Julie Green

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Thank you to the Member for Hay River South for the question. It's an excellent question, and I am sorry I don't have an answer ready to it. However, I do take his point that this is something we need to sort out now. That 30 hours would not be enough time into Colville Lake or to drive up to the diamond mines. There will need to be some consideration of how to make that possible since those are essential services and time-limited services that are being provided. Thank you.

This is a fairly new project, but we have offered and are still willing to provide the Standing Committee on Social Development a briefing and to take questions on what committee would like to see in an alcohol strategy. We are following an outline from the group called CAPE, which is the Canadian Alcohol Policy Evaluation. They have a number of different domains that they suggest an alcohol strategy focus on, so that is the outline we are looking at now. My preference would be to make this an iterative process so that there is more than one occasion on which the general public can be involved...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I want the alcohol strategy to produce better health. We have some very troubling indicators for heavy alcohol use in this territory. For example, the rate of heavy drinking, which is defined as having four or five or more alcoholic beverages in a single sitting, is 43 percent in the NWT. That compares to 19 percent across Canada. Better health means that people are not falling into the poor health outcomes of excessive alcohol use and also not falling into the personal despair of excessive alcohol use. To that end, the department has hired a federally funded senior...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. We know that family violence continues to be a serious issue. The Northwest Territories consistently records among the highest rates of violence against women in Canada, as reported by Statistics Canada. Two women have been murdered in the last two months. This violence is as heartbreaking as it is unacceptable. As a territory, we need to do better.

This month is Family Violence Prevention Month in the Northwest Territories. Let us take time to focus on promoting a change in attitudes and behaviours about violence against women and the harm that comes with it. The...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. My general comment is: I would like to express appreciation to the committee for undertaking this work. We do not know when we will need it, but what we have here is a very comprehensive road map of what a virtual sitting could look like. No doubt, there are things that we have not considered, but I thank the committee for getting us off to a good start. Thank you.

The problem with rapid testing is that it really doesn't work if you only do it once. There is a period of time over which somebody could become infectious, have symptoms, have a fever, so you can't really do one test and say, "Okay. That's good. You don't have any COVID." It's usually a series during the 14-day isolation period. I know that what they're doing now with essential health workers is a test right when they come in to see that they're well, and then they're asking them to really self-isolate except for those times that they are at work. There is a model to follow there that may be...

The service here is primarily in NIHB service. What's happening is that senior leadership from Indigenous Services Canada and the department of health authorities are meeting this week to get an update on a resumption plan that they have all been working on for the last little while that deals with current air exchange requirements and infection control standards so that the services are delivered safely to the people in the communities. What I'm anticipating is that an announcement will be made next week on the timing and locations of phase 1 resumption of dental services and that that will...

Of course, the pandemic makes it more difficult. I have to say that I have attended three meetings of seniors' organizations via Zoom, and the seniors are up on Zoom. It's not a problem. They will connect and give their input. The department is hiring a person full-time for two years to lead the process of developing a seniors' strategy. It will be the job of this person to figure out how the consultation is going to work and to include the voices of everyone who needs to be heard. Thank you.

Thank you for the question, Member for Frame Lake. We are collaborating across all government departments to identify what the gaps are and what the resources are available to seniors to figure out how we can develop a strategy that meets their needs in a holistic way. I also want to say that we plan to collaborate with the NWT Seniors' Society and other seniors' organizations and seniors as individuals in order to develop this strategy. It will be a collaborative process from top to bottom.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This was the platform that we used to provide virtual care during the pandemic, and the funding is specific to the COVID-19 response. What I can tell you is that the current work is around allowing for secure messaging between healthcare providers and patients. This is an ongoing project, and I just want to note that the expenses here are fully offset by a grant from the federal government. Thank you.