Glen Abernethy

Mr. Speaker, we have most of the positions filled in Yellowknife. We do still need some locums to cover time off, sick time, annual time, those types of things, and people do come and go, so there is turnover in Yellowknife, as well. Beaufort Delta and Inuvik, right now we are pretty fully staffed. I believe there are five physicians out of five up there on a permanent basis, but, you know, any one of them could leave at any time, so we must continue to recruit, even when positions are filled, just to keep the awareness up.

When it comes to Norman Wells, Forts Smith and Simpson, we have...

Yes, Mr. Speaker, we moved to a single medical system here in the Northwest Territories, even though we have individuals located in different communities. We do have physicians who will travel to other communities. Some of our communities, as the Member is aware, do not have permanent physicians, some of our smaller, more rural communities, so doctors will travel to those communities, but not just doctors. We have community health nurses and advanced practice specialists who have additional training. They can do some things like suturing and some level of diagnosis based on formulary and other...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we are committed to trying to fill all of our physician positions with local practitioners rather than locum practitioners. We run about a 23.6 per cent vacancy, and we continue to recruit pretty much all the time. That is both for the GPs and for the specialists.

We do recognize that it is a challenge. We are trying to do a few things differently that will hopefully help us improve some of our numbers. One of the things we have done is we have recently talked to the University of Alberta about running a medical residency program here in the Northwest...

I will commit to sharing a copy of the RFP with the Member once it is released.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Following up on conversations with the Member and committee, we have agreed to move forward with the development of a seniors' day program here in Yellowknife.

The RFP was supposed to be out shortly before Christmas. Unfortunately, we ran into some difficulties with some of the content. We want to make sure we get it right. It is my understanding that the department has almost finalized that work, and we are hoping that the RFP goes out very shortly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

This government makes $1.2 million available through the Department of Health and Social Services to support on-the-land programming that is led by different Aboriginal governments across the Northwest Territories. That money flows every year. I can say that there are a number of on-the-land programs that are available. They are all different. Every one of the Indigenous governments has indicated their own way of doing things. They have some specific things they are trying to accomplish at the regional level.

We have said we would make our clinical staff available to them. Some of them have...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, at this time there is no plan to open a treatment facility in the Northwest Territories. I can say that K'atlodeeche have been working closely with the Department of Health and Social Services on utilizing the old Nats’ejee K’eh facility as a traditional wellness centre to focus on healing and other supportive activities for Indigenous people in the Northwest Territories. I can also say that the Arctic Indigenous Wellness Foundation is looking at providing wellness-type centre services here in the Northwest Territories located in Yellowknife. We have made...

Some of that depends on the types of proposals that we get in. We would obviously like to see something that lasts beyond the upcoming fiscal year, but it really depends on the nature of the proposals that are submitted. I would like to see some consistency and some continuity on this particular approach, but we have not seen proposals that have come in at this point. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As I indicated, the RFP is almost done. As far as the drafting, we are hoping that that RFP will come out in the next couple of weeks. It will follow its normal process to make sure that we are getting solid applications. They will all be assessed and evaluated against the criteria that is established in the RFP.

I am hoping that we can get this contract out as quickly as possible, hopefully before the end of this fiscal year. Granted that we really only have about a month and a half before that time ends; I cannot guarantee it will happen before the end of the fiscal year, but that is my...

These youth community counsellors will be fully trained counsellors here in the Northwest Territories. They will be part of an integrated team. They will certainly have access to all of the programs and services that are available for youth. They will be able to provide supports to our youth, but also referrals, as well. It is a holistic approach to providing those services. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.