or five years which are going to create a significant demand for employees. It's going to be hundreds and hundreds of jobs here, in the Northwest Territories, 60 in Hay River, 60 in Inuvik, probably more here, in Yellowknife, and then more again in Simpson. All of these people are going to be trained. Some of them are going to be RNs; some of them will be resident-care aides; some of them may be admin staff, these types of things; non-statutory jobs. We will be working to hire people and train people on the job where appropriate. There is certainly opportunity for people to come into the healthcare system for non-statutory jobs and get training on the job.

Human resources just got up two different programs. One is a senior management program, and one is more of a development program for more entry. These are opportunities we can use to train local people for local work. I have already told the department I want to see that happen.

When it comes to resident-care aides and nurses, obviously nurses have to go through a program. A program involves classroom time, a learning on non-patients, practice on non-patients, but it always includes clinical practice. It always includes clinical practice. We have been a partner with Education, Culture and Employment and with the college to facilitate clinical placements in all of our facilities throughout the Northwest Territories.

With resident-care aides, it's the same. The program was in Inuvik. I actually had an opportunity to get in there and meet some of the students. It's the same. There has to be a lot of, sort of, up-front training development that's done in a classroom setting so that they can go into the health centres or the long-term care facilities and provide safe support while they are consolidating their learning. We have worked with the school to work on clinical placements.

In my mind, as I believe it is in yours, there is a great opportunity for us to work with the college to do some clinical learning to help provide some of those services. These are students. They aren't necessarily registered professionals, so there are still some, you know, risk or accountability issues we have to make sure we address. We are absolutely going to work with Aurora College, and we are absolutely going to work with Education to facilitate clinical learning within our facilities, including the new long-term care facility when it opens.