Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister of the Housing Corporation. The bill that was sponsored by the Minister of the Housing Corporation was to remove the board, and in place of the board would be the Minister. Does this mean that if this goes through, it would remain a corporation? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is a question to the Minister of Education. I had written a letter to him asking about the cultural inclusion program in the Territories. The question was whether the cultural inclusion programs could be delivered by local ethnic groups. Could the Minister let me know if he will respond to this letter?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to make a few comments on page 18 regarding employment development and income support co-ordination as well as the Arctic College section of the report.

In the last two paragraphs of the report it states consideration should be given to the establishment of a department of education and employment. I was under the assumption that there already is a department of this nature. I want to raise the point that I do not see where or how -- when we are talking about reducing or consolidating departments -- or why there would be a need to create another department for this matter.

I also wonder why we have advanced education as well as Arctic College. In my mind, these two areas should be one and the same. The matter of Arctic College and the way they are spending their funding makes me uncertain as to what direction they are taking at this point. I am not sure of the mandate for Arctic College, nor am I sure about the mandate for advanced education.

I would like to point out, for example, the manner in which Arctic College appears to be spending their funding. This is the Keewatin teacher education program which is being held in the Keewatin right now. From what I understand, Arctic College is planning to take the students from the Keewatin for the summer and send them to Iqaluit for a period of four to six weeks. Now, that is going to cost Arctic College the number of students there are in Keewatin times the air fare to Iqaluit from each of those communities, and they will be instructed by how many instructors I am not sure, but if it is two or three, then is it not more cost efficient to bring the instructors from Iqaluit to the Keewatin communities? I am not certain, either, of how the government funds Arctic College at this point, but I think to have this type of spending by Arctic College when we are in a time of restraint is not right. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to report to the Assembly that the standing committee on legislation has reviewed Bills 8, 10 and 11, and wishes to report that Bills 8, 10 and 11 are now ready for committee of the whole. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I would like to thank you first, Mr. Speaker, for giving me this opportunity to speak on Petition 3-12(2), as it was your error yesterday for not giving me the time. Mr. Speaker, I would like to use this time to make a few points on the petition. Presently the Wildlife Act does not permit the feeding of caribou or big game to dogs within the community. The community of Baker Lake is the only inland Inuit community in the Northwest Territories, with a population of approximately 1200 people, the majority of which are natives of the area.

There are three main uses of dogs in Baker Lake. Pet dogs are kept by some families, indoors and outdoors for various reasons. Racing dogs are bred for recreational purposes. Working dogs, which is the third use of dogs, are also bred for hunting and fishing. Some hunters are using dog teams to hunt and to fish, as it is very expensive to hunt by snowmobile. It costs approximately $32.20 to purchase 10 gallons of gas, plus $8.45 for one quart of oil. A snowmobile drive belt can be as high as $66.32 each. Therefore, a hunter going out for a day on a snowmobile will pay approximately $111. This does not include the price of food for the trip, which could be in the neighbourhood of $40 per person.

We, in Baker Lake, have no marine mammals to feed our dogs. The coastal communities have seals, walruses and whales to feed their dogs, but we have none of these in Baker Lake. All we have is caribou, musk-oxen and fish. Most dog team owners cannot afford to buy fishing nets or other gear needed to fish for their dogs; therefore the people of Baker Lake need to feed their dogs caribou meat. The Baker Lake Hunters and Trappers Association, on behalf of the community of Baker Lake, have therefore sent me a petition, asking me to have the present Wildlife Act, subsection 57(2), changed to be able to feed their dogs caribou meat and not break the law. I thereby submitted a petition yesterday signed by 103 residents of Baker Lake. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Mr. Speaker, I wish to take up my five minutes from yesterday's petitions.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to speak a little bit about the snow problems that we have in Baker Lake. As most people may be aware, the amount of snow in Baker Lake is a major problem. In some years there have been houses which have been completely covered by snow. The only way in which one could tell there was a building in that area was because there was a chimney sticking out of the snow. As a matter of fact, snowmobiles have driven over these houses. These conditions are not only hazardous, they are unacceptable. There was a project which was started a number of years ago. This project was to build a snow fence on the northwest side of the community, in the older section of the community. Today, the new area of the community is now being built with the prevailing winds in mind; however, the older section of the community is still being covered with snow today. I would just like to point out that the snow fence which was started a number of years ago has not been completed, and this is a concern that I would like to make Members aware of. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I agree with the Government Leader in what she is saying, but I would like to add that when I was campaigning, I was asked a question, why is it that we are at home, we have been given assistance to get a home, we have lived in the North for a long time, but the manner in which a person who is hired to the GNWT is given a house which he is, of course, paying for, but the other benefit that the employee receives is furniture, something that is, I think, to some people a luxury item. I have been to homes where people are sleeping with mattresses on the floor. Their houses are so rundown that there is no proper heating, the house is not level, and yet we have employees whose houses are renovated every three or four years. The level of service that is given to our employees, I think, is much more luxurious than what is received by just ordinary people on the street. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Chairman, I would like to refer back to page 16, to the comments that are made in there regarding the social housing situation and the quality and level of these benefits. I just wanted to point out that in the third and fourth paragraph there are sentences there which I think are not true. They are, in the third paragraph, discussing staff housing, dental and medical benefits: "The quality and level of these benefits have come to be regarded as the northern standard, and many residents who are non-government employees expect to receive precisely the same standard of living through government social programs."

In the fourth paragraph the third sentence reads: "These programs provide a level of benefits to aboriginal residents which tends to be high in comparison to non-natives." I think there are areas that are hidden within the government's spending which by far exceed the amounts that are spent on native people: such things as vacation travel assistance, and the vacation travel assistance handed out to employees. An employee is able to receive funds or be given travel warrants to travel, and those amounts far exceed the amount that is received by an individual who wants to stay in the North and take his vacation time. I think the majority of the people who do stay in the North are native people, because they are at home.

Another example of areas where costs are hidden, is where a person who is travelling from the South and wants to come up north and is weathered out will receive pay for that time that they are stuck down south; whereas an employee who is stuck out on the land, also on vacation, who is not able to come back into the community, will not get paid. I have this tendency to think that when the traders first came up here, they came up and made rules which would suit themselves and not the people who were living here first. Now, that is beside the point, but there are, I think, ways that we could equalize some of the benefits that are received.

In the third paragraph, it states that there are many residents who are non-government employees who expect to receive precisely the same standard of living through a government social program. We were discussing in the page before, page 14, that the social programs we have in the North are a way too high, and the comments that were being made regarding the hunters' and trappers' program, which I think is very good. I think because of the fall in prices of fur, there are more trappers who are staying home, which creates problems in the homes --social problems -- because the people are not able to take in an income which they would have otherwise earned rather than received. I know I have met some people here in the North who are on social assistance who say, referring to welfare day or social assistance day, "I will be receiving my cheque, my pay cheque, on this day." Now, that shows you how far along we are as far as our social programs go. There is no self-esteem in some people who are on social assistance any more, and we as a government give no incentive whatsoever to try and raise that self-esteem. I think that a program such as a hunters' and trappers' assistance program would give that self-esteem back to the people, who I think deserve it. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.