Glen Abernethy

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, this is a direct result of the Tlicho Agreement, their land claims agreement, land claims and self-government agreement. It’s articulated in the legislation. This is us meeting our obligation under that legislation. They’re the only group in the Northwest Territories that has finalized selfgovernment negotiations. This could be something that exists in the future, if negotiated, with different Aboriginal governments.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I sense the Member’s frustration. I have indicated that we have already raised this at a federal/provincial level. We are certainly on record at the federal/provincial level during our last FPT. We are waiting to see what some of the other provinces and territories want to do, because a united front on this is certainly going to carry more weight than individual fronts. Having said that, I do know that the Minister of Finance is going to be in Vancouver to meet with the other Ministers of Finance I think it’s this weekend coming. I have assurances that the Minster intends...

No, Mr. Chair. I mean, at the end of the day, we’re redescribing existing positions, some reprofiling some positions out of the department that are going to now be territorial health Authority positions. This isn’t about growth. This isn’t about creating a whole bunch of new positions. This is about utilizing what we have in a better way in a more collaborative way to meet the needs of the residents in the Northwest Territories. In the future, what you will see is a smaller department, more as a ministry function, and an authority that actually has some of the functions and roles that are in...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’m assuming the Member is talking about the independent living unit that’s being developed for or put into Fort Liard. The facility is an independent living unit. It will have some program space dedicated for some day programs and whatnot that can be delivered by home support workers or other staff that exist within the community.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the total for region allocation in 201516 was $241,000 and it’s $240,000 for this year, so it’s down one thousand. There has been some additional positions added for other reasons, and some internal reallocations, positions that existed, but maybe weren’t in the previous capital. They would have been unfunded. They’ve brought some of those in to be established.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. . These dollars cover things like basic administration, client support services, some of the direct costs by way of individual authorities, some facility maintenance and support across the different authorities, their finance costs, human resource costs and some of their system support costs. These are things that are happening in the authorities today. I don’t anticipate that these dollars are going to go down with a single authority because, as I’ve said several times, this isn’t centralization or taking anything away from the communities or regions that exist today...

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.