Glen Abernethy

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The mayor of Yellowknife actually got in touch with the Cabinet. He actually had a meeting with the Minister of Housing and the Minister of Justice, and I also had a private meeting with the mayor, as well, to discuss this important initiative that the city is pursuing. We are supportive. We are looking for ways to be their partners and they are looking for ways for us to be their partners. It’s early days. The discussions are early on, but we will continue to engage with the mayor and explore opportunities to be meaningful partners.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have travelled to a lot of communities throughout the Northwest Territories, and where there are issues around homelessness, I know the Housing Corp is very active in those communities as far ensuring people get housing. But also we’ve got government services officers who are aware of the different programs and services who could direct people. We also have, in many of the communities, community counsellors and social workers who can, when they recognize people that are in crisis, refer them to services that might be appropriate. There are people in the communities...

Thank you, Madam… Holy cow! Thank you, Mr. Chair. You’re so different. When did that happen?

I can’t even remember what I was going to say. We don’t really have an update. I’ll get that information for the Member. I know we’re moving some of our people around, you know, to help backfill where possible and we’re looking at doing some staffing, but we don’t have a full answer for that. I’ll get that information for the Member.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We actually have the new Aboriginal health and community wellness division, and the wellness workers that we have within that division, that is their exact job.

It’s too early to say whether Hay River is going to roll into this new authority immediately or whether it’s going to be transitioned over time. We are doing that work and I’m certainly happy to have continued discussions with the Member on that. In the meantime, I will work with the public administrator in Hay River and have the department work with the CEO to see how we can reduce some of the wait time in Hay River.

Thanks, Madam Chair. I am happy to answer the question now. We did send the draft Medical Travel Policy to the Standing Committee on Social Programs to provide us with input. We are just tweaking it right now at which point we’ll be sending it to the executive for final consideration. At the same time, we are also working on the individual pillars that fall under the Medical Travel Policy and right now we’re actually doing the work on patients, supports and escorts that began in 2014, December. Our consultants have travelled to communities like Hay River, Inuvik, Tuk and Behchoko. They’ve gone...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would be pleased to meet with committee and provide them with an update on where we are with the Early Childhood Development Action Plan. From a health point of view, maybe we should probably have a joint meeting with Health and Social Services as well as Education where we can go through the items with committee.

Actually, the Member for Yellowknife Centre answered that question earlier. We do have a 1-800 Helpline that is available 24/7 for individuals who need to talk to somebody if they’re experiencing some level of crisis. We also have the Dalhousie psychiatry program here in the Northwest Territories. It does take a referral to get to that program, but individuals can access that as a way and means of getting support they need when they may not be able to get an in-person visit. We do have community counsellors, as well, through most of the communities, and I do encourage people to follow up with...

The Department of Health and Social Services has just recently put in 32 indicators to monitor the effectiveness of the health and social services system here in the Northwest Territories. But we also rely on information that other organizations are putting together to help us make informed decisions here in the Northwest Territories, organizations such as CIHI. Any nationally recognized organization that is doing this type of an analysis, we do get the information and we do look at it. We’re always looking for ways to improve our reporting mechanisms. So, we will certainly look at that, and...

Actually, Stanton already did consider this. They explored it and there were a couple concerns that they raised. Number one, it’s not particularly culturally sensitive. It also doesn’t really articulate or recognize the fact that sometimes people are missing appointments for reasons beyond their control such as medical travel, flight delays. A lot of the people utilizing the speciality clinic are coming in from other communities to receive those services. Also, in a time of fiscal restraint and being prudent with our dollars, there is also a cost to it, a cost that has to come from somewhere...