Glen Abernethy

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Prior to actually moving ahead with the construction of the new hospital, there was a technical evaluation and investment analysis done on the old hospital which clearly demonstrated that the renovation and upgrading of the old hospital would have been far more costly than building the new hospital. There are a number of issues there: age, condition, and costs associated with renovating that building and bringing it up to a standard acceptable for the GNWT.

Having said that, we did move forward with the construction of the new hospital. When the building is empty and the...

Mr. Speaker, community safety is a critical priority for the Government of the Northwest Territories. We need to look out for each other and make our neighbourhoods places with a strong sense of well-being. Everyone needs to feel safe and be safe.

Earlier this month Yellowknifers came together to hold a conversation on community safety. My thanks to Ms. Bisaro for the role she played as moderator for the evening. I was also pleased to welcome other MLAs and community leadership to the discussion. The meeting was well-attended by the public and included members from the Coalition Against Family...

I do, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. On my left is Shirley Kemeys-Jones. She’s the assistant deputy minister of the Solicitor General’s branch of the Department of Justice, and Ian Rennie, legislative council, on the right.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’m pleased to be here today to speak about Bill 15, Gunshot and Stab Wound Mandatory Disclosure Act. I’d like to thank the Standing Committee on Social Programs for its review of this bill. This legislation will require health facilities to report instances where injured persons present themselves for treatment of gunshot wounds and stab wounds. It will also protect those involved in reporting from liability. Please note that this requirement does not relate to stab wounds that are believed to be either self-inflicted or accidentally inflicted. All gunshot wounds will...

Mr. Chair, at this point, we don’t actually anticipate having to do these types of fences at other facilities in the Northwest Territories because they pretty much already exist. If you go to Hay River and you look at the facility we have there, there is a large fence that is available, but the inmates there are also significantly lower-risk inmates. The one in Fort Smith has one as well. The female facility, we will likely have to put an area with a bit of a fence, a security fence, because we will likely have female inmates in remand in that facility, unless we end up sending them to other...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. On my right is Sylvia Haener. She’s the deputy minister of the Department of Justice. On my left is Kim Schofield, the director of finance, same department.

The short answer is yes. The steps required for the disposal of the Hay River hospital include a number of different steps. The Department of Health and Social Services, as I’ve indicated previously, must first identify that they don’t have any use for it. If they have some uses for it, then we will work with them to find a way to make that building meet those needs. If the old hospital is actually deemed surplus to the needs of the Department of Health and Social Services, the disposal of the facility would follow our normal provisions, which I’m sure the Member is familiar with, and that’s...

Mr. Speaker, there is no question, we’ve already done the technical analysis of the building and it is completely inappropriate to use that building as a hospital in its current status. It is certainly cheaper to build a new one than to try to bring that building up to the status of a hospital.

At the same time, yes, office buildings are a different standard than a health centre, but we still have an obligation for public infrastructure to make sure that our buildings meet code. We tend to build above the standard building code for Canada. We would have to bring that building up to a certain...

Mr. Speaker, I would also like to recognize one of the Lifeguards for Lodune from the Great Slave riding, Ms. Jennifer Pitt. I would also like to recognize Lodune’s mother, Dehga, as well as Lodune’s grandparents, Gabrielle Mackenzie-Scott and Patrick Scott, all constituents of the Great Slave riding. Thank you.