Glen Abernethy

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I've been listening carefully as everyone has been talking this afternoon and this is clearly a tough one, a tough discussion for many individuals. I hear two conversations that I believe are separate conversations but they're being morphed into one, and those are the right of individuals to run for election, but also the major problem we have here in the Northwest Territories of domestic violence. I truly appreciate the work that the committee did, and I know what they did was not easy and they put their hearts and souls into this report, and I truly...

Prior to moving to a single authority in the Northwest Territories, we used different protocols by regions and communities on how things were monitored and assessed. We now have 32 performance indicators that we utilize in the Northwest Territories and collect on a regular basis. That information helps make some evidence-based decisions moving forward. We are continually trying to enhance the monitoring that we are doing of the services and program delivery to make sure that they meet the needs of our residents, and we will continue to move forward. I am happy to sit down with the Member and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm glad the honourable Member took cigarettes off the list. When it comes to things like toothpaste, toothbrushes, soap, shampoo, this is certainly something that I'm willing to look at and see how we might be able to roll those in to ensure that residents who don't have access to those materials or those products can gain access while they're in the treatment facilities. So I'll certainly commit to looking at that, Mr. Speaker, but once again, not cigarettes.

Residents of the Northwest Territories are Canadian citizens, so if they're travelling south to a treatment facility they are still able to get medical services in the jurisdiction of the province that they are receiving their services. We have reciprocal billing agreements with all the provinces and territories, so if our resident goes and receives health services there, we have a billing mechanism.

Not all residents of the Northwest Territories receive dental services from the Government of the Northwest Territories. We do have some extended health benefits for seniors and Metis that cover...

As I indicated, as we are moving forward and rolling out the single authority here in the Northwest Territories, we are trying to improve the protocols and standing orders that we have in all of our health centres. We also have a cancer strategy -- I think the Member is talking specifically about that -- that outlined some of the services that we provide, but also some of the standard testing that we do in cases where cancer may be suspected. I am happy to sit down with the Member and go through some of the protocols that we have so that he will understand what service are being offered both...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am not 100 per cent sure that I understand the question. I am not sure what a premedical diagnosis would be. When it comes to residents of the Northwest Territories in the small communities attending a health centre, we have a number of standing orders that the nurses in the communities utilize when assessing an individual trying to determine what, if anything, is wrong with them. We also have a number of standing programs that are available in each of our health centre, Well Man, Well Woman, Well Baby, and there are some pretty defined guidelines and the...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document entitled "Caring for Our People: Strategic Plan for the NWT Health and Social Services System 2017 to 2020." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I believe it was last October that I tabled that "Building a Culturally Respectful Health and Social Services System," which outlined a bunch of the work that we are doing that line up really nicely with the recommendations that came from the recent critical incident review.

My intention, and I have made a commitment to the family, to the leadership in the Beaufort Delta and to Members of this House, is to expedite that work and to try to get it done as quickly as possible, recognizing that it is a massive piece of work and that changing attitudes and...

The Member references the fact that 8 per cent of children in fire/police referrals are for financial assistance; that number is actually taken from the director's report that was issued to the Members a number of months ago. Of a total of 2,309 referrals in 2015-16, 184 were for financial reasons. We've reviewed those, and typically what those referrals are when they occur is that the family is not eligible for, or rather, has already spent this month's financial assistance and they need assistance with food, clothing, or rent, which is something under the new system we can actually do. When...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the culture awareness training that the Member is speaking about is for Child and Family Services statutory appointed child protection workers and adoption workers. It includes a mix of infield community Indigenous engagement orientation followed up by in-person classroom-based core training with elders and educators, and then follow-up and an after-engagement infield engagement which is usually or is intended to be evaluated by the regional supervisor and supported by the department's practice specialist.

Mr. Speaker, there is some upfront work that we...