Thank you, Mr. Chairman. $41,000 does not go a long way when you have four communities.

Another question I have is since BHP Incorporated is operating programs for literacy, have they applied for funding? Would they qualify? Would they get their funding? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister responsible for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, the Honourable Jake Ootes.

As a Member of the Standing Committee on Social Programs, I was privileged to sit in on a discussion with the Members and organizations that are part of the Northwest Territories Literary Council. I was surprised to learn that BHP Ekati Mine plans to spend more on literacy training at the mine site then the Government of the Northwest Territories plans to spend in my entire North Slave riding.

Obviously, BHP recognizes the importance of having a literate workforce. Can the Minister inform the House what programs exist in the North Slave for people who want to upgrade their literacy? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yesterday was the last day of school for many students in the Northwest Territories. The closing of the school year makes me reflect on educational opportunities available to people within my riding. As a territory and as a nation, we take pride in the availability of educational services available to children within our country.

Access to public education is seen by many as a fundamental right of children. Access to education opportunities for adults is not so highly praised or supported. In my riding, 40 percent of my constituents are illiterate. People within the smaller communities do not have access to ongoing adult basic education programming.

I am sure we all know that grade requirements are the qualifier that is used for hiring in many jobs. The availability of and access to adult basic education courses significantly impacts the future of the North Slave.

A suggestion that we made was to encourage the development of a comprehensive literacy strategy for the Northwest Territories. At the appropriate time, I will have questions about literacy funding in the Territory. Thank you.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. What I was saying was that maybe the department can look at the statistics and say that this is needed in this community. We know that you brought us our proposal, but the criteria in there must change. We must have ABE. We need to train our people. We have to educate them. If we do not educate them, they cannot read the safety manuals and they cannot get jobs. That is what the mines are saying. The oil pipelines will be saying the same thing as well.

We have to have our ABE. I do not know what they do in some of the regions, with some of the boards, what kind of training they do, but I think we have to look at it very closely and pinpoint where we have to spend our funds in ABE and training our adults. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just on the ABE, again, so there are some communities without ABE for a couple of years. I am just wondering if the Minister, with the $650,000, will he be going to the councils or the boards, whoever the funds are going to and try to bring the programs back so we can educate our adults, so they can go into the mining field and the oil field?

Thank you. The Minister did not answer my question. The flexibility is there. The concern is are they giving us the services that the funds are there for, and the question is how do they control it? How do they monitor it? Are there any reviews on how the money is spent? Is it giving us what we want? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just have a couple of questions for the Minister regarding the ABE in the communities. Some of the other Members have touched on it, but I know in my region we have one community that has a 70 percent illiteracy rate. A number of years ago, one of the other community's funding was taken out of the community and given to one of the boards to administer and to bring the program into the community. By doing that, we lost the ABE program in our community. I am just wondering where Mr. Cleveland spoke of how they were going to fund these different communities for ABE or the skills and careers. How is the department is going to control the spending? How do they know the money is being spent on what it is being given for? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to table an advertisement from the June 28th issue of the Yellowknifer regarding land claims and self-government. It says:

"Self-government in jeopardy. Solution - the Dogrib invites the Government of the Northwest Territories Cabinet to meet and finalize the Dogrib land claims and self-government agreement. The Dogrib leadership has the political will. Do you, the Government of the Northwest Territories Cabinet Members, have the political will? Let us do what is right for the people of the Northwest Territories and finish this historic agreement."

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is a third in a series of which I have tabled previously. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when I look at the main estimates now, I still get confused when a project says North Slave, various, I wonder if some of these funds are for the North Slave riding or the Yellowknife area, since we are in the same region.

I would like to ask the Minister if the department can separate the projects by using community names in the future, until they change my riding name to an aboriginal name. Thank you.