Glen Abernethy

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Once again, my memory of that particular conversation is around what we wanted to do in the individual authorities so that individuals have an opportunity to provide or register their concerns in the Territorial Authorities, so it can be reviewed by our quality assurance staff and so that recommendations can be made for improvements.

Now, having said that, there are also other venues for our residents to make complaints. For instance, if a resident has a concern about a physician, there is a formal mechanism for residents to make complaints about physicians. If a resident...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I believe the RFP says, "frail elders." So I think that's where the priority is being placed, but I accept the need for flexibility and we'll see what kind of proposals we get. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, and we're looking forward to rolling this out. I mean, we know there are going to be a few challenges along the way, but we heard from the kids. We heard from the kids, and they indicated this is an important tool and resource they need. I'm happy to see the support we have from committee, and I'm happy to continue to push this forward over the next four years, this year starting in the Deh Cho. Thank you.

We actually have hired a midwifery consultant and we are working with the different midwives in the Northwest Territories to help strengthen the existing services, but our territorial consultants are also working with us to update our procedures and our guidelines to make sure that they're current and they make sense. Those are building upon the recommendations.

I'm happy to have a meeting with committee if committee so desires to walk through where we are and where we're going and where we hope to be by the end of this Assembly.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm not sure I understand the question. We need to determine the amount of money we're going to need to bring the authority, which means working with their pension, but also working with the union is the number of things that have to happen. It's not just pension costs. There are going to be some other costs. We need to know what those are before we can have an informed discussion in this room or in this Assembly.

On top of that, historically we've been spending about $1 million a year. Until such a time as it is properly resolved, I anticipate that those costs will...

No, Mr. Chair. No, I'm just kidding. Yes, this is the section, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, in the department, we have a number of different functions, including our policy division. We've got nursing consultants. We've got the chief public health officer. We have a number of responsibilities that are responsible for developing policy related to particular activities, such as nursing or midwifery and those types of things. When operationalized, those are operationalized through the Territorial Health and Social Services Authority and our two other partner boards. The quality assurance that I have been referencing is quality assurance at the authority...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the RFP is just recently out; I shared it with the Member. We're trying to provide a day program for those, basically, in most need in the Yellowknife area. It's certainly not a broad-ranging program or a program for all residents of the Yellowknife area. It will be for certain individuals and, honestly, I can't remember what we put out as a term on that. So I will have to get back with that information. I'm blanking completely. So I apologize.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. If the Member is talking about the community mental health and addictions, there has actually been an increase from 2016-2017 into 2017-2018 and again into 2018-2019 for this area. What I think I am hearing from the Member, I think we are working to make improvements in that area through the next section of this budget where we are including the community youth counsellor positions throughout the Northwest Territories. I apologize. We have to make decisions, and we are focusing on Tlicho and Deh Cho as a starting point. We will be rolling through the Territories over the...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we share the Member's concerns. We feel that these positions are similar to positions that already exist, the adult mental health and addictions, so much of the criteria, the knowledge, skills, and ability to do the jobs is similar. So we are hoping that, given that there are some reasonable comparators, that the evaluations proceed quickly.

Having said that, ultimately at the end of the day they have a tool that they use to evaluate and the evaluators will assess accordingly, but I do share the Member's concerns. We are doing everything we can in the department...