Glen Abernethy
Statements in Debates
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I hear the Member's concerns, and I hear those concerns from his constituents. I have heard them across the Northwest Territories. It's been asked several times. The answer is still the same. When it comes to long-term care, we are looking at level 3, 4, 5 acuity, individuals who actually have some high, complex needs, and, when we build long-term care facilities, we need to build them in close proximity where a greater range of services are available, things like doctors and other professionals who can provide support to those high-need patients. When it comes to...
We do have homecare workers throughout the Northwest Territories. In his riding, I believe we have three or four, I will confirm the numbers, who are providing supports to individuals who are staying in their communities and who want to age in place. Those home-support workers can go into those independent living units, where they exist, and I know there is one in Aklavik. I know that, hopefully soon, we will have one done in Fort McPherson, as well. We already are working with the Housing Corporation and, more importantly, we are working with the residents who are referred to these services...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. An individual's health records will identify when they were vaccinated and whether they actually received the two doses of vaccination. We strongly encourage anybody who doesn't know to get in touch with their healthcare system or the public health team, who will be able to verify your current status with respect to immunizations; for any immunizations, not just for the measles vaccine. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
We have timelines on when we will complete the portions that we are working on at this point, but to roll out on the bigger level, to make sure that people can get passports and other things using their traditional names with the traditional fonts, I can't dictate that timeline. We will have the transliteration guide drafted with our partners and Education, Culture and Employment in 2019; we are thinking mid-year. From there, we will be able to present it to the federal government. That could take some time, to actually bring that to reality and make it reality. In the meantime, we will...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. November 4, 2016, this Legislative Assembly passed Bill 5, which was a bill to amend sections of the Vital Statistics Act that would allow us to use traditional fonts on legal documents such as birth certificates and other vital statistics documents. This is a commitment we made. This is a commitment we intend to and will live up to. Our ultimate goal is to be able to have traditional names on our birth certificates, on our vital statistics documents, using the traditional font, which is truly the only way to recognize a traditional name. At that time, I said it's going...
Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes that Bill 40, Smoking Control and Reduction Act, be read for the second time.
This bill repeals the Cannabis Smoking Control Act and replaces it with a new act. It also replaces provisions of the Tobacco Control Act. This bill creates prohibitions and offences, including in respect of smoking in a public place and in a motor vehicle while another person who is a minor is present in the motor vehicle; imposes requirements in respect of the display of signs, including signs respecting the health risks associated with...
Obviously, we'd encourage everybody who isn't vaccinated to get vaccinated. I know that, for children under 12 months, they can't be vaccinated until they reach a year. If somebody feels like they've come into contact or they feel like they're having symptoms or if unprotected people actually develop the symptoms, they should remain in their homes and call their health centre immediately. Calling a health centre in advance ensures that the health centres can take the precautions necessary to prevent additional transmissions or additional contacts and reduce the number of people who may be...
During regularly scheduled trips to communities, the OT and speech language pathologists spend time in the schools. They actually go into the schools, observing classrooms, assessing and providing treatment to children meeting with different educators. This includes teachers, Mr. Speaker, program support teachers, education assistants, and inclusive schooling coordinators, to provide suggested global and specific strategies on intervention, things that they can do to help support development in these areas.
Mr. Speaker, additionally, services are provided remotely through video conferencing...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The case involves an individual who travelled from an international destination to Inuvik by airplane. The journey returning to Inuvik took them through Yellowknife and Norman Wells on February 13th. Prior to contacting, the department has actually begun that, and has started to reach out to everybody that has been contacted as part of our normal protocol when there's an infectious outbreak. We've been working to follow-up with everybody that was identified as a possible contact. The chief public health officer issued a public health advisory on February 22nd regarding...
Thank you. Two parts to the question, my first answer is based on the second part. Yesterday, when I was talking about going in to the communities, I was talking about OT and speech-language professionals. They don't currently travel to some of the smaller communities in the Deh Cho. I have provided direction to the department that I would like to see more engagement in smaller communities. It still depends on caseload. If there is only one person, it may not be appropriate or financially reasonable to do that, but if there is a larger caseload, we want our professionals to go into the...