The reference question is currently underway before the courts. The process is already underway.

When we first heard about this particular concern that was brought to our attention, we felt the need to react on the question that was thrown at our GNWT as the Department of Justice and GNWT wide. As the Minister responsible for Justice, I will certainly continue to work with the Members. On a going forward basis, there are other areas that we need to pose questions to the Supreme Court and I will continue to work with the Members.

I was having a chat on the side with my colleague here. Definitely we are committed and I believe it was brought up some time ago that we need to look at the household income. We are committed to looking even further at expanding the role of the subsidy programs we deliver based on household income. So the Housing Corporation is also. We will look into this further.

Those are the areas that we are currently evaluating. We need to assess who those seniors are, how many individuals are living with them, and they are based on household income.

As I stated in the House on several occasions, some of those individuals are working at the mines. Some of those individuals take advantage of the system. We have to be very careful in the evaluation system. As long as it benefits the clientele, the seniors, we’ll do what we can to meet those needs of those individuals. We are looking into this even further within my department.

This reference question is just to clarify our authority as the GNWT to regulate caribou harvesting, it does not have any impact on the land claim groups’ aboriginal harvesting. We just want to reaffirm that we do have the authority to regulate.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Under the Legal Questions Act, as the Minister responsible for Justice I have the authority to seek or pose a question to the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories. With that we felt that we needed to do that because there were several groups that were disputing the Government of the Northwest Territories’ authority to regulate caribou harvesting. So we just wanted to reaffirm our stance that we do have the authority as the GNWT to regulate those harvests. It has been brought to the attention of the Cabinet and we proceeded with that. We did consult with the aboriginal...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Today marks the beginning of the NWT Crime Prevention Conference in Yellowknife, with participants from every community in the Territory. The theme of the conference is Together We’re Better: Preventing Crime in the NWT.

Supported by a grant from Public Safety Canada, this conference is bringing together people from across the Territory, giving them an opportunity to learn from each other and work together to make our communities safer places. We all have an important role in this. We need to work together to make it clear that we will not accept criminal and unwanted...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. [English translation not provided.]

Mr. Speaker, today in Gameti there’s a gathering of elders from the four Tlicho communities to share their ideas, wisdom, experience and planning for future generations. Mr. Speaker, there are approximately 80 elders selected to talk about the culture preservation, the language preservation for the Tlicho region and with respect to the wildlife as well. They talk about the respect of the wildlife as well.

Mr. Speaker, these are the professors of this great land. We must hear them out and they teach us about the wisdom, the stories, the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Wednesday, March 3, 2010, I will move that Bill 4, An Act to Amend the Social Assistance Act, be read for the first time. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, indeed, the cost analysis, the consultation, the fee, how much it would cost us and also a centralized model and other options, that we are dealing with. So, Mr. Speaker, we will finalize our overall cost, whether it be the equipment, the assets, the offices, the staff. Mr. Speaker, it varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. So we will continue to provide that information to the Assembly Members when we gather all the information from other jurisdictions. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.