Glen Abernethy

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, this section is not the section that would be in, but I could see why people would think it would be in this section. There have been some changes of where things lay out as we come in line with how CIHI report, so I totally appreciate that. In previous budgets, there was some money allocated to the Beaufort Delta for the roll-out of a midwifery program in the Beaufort Delta. There was supposed to be some positions established. They were never ultimately established but the money was still there. We are basically eliminating those dollars that were to be spent...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we’re just finalizing our Federal Engagement Strategy now to highlight and bring forward issues across the departments, across the government at a federal level, and this is certainly part of that. As I said, I mean I’ve brought it up with the federal Minister as well as my provincial colleagues, and we’ll certainly be bringing it up again at the next meeting. As far as moving forward with DAAIR and Finance, they are aware. Once we finalize our Federal Engagement Strategy, we will move forward accordingly.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, as they look for the exact numbers, the funding that we needed in order to do the work and the analysis and the system design and all the work required to move from a fragmented multisystem, multicompeting system to a single authority was actually federal funding that we got under the Territorial Health Innovation Fund. The fund, the total fund is $4.3 million, of which we use some of it for implementing and designing regional health strategies, some of it for medical travel, and $2.8 million annually for the duration of implementation and design for the system...

Mr. Chair, we have a consultant who is working with us on the development of this. We’re open to possibilities. I am a strong believer that communities have great ideas and great solutions and that it’s important to have partnership where appropriate. We’ve demonstrated that we’re prepared to think outside of the box in some of our relationships with, you know, the Inuvialuit and the Sahtu, I mean, I don’t know what the model would look like that the Member is describing, but, you know, it’s about providing services, and we’re open to creative solutions.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, these are for a number of reasons, and I think the Member has actually identified a couple of them already. A number of the positions that you see in Hay River are as a result of the new Health and Social Services regional centre that just opened there in order to provide services in a larger building with a different delivery method. It did require additional positions, things like emergency room nurses that they didn’t have previously.

It also needed some additional positions just as a result of the footprint, how it’s laid out and how they’re going to provide...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we do have an Official Languages Act here in the Northwest Territories that recognizes 11 official languages, and we attempt to provide services as much as we can in those official languages. If you go to Stanton, by way of example, if you move around that facility you’ll notice that there’s signage for all the official languages in that facility. We try to ensure that official languages are posted in facilities across the Northwest Territories, health facilities. We attempt to have interpreters available to provide language services to individuals who request...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, there was some money transferred to the authorities for $81,000. There was the sunset on the regional early intervention coordinator’s position, $18,000 that was for some O and M costs, but there was also an increase as the result of some northern allowance for its growth.. Basically an internal transfer and some sunset.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, some of that will actually be followed up with by the DAAIR and Department of Finance. We have indicated that we’re prepared to have a conversation with the Minister of Health, but ultimately it will be discussions between Finance, DAAIR, and the federal government. I do meet the federal Minister of Health and Social Services with all the other health ministers across the country. I believe our meeting is going to be later this summer. I’m confident that this will be a topic of discussion during that meeting as well.

That is certainly one of the issues. I mean, pension is where the significant cost is going to come from. There is no denying that, but the Hay River collective agreement is different than the UNW collective agreement. We have had some early discussions with union as we are talking about bringing Hay River in, and there are certain things that they wanted to flag and things like seniority are one of them. We have to figure those out. We can’t have two collective agreements if we roll into one authority, so we have toit’s going to take some negotiations. It’s not just a cost thing. It’s a...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, Health and Social Services and its authority are responsible for home care in the Northwest Territories. We do know that the Housing Corporation has gone out and, recognizing the need for seniors’ housing, has moved forward with independent living units, including those independent living units in Fort McPherson. They have also, you know, incorporated space within those independent living units where some day program and other services can be provided, whether it’s by home care nurses or home care support workers. Much of that’s going to depend on the size of...