Glen Abernethy

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the Member will notice that there is $650,000, and $75,000 goes to YK for day shelter and $35,000 goes to Inuvik for day shelter, and that was a decision made in previous governments that we have continued to abide by. The other $500,000 is distributed based on proposals submitted by different NGOs and other bodies across the Northwest Territories. In order to allocate those funds we put together an advisory committee who reviews all the applications for us and makes recommendations, which I share with committee before approving them. I am confident that the...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, if you turn to page 168, you will see the Rockhill apartments, which is the money I believe the Member is referring to. It is back in the budget. Just as a note, the lease does expire in 2018, and we are currently working with the YMCA to do a bit of an assessment of the space: is it still the right space? Does it still meet the needs? Will it continue to meet the needs?

Ultimately, though, just to be clear, we are committed to supporting the programs and services being delivered by Rockhill. We do have the option for a 10year lease extension. We just want to...

I am assuming the Member is referring to the child and youth mental wellness action plan. At this point, there are no actions identified. We are still in the development phase. As I indicated, all these action plans are working on some guiding principles that inter-tie with each other. Once again, it focuses on prevention, recovery-oriented systems, personal experiences, and outcomes, as well as a whole-of-government approach. To date, the department has completed a significant amount of research and literature reviews into best practices for addressing child and youth mental health challenges...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I hear the Member. These dollars here, this seniors fund is funding to support elder applicants in their activities towards promoting the independence and well-being of seniors and elders in the NWT. The NWT Seniors' Society, who is the recipient of these funds, are a territorial organization.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I know I laughed, and it was funny, but just to be clear, the reason that we are not 100 per cent sure it is this section is because there is no budget for the work that we are doing. We are doing it with staff who actually cross a number of divisions and sections, but this seems as good a section as any, given that a number of the staff who are helping with this are in this division.

Mr. Chair, I will admit that I did not anticipate that Health and Social Services would be the first department up when it comes to budget discussions. We haven't usually been the first...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the deputy will have the detail in front of her very shortly, so I will go to the deputy.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I'm happy to answer the question here about the dollars for midwifery action of the nursing page. It is up to committee.

Mr. Chair, I didn't fully understand the question, but I am pretty sure my deputy did, so we will go to Ms. DeLancey, who I think heard it better than I did.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I am assuming the Member is asking where we are as far as bringing them into the public service. We are in the same place we were last year. We have not moved forward at this point. We still want to bring them in, but as I said in the previous government and early in this government, there are a number of things that have to happen first. We're kind of waiting to see what the lay of the land is, waiting for a number of collective agreements to be completed so we know what the lay of the land is. They are still ongoing. It has been quite longer than I think any...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. That's good information. I look forward to seeing those indicators and sharing with the advisory groups and, you know, the department seeing it so we can start moving forward to put some indicators here in the Northwest Territories. My challenge, if you will, is to the Member and all the Members, you know, the Member and I have been working on this for a while and we still haven't come up with a definition of poverty that satisfies the people of the Northwest Territories, and I think both of us clearly know in order to make progress that definition needs to be there. So I...