Glen Abernethy

Mr. Speaker, as we have been hearing in this Assembly recently, on-the-land healing programs are critical to achieving our goal of healthy, educated people free from poverty. That discussion echoes recommendations previously made by the Minister’s Forum on Addictions and Community Wellness.

The Department of Health and Social Services recognizes the importance of spiritual and cultural healing and has made on-the-land programming a key component of the continuum of care and treatment of addictions. We are working with Aboriginal governments to deliver on-the-land programs as part of Territorial...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I’m happy to go with whatever the committee wishes. Thanks to the Member for his comments. We too are really looking forward to moving forward and completing the construction of the long-term care facility and the health centre in Norman Wells. We believe it’s going to bring a new and important service to the residents of the Sahtu, which I believe they have wanted for a really long time. It’s also building upon our elders in our communities, which is creating more beds in the Northwest Territories for long-term care.

The Member is absolutely right; this will create...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I would like to introduce, on my left, Jeannie Mathison, director of finance – you’ll notice I got it right this time – and Debbie DeLancey, deputy minister of Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The significant increase here is the service centre where the increase is around $2 million. Then there are also some other increases, Microsoft licensing for $1.12 million and licensing and maintenance, the inflation we experience on our health programs. So those are the main areas for increase in that particular line.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I am pleased to present the 2015-2016 Main Estimates for the Department of Health and Social Services. Overall, the department’s estimates propose an increase of $14.9 million, or 3.8 percent, over the 2014-2015 estimates.

One of the highlights of the estimates is new operational funding for a long-term care facility in Norman Wells as part of the ongoing implementation of our strategic framework, Our Elders, Our Communities.

This budget supports continued work to bring all health and social services authorities onto common information platforms and allow them to access...

We have a year to actually bill. We don’t actually have to send the bills until a year has expired, but they have to go within that year. As far as the amount of times, 30, 60, 90 days it’s taking Nunavut to pay us, I can get the department to look into that and get that answer back to you.

I hate to make assumptions, but I assume the Member was actually talking about the Human Resource Strategy and not the Mental Health Strategy and it does talk to recruitment and retention initiatives, but we’ve got to look at things in the short, medium and long term. Ultimately the long-term solution would be to find the individuals from the region and train them to take over those roles, but that is going to take some time. We’ve got to start working with the Aboriginal governments and community governments to really pick the right people, and our Human Resource Strategy does talk to that...

After session.

Thank you. The Department of Health and Social Services continuing care and health systems planning staff actually have worked closely with the NWT Housing Corporation infrastructure services staff in the development of independent living models to support the community’s ability to meet seniors’ needs in the areas of socialization, nutrition and hygiene. This includes ensuring that there is some public space or some program space in each of these independent living units that can be utilized by Health and Social Services staff when they come in to meet with the residents of those buildings...

There is no duty to report policy at this point in time, but if that’s something the committee is interested in, it certainly sounds like an interesting idea and I’d certainly be willing to have some discussions with committee on that topic. Thank you.