That goes right in line with my next question. Is the department working with all the other departments within the government to ensure that these types of fish products from the Northwest Territories are in the jails, in the hospitals, in the schools? Are they working to market in those areas?

I’m aware of the discussion on Freshwater. My concern is the availability to allow fishermen in the Northwest Territories to go out on their own and market in those areas. Some believe that BC and Alberta may be areas to expand. My question is: Has the department been working on other marketing of the fish along with Freshwater, I guess?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Like I made a speech on my Member’s statement about the fishing industry in Hay River, I’d like the Minister of ITI to maybe let me know if they’ve had any discussions about opening the NWT borders. We have, throughout the country, everybody wanting to open the borders through NAFTA and through European agreements. Are they looking at that availability for fishermen to sell out to the other provinces?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As many of you know, Hay River is known for its long-standing history of fishing industry in the community. The industry is at one of its weakest points. The industry has many issues such as the price per pound that they can get for their catch, the price of gasoline and the limited amount of youth that want to work in that harsh of an industry.

One of the issues that has been debated is the marketing of northern fish, whether it be to the Fresh Water Marketing Corporation. Where else can we sell the fish that they catch in Hay River and the Great Slave Lake for the best dollar?

One area that I would like to open up to the fishermen is the NWT border. In today’s economy with free trade, NAFTA, demands from provinces to open the borders to every province and territory, and even Europe wanting free trade, but the NWT fishermen cannot sell their fish to other provincial customers.

My questions today will be for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment to open our borders for the fishing industry. We don’t need to teach these people how to fish; we just need the NWT government to give the fishing industry a fighting chance.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish I could have more questions, but my last question would be: In the review, is there an analysis of what the cost savings are to have these births in the communities as opposed to having to travel and stay in communities such as Yellowknife or Edmonton or Grande Prairie for these families?

I guess my question to the Minister would be: How do we get our communities on the review and on the radar to have this type of program available to them?

My next question for the Minister is: Is the review being done for all communities in the Northwest Territories? Is it regionally focused or Yellowknife focused? Where is the focus?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I indicated in my Member’s speech, we had the honour of having a birth in Hay River recently and it is an honour because it rarely happens. My question is to the Minister of Health about the Midwifery Program and the review that is currently under review, where it currently sits.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today it’s a pleasure to rise and welcome a new constituent, Olivia Froese, who was born in Hay River in the middle of January. She came three weeks early and this is special to us because we typically cannot have deliveries in Hay River.

Myself and Sarah and Jason Froese would like to thank the staff at H.H. Williams Hospital for their good work, strong work. It brought great pleasure to those workers, I know, who delivered the baby. We get to see the good side of life as opposed to the illness and the dark side of it, I guess; the bad side, the end of it. This is something that we’re striving to do more of. We’re hoping that this happens more and we get more birth certificates that have Hay River written on them.

My point today is that we’re missing the ability to deliver those babies in Hay River and my questions today will be put to the Minister of Health where the Midwifery Program is and the review that was supposed to be completed.

Like I said in my statement, we’re definitely missing that in Hay River. We want to see more of the ability to deliver babies in Hay River, get to see the joy, experience those joys with our families and share them with the community.