Jeff Colbourne
Northern News Services

NNSL (Jun 03/98) - Iqaluit MLA Ed Picco wants to know if the territorial government will be providing financial aid to victims of Hepatitis C.

Health Minister Kelvin Ng said the government supports the original compensation agreement made by the federal government and a working group has been set up to determine what to do next. "The NWT on a national scale is a small part of the whole Hepatitis C issue," Ng said.

"Although we do have individuals who are impacted, our objective is to try and reach a national consensus that we can provide to all individuals who are impacted."

In the NWT approximately 14 individuals have contracted Hep C from tainted blood and are entitled to compensation, according to Health Department figures.

$16 million needed for education

The fight for education funding continued in the legislature on Monday. Roy Erasmus made a motion supporting additional funding of $16 million.

Erasmus made a number of points to express a need for money including high student-teacher ratios, inadequate teaching resources, high number of adults who can be classified as illiterate or semi-illiterate, demand for workers with a minimum of 16 years of education and low graduation rates -- 25 per cent compared with the national average of 68 per cent.

He moved that "the legislative assembly strongly recommends the executive council increase base funding to the Department of Education in the current 1998-99 fiscal year."

This increase would be the minimum of the six per cent reduction made over the past two years because of budget reductions, said Erasmus.

The motion received overwhelming support from all ordinary members with the exception of Yellowknife South MLA Seamus Henry, who noted that the budget has already been passed.

Art to be moved

High Arctic MLA Levi Barnabas wants all Inuit arts and artifacts at the legislature transferred to the Nunavut legislature, which is scheduled to be completed in eight months.

Barnabas asked Finance Minister John Todd when the Inuit works can be transferred. Todd has yet to give a date.