Mr. Speaker, I would have to go back to the original intent of the program and that was that this program provides basic needs and they are fairly extensive here in the Northwest Territories, again, comparative to other jurisdictions and that may have been the confusing parts for other people to understand. The other part of the program is the productive choice program. That is a philosophy developed by this legislature, the previous one and we were adhering to it in the Towards a Better Tomorrow document, that we want productive, independent individuals so it gets away from that. Now, I know what the Member is saying, are we meeting the needs of people? Well, we do provide quite a bit of assistance to people, we provide housing needs, we provide the fuel needs, we provide the power needs in addition to food allowance, in addition to clothing allowance on a monthly basis plus on an annual basis for winter clothing and furniture allowance and things like that. It is not a great lifestyle, I am not suggesting that, Mr. Speaker, but it is providing the basic needs for our people in the Territories. I have to emphasize that no other jurisdiction provides that kind of support. It is essential in our territory, I believe in that, but we can't go beyond that or we are going to get to the point of having people being on income support earning a lot more than you could if you were out there in the workforce. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, our program here in the Northwest Territories is substantially different than any other jurisdiction across the country and that is we profile some of the money that comes in and we put it into two programs, one is called the Healthy Children's Initiative and the other one is the NWT Child Benefit Program that provides a worker's supplement to help people's transition from income support into the workforce, Mr. Speaker. We would have a detrimental situation on our hands if we changed this particular program because we would have to eliminate the Healthy Children's Initiative, which has programs in most of the communities around the North, plus the transition program for people to go from income support into the workforce would be adversely affected as well, Mr. Speaker.

While I appreciate the concern, and it is complex, that is the problem with a program of this nature and I appreciate the Member's concern with this and that people are no doubt asking about this as to why we do this, but it has a tremendous complexity to it. Over the years we have designed this program in certain ways to help encourage our people to move into educational programs or into work situations and that is what this re-profiling allows, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have briefed Cabinet on an informal basis on that, Mr. Speaker. Nothing formal has been submitted.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, that is the commitment I have made previously, Mr. Speaker. The issue is one of a cost factor here. We want to ensure the services to the students are not diminished because there is a feeling that it could be provided on a cheaper basis. We know from our studies of this that there is a certain level of service that must be provided for education districts. Thank you.

Thank you Mr. Speaker. This is a figure that has been provided to me. I have asked my officials to triple check this. It has been done in that fashion by my officials on a frequent number of occasions because the subject has cropped up. The issue is that it diminishes the ability of one organization to have the opportunity to provide services to all of its communities. We need to set up similar services in the Hay River community that is now provided out of one central office. We would be splitting that in essence and adding to the support staff that is in place now. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you Mr. Speaker. I am very pleased that the Member has asked me a question on this and the opportunity to speak on this, Mr. Speaker. There is a difficult situation between the DEC and the DEA and Hay River representatives. We are doing our best to resolve that issue through mediation. In terms of alternatives to this, we have suggested the process of mediation because we feel that it does need that process to see if some of the issues that are before us can be resolved. There is an opportunity for Hay River, which I have offered before, to have a separate DEA or DEC from the regional DEC. The cost factor has entered into this time and time again, Mr. Speaker, and that extra cost factor is substantial. It is approximately $500,000 or within that range, and as a government we are just not prepared to pay that particular price. I have stated that if the community looked at the possibility then there is some way to resolve it, in that fashion, then certainly we would be very, very interested in doing that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to recognize some members who attend the Tree of Peace Adult Education Program here in Yellowknife. Helene Usherwood is the instructor. Flossie Okoak, Theresa Martin, Theresa Wright, John Quitte, Michael Payne, Violet Kachkowski, Eli Ulayuk, Lawrence Mantla and Melanie Norwegian. They're up in the gallery, Mr. Speaker. Please help me welcome them.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. September 28 to October 4 is Literacy Week in the Northwest Territories, an opportunity for communities and residents to celebrate reading and support the need for literacy throughout our society.

Literacy is a person's ability to listen, speak, read, write, represent, compute and solve problems. This government has a vision for the Northwest Territories where all people can read and write, allowing them to participate as citizens, functioning fully in the family, in the community and on the job. We also see the NWT as a place where people value literacy in all official languages.

Since adopting the NWT literacy strategy in 2001, many exciting partnerships have been formed: with the NWT Literacy Council, Aurora College, the Native Women's Association of the Northwest Territories, the NWT Council of Persons with Disabilities, the NWT Seniors' Society, just to name a few. These groups work to ensure that the literacy needs of all citizens are taken care of. Partnerships also include non-government organizations at the local level and with the business sector. This ensures literacy remains at the forefront of all our efforts.

To help and encourage communities to celebrate Literacy Week, kits were sent to all schools, literacy programs, community learning centres, early childhood programs, libraries, friendship centres, community health representatives and other community groups. The kit contains a variety of literacy activities that can be delivered in each community.

Mr. Speaker, literacy is an issue that affects us all. Literacy contributes directly to a higher quality of life for individuals. This, in turn, fosters a more productive and self-reliant society.

I'd like to leave us with a quote today from Roy Richardson of Rae who won a Canada Post Literacy Award on Tuesday at the adult learners' luncheon held at Aurora College. He said, "I was afraid that people would tell me that I couldn't learn how to read. Two years of schooling got me here and I am afraid of nothing now."

Mr. Speaker, we couldn't have said this better. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize a constituent of mine and an employee of our Department of Education, Culture and Employment sitting over on my right, Sue Glowach.

---Applause