Floyd Roland

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, once we looked at putting a proposal forward into the workspace fund that we’d be able to try to get something on that, I don’t have a timeline at this point. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, the process as of today is under the old act and the courts would be the place or the avenue that would proceed. As of April 1, 2008, it will be through the Department of Health and Social Services vital statistics area, the health services administration. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will get more detailed information so that I can provide it to the Member. As the Member stated, a lot of work has been done. This is not a new idea. Yes, as a department, we have allocated what we think would be the necessary amounts, but we haven’t, as I stated earlier, as we go through business plans, unless we have a contract initiated and dollars approved by this Assembly, we have to go back into the whole plan and the mix and then justify our plan as we proceed forward. But I will get the latest information and provide that to the Member....

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, unfortunately, this is more common than a lot of people realize. In the North, many years ago, the federal government actually went around and assigned people new names because they could not write or pronounce the aboriginal names of people in the Territories. At least, that is what has been said. I have had that told to me as well. In the Mackenzie Delta, there was a commission that went around and gave individuals English names. That can be very difficult now to try to go back to some of those. But the process we will have established once this...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as stated earlier, we will work with the appropriate bodies in place to try and come up with a plan on how we can proceed with this project and how, in fact, we can do that. That is why the work is being done in the manner it is. We would consult with the appropriate groups to ensure that there is input gained as we go through this whole scenario. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will have Mr. Aitken provide some technical detail on that.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the situation we find ourselves in, if we were to go after a dedicated facility as a Department of Health and Social Services, we’d have to work through our capital plan, get it established, get agreement that it was a priority that it would receive the funds. There is another route that we are working with and that is the workplace shortfall capital fund and we’re putting a plan together to try to see if we can access that to help us in our office shortfall right now. From time to time, whether it’s in this facility or other facilities throughout the...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, as we proceed with this and go to implementation, one of the things we will be working on is a transition plan looking at certain areas such as timing and how things will flow. That’s one of the things we will take into consideration. Of course, there would be some cases because we will have to work with individuals and do the notification; there may be some time lag as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the surgery ward, as the Member stated earlier, for a number of years now when they look at the utilization rates, the number of surgeries that were being done, the elective surgeries being done, there’s a number of times throughout the year when the volumes drop. So looking at how we utilize our staff best and our facility, that’s been decided quite some time ago, but we would, during a number of times throughout the year, close the surgery ward down to elective surgeries. Everybody remains on call if there is surgery required and that continues to...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the Member brings up a number of good issues that we feel this bill will address: simplifying the process, making it easier for individuals to change their name. As well, one of the factors within this bill will be the consideration when we look in the area of fees, there would be allowances that we could deal with a nil or nominal fee when it comes to names that have been changed where the government had made that change or forced an individual to change their name. So that could be taken into consideration, as well. We are anticipating the bill will...