Glen Abernethy

I do not sit on one of the Regional Wellness Councils. The Regional Wellness Councils are the ones who, to some degree, determine when they are going to schedule their meetings. They are required to have one meeting, I think it is annually in public. All their meetings are supposed to be in public to some degree. They can go in camera. I am not prepared to, and I am not going to, dictate when and where they have their meetings. I think we need to leave that up to them. They know their regions best, and they know when they need to get together to have those conversations.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I know that we do have some resources out there when it comes to H. pylori and providing information. As far as workshops, I'm not sure that we've actually provided workshops in the past or that we actually have the information to provide workshops, but I will talk to the department to find out how best we can get that information out to residents of the Sahtu but also to the Northwest Territories where appropriate. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

With the new territorial hospital being built, Stanton and the GNWT have a unique opportunity to collaborate with their P3 partners in developing traditional foods menus. Carillion, which is the organization that will be managing the facility management of the hospital, has been in dialogue with hospital leadership, Stanton's Indigenous Wellness Program, and the Stanton renewable project to explore what a northern and traditional food menu may look like in the hospital. The menu planning discussions have included how foods are harvested, prepared, and how they can be served to patients while...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that's a huge question. Historically, I would say that the Health and Social Services Department in the Northwest Territories has not made responding to Indigenous healing practice a priority, but since becoming the Minister of Health and Social Services I've clearly heard from Indigenous leaders and residents across the Northwest Territories that we need to find ways to support traditional healing in our health and social services system. Mr. Speaker, that's why in November 2016 I tabled a commitment to action document titled "Building a Culturally...

I wish to table the following documents entitled "Follow-Up Letter for Oral Question 743-18(2): Traditional Harvesting Food Inspection," "Follow-Up Letter for Oral Question 779-18(2): Mental Health and Wellness Programs," "Follow-Up Letter for Oral Question 806-18(2): Sahtu Regional Wellness Council." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

In response to one of the recommendations put forth in the NWT Midwifery Stakeholder Engagement Report the department has initiated some preliminary discussions with partners in the School of Human Services at Aurora College to begin to explore the feasibility of offering a maternity care worker and training program. This type of program, Mr. Speaker, is similar to the model that has been offered by Nunavut Arctic College that is grounded in Indigenous culture beliefs and values.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Department of Health and Social Services has talked to the stakeholders. We have listened to the comments and suggestions from Members. We have put together a bit of a program design on how a sobering centre would operate here in the Northwest Territories and that has often driven the size of the location we need to have and how many beds we can support. So we already have that in place. I'm happy to share that with committee if committee is interested. I'm happy to come and have a conversation with committee and provide them with a bit of an update on...

We have to look at this in a short-, medium-, and long-term approach. We do have something in the works for the short term, which we hope to be announcing very shortly, in cooperation with the city, who has been a fantastic partner on this. In the medium-term, well, we have to put it in medium-term because there is a longer plan in place. We have looked to acquire and put a hold on the downtown location, which is the Yellowknife Day Care at this point. They are vacating the building. The GNWT owns the building. That building does have to come down. We believe that that is a prime location for...

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, Disability Awareness Week is approaching in the NWT. Each year we acknowledge persons with disabilities and strive to raise awareness of challenges they may face in their daily lives with accessibility and inclusion. We also recognize volunteers who work to help persons with disabilities achieve equality within their communities during the annual disabilities awareness tea. There are more than 3,000 people in the NWT who identify as having a disability. The GNWT has committed in its mandate to ensuring effective supports and programs are in place for persons with...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document entitled "Knowledge Agenda: Northern Research for Northern Principles." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.