Glen Abernethy

Thanks to the Minister for that. We obviously share the same desire to get these particular systems up and running, but as the Minister you have a unique seat at a table in this government where you can really put pressure on your colleagues, the Ministers, to put some greater attention to expanding bandwidth up the valley into our communities so that we can really utilize these technologies that exist. There are so many advantages here to help us reduce medical travel costs, to increase services to the communities, to overall, you know, I mean, if we’re talking Foundation for Change -- and...

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Ms. Meade.

So just for clarity, I heard that none of the bursaries have been eliminated but they may not be utilized particularly due to budget reasons. If the deputy minister could confirm that.

The other thing that I’m curious about or, rather, I would like the department to provide, is: I’d like the department to provide a list or summary over the last or probably since the duration of the bursaries -- they haven’t been around that long -- showing how much we’ve paid out, how much return of service was owed to the GNWT in all categories: nurses, social workers, physicians. How much return of services...

As the Minister pointed out, there are regional respite focus groups taking place starting in February and going through February. That information, I understand, will then go to the advisory group who will provide some recommendations to the department on how to design or what might be the best model to use in the Northwest Territories. Could the Minister please tell me what is the makeup of that advisory committee? Does it include non-government organizations like the NWT Disabilities Council as well as the Yellowknife Association for Community Living? Is there representation from small...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last October there was a lot of talk about respite services in the Northwest Territories. We had a gallery full of people who were very concerned about the future of the YACL and their delivery of respite services.

As a result of that -- I believe that the Minister and her department actually heard what the people had to say -- the Minister is moving forward with the development of a comprehensive territory-wide respite program, which I think is fantastic. To that end, the department is holding regional respite care focus groups over the next couple of months, through...

That is not particularly helpful. If she could please give us some examples of the NGOs that are on that, that would give us a better sense as to who’s represented on this committee.

A second point that I’d like to ask about is: there are a lot of people here, 29 families who currently access services from the Yellowknife Association for Community Living. Clearly, this program is not going to be in place. It doesn’t sound like there will be even something to go forward to committee until the next business planning cycle. Is the Minister working with the Yellowknife Association for Community...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are with respect to respite services in the Northwest Territories. The Department of Health and Social Services is currently developing a territorial-wide respite program. I’m wondering if the Minister could please provide me with a bit of an outline on the timeline how they’re going to move forward and when they expect to actually see a territorial respite program ready to go for review by the Standing Committee on Social Programs, and also when we think a territorial respite program might be rolled out for all residents of the Northwest Territories. Thank...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to thank the Minister for that. I think hearing that in the House is very important today for those 29 families and important for us to hear as MLAs.

I’d like to just go back to my previous question. If she could give me a bit of an understanding of what groups are represented on that advisory group. Are some of the groups in the Territory that are providing these types of services going to be represented on that advisory group? Specifically, the NWT Disabilities Council and Yellowknife Association for Community Living; are they part of the advisory group...

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. I have nobody else on my list. What is the wish of committee? Mrs. Groenewegen

Thank, Mr. Chairman. Once again I would like to thank the Minister for his opening comments on the bill today. I just want to talk a little bit about some of the things that we heard and some of my general thoughts.

Obviously, I am looking forward to getting into the detail as we go department by department. Going through the statement, once again as I talk about my Member’s statement, I think it is important for us to be looking at new and creative ways to gain efficiency on the dollars that we are spending and utilize our dollars in the most effective and appropriate ways. I think, if you...