Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to talk today about the need for the regional petroleum advisory to be located within the Deh Cho First Nations.

I have received a letter from the Deh Cho First Nations for the Honourable Joseph Handley that proposes a need for greater cooperation. It is pointed out by Grand Chief Michael Nadli, in his letter to Minister Handley, that it is important that the Government of the Northwest Territories work closely with the Deh Cho First Nations in developing oil and gas initiatives in the Deh Cho.

Oil and gas development will not occur in the Deh Cho without consent and participation of the Deh Cho First Nations. It logically follows, Mr. Speaker, that it is important that a meaningful dialogue be maintained between the Government of the Northwest Territories and the Deh Cho First Nations. Locating the regional petroleum advisor within the Deh Cho First Nations office will accomplish this.

Mr. Speaker, the Deh Cho First Nations believes the regional petroleum advisor could assist the First Nations in dealing with oil and gas companies and in preserving traditional lands. Easy accessibility to the advisor would help the First Nations in meeting the challenges that oil and gas development would bring.

It is time for this government to accept that the government functions need to flow to the people. Locating the regional petroleum advisor within the Deh Cho First Nations office will accomplish this. Thank you.

Thank you. Yesterday, after his statement, we undertook to try to find copies of the policies and it is not on the Internet. Our researchers could not find it. I was wondering if that information could be made public? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to pick up along the line of questioning I had with the Minister responsible for Aboriginal Affairs yesterday. In his response to my question, he stated that if negotiations fall within the policies presently in the Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs, there will be no need for Cabinet to be consulted.

I would like to ask the Minister if he could provide me with a copy of the policies from the Ministry's policy manual?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to take the time to thank volunteers from the Hay River Reserve. A constituent of mine went missing from the Hay River Reserve last week. On the day that I heard the news, I tried to contact several places on the reserve, including the band office and I could not get a hold of anyone. Everyone was out searching.

Mr. Ernest Tambour went missing from the Judith Fabian Centre on the reserve. This facility provides extended care services to the elderly and the mentally challenged. A ground, air and water search was conducted by Hay River Royal Canadian Mounted Police; RCMP police dog services from Peace River; Edmonton's RCMP air section; Hay River Coast Guard auxiliary; Hay River Fire Department; the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development; Evergreen Forest Management; South Mackenzie Correctional Centre, and a number of local area residents.

Mr. Speaker, I am happy to say that Mr. Tambour was found unharmed. He endured six nights alone in the bush. He was taken to the hospital for observation and he suffered only sore feet. Today, he is out of the hospital. He is resting and has been visited by his family and friends, who are grateful for his safe return.

I would like to thank the volunteers who found Ernest and would like to take this opportunity to thank all the rescuers for their continued support in ensuring the safety of the people, and thank the residents who volunteered in the search. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

My final question is, would there be some consideration, for example, if the Deh Cho First Nations wanted to assume management of all their own housing programs. Would there be some consideration for transfer of funding over to them in a block type transfer?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My comments are on the housing situation that seems to be happening across the board and all the smaller aboriginal communities. Over the last while, it seems we have not been able to provide housing to a lot of the people in the communities.

For example, in Fort Providence, I know for a fact that we had upwards of 25 people apply for houses last year. We could only provide two. They had to be IHP houses because nobody qualifies for the Expanded Downpayment Assistance Program houses. That program does not seem to work in the smaller communities.

As the land claims groups and the aboriginal groups in the regional organizations are demanding more and more jurisdiction and more authority, placing more demands on this government to run their own programs, I think we are going to see a lot more requests to look at the block funding type arrangements where they can provide their own houses. The way that we have designed this whole department to provide houses proves to be very costly.

Houses that are probably only worth $80,000 on the real market end up, because of the Business Incentive Policy and other factors, coming out to $150,000. Nobody can afford the house and if they can, it becomes very expensive on a monthly basis. We all know that the housing program is being funded on a reduced or declining scale.

Down the road, the money is going to become even scarcer than it is. While we all live in the communities that are facing housing shortages, we have people with nine, ten and sometimes more in the house. We cannot deal with the issues that are out there facing us, such as healing and education.

I can see the aboriginal governments demanding more control over their block funding so they can provide their own type of management and try to meet the demand that is out there and not be restricted by the different formulas and guidelines this department has right now.

I wanted to ask the Minister if there have been any requests by any of the aboriginal governments to run their own housing programs.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I certainly want to encourage the Minister and his department to start looking at new and different options. It seems like we are stuck in the same rut. We are talking about the same issues over and over and getting the same response that there is no money, when in fact, there are many different initiatives we could look at.

Under the environmental concerns, I want to raise the issue again that I raised in the House regarding the ice bridge at Fort Providence. It is more and more becoming an area for a potential disaster. We had a close call this year. There is a need for highway patrol and enforcement in that area. I had asked the question to the Minister and he had indicated he would look at that seriously. I want to remind the Minister that we have on average 13 to 15 accidents on the highway with the bison and we do not have any highway patrol there to enforce the speed limits.

Has the Minister given some thought to the idea of having a highway patrol officer located in the community of Fort Providence?

The reason I bring up the barging relocation is because of my next question. It kind of ties in but it is also another option that I have looked at and many other people in my riding have looked at. It is looking at extending the rail link that goes to Enterprise and turning it north so that it would go to the south side of the Mackenzie River. It would make a lot of sense, in my opinion, and would save wear and tear on the highway system, although that would probably be the extent of what we could look at because we do not have a bridge yet. I am just curious if the Minister has had any discussions with any of the rail companies and if he has even considered extending the rail link north to the south side of Fort Providence.

Thank you, that is good to hear. I have heard the Premier indicate that there is a real desire to increase the exploration season for oil companies by constructing a number of small bridges in the Sahtu area and in the areas north of here. It really makes a lot of sense, but I was just wondering if the Minister has ever looked at trying to increase, by the same token, the shipping season along the Mackenzie for barging. I have noticed through my life in the community of Fort Providence that once the ice on the Mackenzie goes, it is another month before the tugboats can get out of Hay River because of the ice that is on the lake. The season does not usually start until the end of June, when the ice has gone out in mid-May. We probably could get another month or so of shipping if we had looked at relocating the barging headquarters or putting a launching facility in the community of Fort Providence, or at least in the area. I would like to ask the Minister if he has looked at that kind of a scenario?