Glen Abernethy

I’m sorry, I forgot to include my colleague Mr. Hawkins. Obviously he should be there as well. Lastly, I’m glad you’re going to be doing the review, but I think it’s very important that we get outside-of-the-government input as well, not just the filmmakers, but other industries and people that would benefit from the industry. I was hoping I could get the Minister to commit to going well beyond just the filmmakers themselves.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As outlined in my Member’s statement, as a government we must place greater focus and attention on small, sustainable and local economies. The NWT film industry would support employment, cultural promotion, highlight the NWT as a potential place to work, visit and live, yet there’s little or no GNWT support for this industry. Clearly ITI doesn’t recognize the value of this industry. Filmmakers in the NWT would like an opportunity to demonstrate the value that this industry does have to the NWT.

As such, they would like the GNWT to facilitate an independent review of the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank my colleagues for supporting this motion.

Just for the record, young men and women in the Northwest Territories who have failed to be diagnosed as children who wish to be diagnosed do not receive support in getting that diagnosis from the GNWT. I know of several situations where that has occurred and the government has not stood up to help these individuals.

I attended and met with individuals in Alberta who are actually doing adult assessment FASD or adult assessment for FASD and they are finding huge benefits and advantages of doing these types of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

WHEREAS NWT health and social services covers the cost of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) assessment for children and not adults;

AND WHEREAS many cases of FASD in children are going undiagnosed because of the lack of awareness and stigma associated with the disorder;

AND WHEREAS undiagnosed children are growing up and struggling with physical, intellectual and behavioural difficulties in adulthood;

AND WHEREAS the government is committed to working with residents in an effort to help them live healthy and productive lives;

AND WHEREAS adults who may have undiagnosed...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to return to item 11, petitions, on the orders of the day. Thank you.

---Unanimous consent granted.

That is very good news. Building upon this review, some of the NWT-based filmmakers would also like an opportunity to meet with the Minister himself to help him understand the impact this industry could have on the Northwest Territories. Would the Minister also commit to meeting with a small delegation of these NWT-based filmmakers, myself and my colleague Mr. Bromley, to discuss the industry in hopes of helping the Minister better understand the industry as a whole?

The motion is clear. I was wondering if the Minister could tell us why the Minister ignored what the motion said.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to follow up on the questions I was asking earlier today. First off, I’d like to recognize that I agree with the Minister in her response to Mr. Hawkins that, yes, we have a collective responsibility to make this program work better for the residents of the Northwest Territories. I couldn’t agree more. The problem is I think we need information to do that.

The Minister also said, in responding to some of my questions, that we need some good dialogue between us and the stakeholders and the department. Once again, I couldn’t agree more, but we need to make sure...

Just for the record, the individuals I’ve talked to who are in that working group have indicated that they were basically told what the department is going to research and what’s going to happen after that. They weren’t actually encouraged to do what the motion suggested, which was to give alternate areas of research, give alternate opinions, alternate thoughts, so that when this information comes out, as it’s coming out now, it should come out complete; meaning that we should have all sorts of options and things to consider.

The Minister says that the research does point in a certain direction...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As outlined in my Member’s statement, it appears to me as though the Minister of Health and Social Services has strayed from the path agreed to by Members to conduct a review of the potential redesign of the Supplementary Health Program. I’m wondering if the Minister could please outline for us what type of consultation was held with stakeholders prior to the department gathering and distributing the research information they provided to the public on February 22, 2010. Thank you.