Thank you, committee. Moving on to the Member for Nunakput.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Just in regard to the Northern Food Development Program that they're talking about. We haven't really had that up in my riding, in the Beaufort-Delta. This year, you know, due to COVID-19, no tourism, nothing going on. Traditional foods, we used to have a lot of sharing between communities with the Inuvialuit and the up-river communities. For instance, Ulukhaktok has Arctic char and muskox; Sachs Harbour has muskox; Tuktoyaktuk has whitefish and beluga whales; Paulatuk has char and caribou. We have to look at things with a different approach. I'm just wondering if our EDOs, are they looking into something like working with traditional food swaps in between the communities for the COVID-19 days ahead in regard to that? That's my question. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member. Minister.

Thank you, Madam Chair. It appears that, under that fund, we spent $79,000 in the Beaufort-Delta. I'm not familiar with whether or not an actual sort of food-sharing or swapping program has been developed in that region, but I'm definitely interested in exploring something like that. Anytime we can have people eating as much country food as possible and, as well, keeping them on the land and traditionally harvesting, I think it's a great thing. This probably does have, I don't want to throw other Ministers under the bus, some overlap with ENR -- he's perking up back there -- abit of a conversation with ENR about how we could do harvesting and sharing food amongst different communities. I think that's a great idea, so I commit to taking that back and looking at that for the Member. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Nunakput.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Just that being said, with our EDOs in our communities, I think we should be passing that information on. I'll be doing that in regard to, like, a co-op between the communities, and see what they want to share, if possible. People used to come in, like tourists, and they would buy your whitefish and dried fish, and stuff like that, so just giving them an opportunity to sell their products or trade into communities, I think that's really good, to start like a little co-operative between communities.

One other question I do have, my last question, is: is there a possibility to start up having community freezers again in the communities? We had it before. It's been taken away, but then you have people, you get those little chest freezers the size of this and, you know, you can't live off that for the whole year for your family, if you have a big family, especially if you feed a lot of people. So a community freezer, a walk-in freezer for a community like they have in Paulatuk to assist those communities so they can get access. Good hunting time, they'll fill it up, and then it will last you from August to after Christmas, until April. Just a thought on that in regard to community freezers, if it's possible to do that with this COVID-19 that's happening, before COVID-20 comes. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member. Minister.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm really hoping we don't see COVID-20. I want to see the end of COVID-19, that's for sure.

Community freezers have been another, not to do it to him again, but an ENR program in the past. However, your point is really noted that this would be a huge component of the food security discussion that we are having. Clearly, it would not, then, just be myself with the Health and Social Services, but we'll also be looping in ENR, as well. I do think that this is a conversation I can relay back not only to my economic development officers, for your other points, but also we'll have this conversation as part of the food security conversation. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister. I will move on to Member for Frame Lake.

Thanks, Madam Chair. This page, too, is one of my favourites. I'm looking at the 2018-2019 BDIC annual report and I see that they have an accumulated surplus of $33.445 million as of March 31, 2019. Can I get an explanation as to why there is such a large surplus for BDIC? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member. Minister.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The BDIC has a mandate or a legally mandated item to carry so much money in the fund. I don't have the details on that, so I think I am going to pass that over to Ms. St-Denis, but it isn't $30 million just to spend. I'll let her clarify that. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Ms. St-Denis.

Thank you. Member for Frame Lake.

Thanks. I appreciate the fact that some of the assets might be in tangible assets of some sort. What is this sort of cash surplus that is available to BDIC that gets carried over? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member. Ms. St-Denis.

Thank you. Any questions related to BDIC, maybe we will hold off until we are under the information items. There is a section that is directly related to that. Thank you. Member for Frame Lake.

Thanks, Madam Chair. I guess I have one question: what's a DFA? Director of finance and administration or something? Okay, a good guess, I guess, on my part.

I have some questions, though, about the five-year review that was done. Do I wait until we look at that page? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Do we have the information to answer that? Minister.

Thank you, Madam Chair. All that was stated is that there was a five-year plan done. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Member.

Okay. I guess I will go down this rabbit hole, then. There was a five-year review done in, I think it was 2019. I am just wondering whether the department or the Minister has actually ever responded to that, and what is the status of progress on implementing the changes that were recommended? Thanks, Madam Chair.