Jackson Lafferty

[Translation] Thank you, Madam Chair. About the treatment, when we speak of treatment, sending people out to Edmonton, it has been seven years now in the Northwest Territories. There is no addiction treatment centre with us right now, but we know we have an agreement with Edmonton or Alberta for the treatment of our people. When can we have our own program, an agreement, on-the-land program within our region? We all need the treatment. We want it very strong so that we get very strong elders. We know; we lived here; we grew up with elders and how we respect our elders when they speak to us...

Masi, Mr. Speaker. Over the last few months, there have been so many deaths in the Monfwi riding. Most of them involved alcohol or other drugs. My constituents are very concerned about the well-known fact that our people are passing away one by one, all because of addictions.

Mr. Speaker, the last treatment facility in the Northwest Territories shut down in 2013. Almost immediately, the people of the Northwest Territories began requesting, again and again and again, a treatment facility to be reopened up in the territory. That has obviously fallen on deaf ears for all these years.

Mr. Speaker...

[Translation] Masi, Madam Chair. Just a short form. I would like to just say to the Minister what is written in front of her, she is reading, but most of the time there's no follow-up. I'll have to say what happened to my home or my region. If we had actions about what we have, it would be good. Right now, I'm asking the Minister if she would be able to say: let's have a strong after-care program proposal. It's not only for communities, because I know, I hear, in other regions, they have all these issues, this problem like the Tlicho community, see if she would also work with them. In the...

Masi, Madam Chair. [Translation] Thank you, Madam Chair. Page 180, that's what I'm referring to, about the English term, when we say addiction treatment centres, meaning that, for the treatment, they would be able to be sent to Edmonton, but last year, according to the record, there were 191 sent for treatment, and that spent well over $200,000 on residential, school, and medical services, all together included, but because I don't know if it would be in the same department, I would like to ask about that one. Sending people for treatment out of the territory, is it under Health and Social...

Masi, Madam Chair. Obviously, whenever we're in session, the federal government is listening to us, looking out for our discussion here. Clearly, this is of importance to the Northwest Territories. We have 11 official languages, and the federal government only recognizes two. We recognize our 11 official languages, and we have to stand firm to say, "These are our own Northwest Territories. We identify nine Aboriginal languages." We need to identify that as part of our budget going forward.

In the previous terms when I was education Minister, I spoke my language to the federal government, and...

Masi, Madam Chair. I'm looking at page 168, the French language services, $970,000, which stands out. As you know, the population of the Northwest Territories, the majority is Aboriginal-language-speaking people. Is that due to the course of a federal contribution towards the French language services? Is that why it's identified on its own? That would be my first question. Masi.

I need the Minister to elaborate more on this on-call system that she's referring to. Is it in place now, or is it coming? It's just a consideration that the hospital is introducing a night shift for medical interpreters at the Stanton Territorial Hospital. Medical interpretation is such a complex system to interpret, so it's very important that we have interpreters available for these patients, Mr. Speaker.

Masi, Mr. Speaker. [Translation] When I made my earlier Member's statement regarding interpreters for the unilingual elders, I would like to ask the Health and Social Services Minister a question. [Translation ends]

…to help the medical staff community with Dene elders after the medical interpreters have gone home for the day after 5:00, especially after visiting hours at 8:00, when family members can no longer be there? Masi, Mr. Speaker.

Masi, Mr. Speaker. [Translation] When we look at the hospital, there's a lot of people in the hospital. We wonder sometime how they are being taken care of. When you're hospitalized with an illness, there's the discomfort of the treatment and worry about the recovery, and the heightened fear of the COVID-19. When you're a unilingual Dene elder in an English-speaking medical world, it's more stressful for the patient. During the daytime, the Stanton Hospital provides interpreters, but once their shift is over, the interpreters are not available. What happens after 5:00 p.m., when there are no...

Masi, Madam Chair. If the department doesn't have that information, I would really appreciate, at any given time, do we have one interpreter or two interpreters for one language at the Stanton Hospital? It will be information if they can provide that, if they don't have it now, at a later time.

Madam Chair, on page 173, if I can ask one more question, that's On-the-Land Healing Fund, $1.825 million. My question to the Minister and to the department: is that funding adequate? Because we're servicing 33 communities, and $1.8 million can only spread so much throughout the Northwest Territories. As...