Glen Abernethy

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The departments have taken a number of actions to address a number of recommendations that were in that report. The Department of Health and Social Services, as an example, has included a number of the recommendations in many of the different strategies were dealing with, like early childhood development. But I’d be happy to pull together a summary of what we’ve done with respect to each of the action items in the different areas within the department and I will certainly work with the other departments to pull that together.

We probably won’t be able to get that done in...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to thank the mover and seconder for bringing this motion to the floor as well as bringing the important discussion. I’ve listened carefully to all the Members and what I think is clear is that addressing the issues of individuals living with disabilities is a shared responsibility, and clearly we need to work together on solutions, whether that’s government to government or governments working with NGOs or NGOs working together. We must all work together in meaningful partnerships to actually make change and bring about change for people with disabilities.

To...

It’s a shared responsibility across the Government of the Northwest Territories depending on the different portfolios. Housing has a significant number of responsibilities around persons with disabilities and they have been addressing those. As does MACA with communities, as does Health and Social Services, things that we’ve done around the Early Childhood Development Action Plan, work around respite. As the Minister responsible, one of my responsibilities is to share information across the different departments and ensure that they are working towards a common goal, but it doesn’t change the...

Aside from medical travel, the Department of Health and Social Services isn’t actually involved in transportation, but I have had this issue raised to me and we have shared this information with MACA, who has indicated to me that the community government could choose to use either their gas tax or community public infrastructure funding to purchase handivans in their communities to provide services to their residents. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Department of Education, Culture and Employment has taken the lead on the Labour Market Agreement for Persons with Disabilities. The labour agreement was signed with the Government of Canada in February 2014 to provide funding to better support education and training and to put more employment participation for persons with disabilities. This agreement is one of a series of labour market agreements successfully negotiated between the GNWT, particularly the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, and the Government of Canada with some targeted initiatives for some older workers and...

I’ve reviewed that, as well, and it is an incredibly good document. I do want to applaud the NWT Disabilities Council for their initiative and incredibly hard work.

As I’ve indicated, we’ve taken action on a number of items that were in the initial action plan that was provided and they’ve been included in a different strategies or different action items that we’ve been moving forward, like the early childhood development. We’ve done a significant amount of work around respite. Moving forward, the type of information that was provided to us is going to help us inform these different program...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to take this opportunity to recognize all of the Pages who are providing us such incredible services here in the Legislative Assembly. They liquidated us well. That’s not the right word, but you know what I mean. Hydrated. Properly hydrated. Liquidated, that’s good, eh? You like that? They keep us properly hydrated; they keep the information flowing; so I really want to take an opportunity to thank all the Pages and, in particular, a Page from the Great Slave Riding, Kelsy Nayally. Welcome to the Chamber and thank you so much.

I also want to recognize a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have a fairly positive working relationship with the NWT Seniors’ Society and we have provided funding for some meetings and some of the functions that they’re undertaking.

With respect to facilitating the exact type of meeting that the Member is talking about, I will talk to the department to find out where we are with those kinds of supports and I will get back to the Member. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I think the extended care unit is a good example. We do learn from past mistakes and there is, on the next page, a request for money to build the extended care unit here in Yellowknife that would ensure we don’t run into the same problem we ran into in Hay River.

Coming back to the management of the new building, the management of the old building will be taken over by BHP. They are responsible for leasehold improvements and tenant management. We don’t have a cost related to any construction in that building. We do have an opportunity, depending on the tenants who are brought in, to have some...

I agree completely. That’s what we are trying to accomplish through medical travel modernization. We want to have clear rules. We want to make sure people understand their obligations under the rule and understand the Medical Travel Policy, that they understand their roles, both as a professional and as a recipient and that it has the human component built in. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.