Julie Green

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you for that question. This is such a difficult issue because people are in pain waiting for this sterilization equipment to go back up to full functioning. It's very difficult to say to them, "We don't know when it's going to be fixed." What I can tell you is what you already know from your statement, Member for Frame Lake. These are complex issues. There are a number of different factors. There is the water quality, water testing for mineralization. The instruments themselves, Stanton has had specialist repair people come up from the South to assist with trying...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a return to oral question asked by the Member for Monfwi on October 20, 2020, regarding residential addictions treatment.

It is a priority in the mandate of the Government of the Northwest Territories to "increase the number and variety of culturally respectful, community-based mental health and addictions programs, including aftercare." I am committed to making this priority a reality.

The Member said that the previous Minister and the current deputy minister made a promise to look into creating a northern treatment center. I have reviewed Hansard for that day...

As I've said, Mr. Speaker, in my return to oral question, Nats'ejee K'eh worked at a 38-percent capacity in the last three years it was opened, and we've been able to double the number of people who get residential treatment for the same money over the last six years.

What we understand is: the hitch at Nats'ejee K'eh and other northern treatment centres is confidentiality. I think we all know that everybody knows everybody, and they don't necessarily want to restart their sober lives in the NWT. We find that having options provides for a more responsive time to get in rather than longer wait...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm aware that Salt River First Nation had a very successful mobile treatment program with the Poundmaker's Lodge a couple of years ago, and I think that that was really a model for the rest of the NWT about creating a partnership with a southern addictions treatment centre and bringing it North, and bringing it directly to the people. I think there's a lot of potential in that, and certainly, I encourage people to explore that option for their communities if they think that would be useful. Thank you.

What we recognize is that we need a model that is more widely applicable in the NWT outside of the hospitals, to assist people with medical detox. We are working now, the department is working now, on creating a model that will make detox more readily and widely available in the NWT. For some people, of course, that's all they need. They go on without formal treatment, and they are able to achieve sobriety. Of course, for other people, that's a beginning step in a continuum of supports that would allow them to achieve sobriety.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. What the department does collect is that people have finished their program. They don't go back to them to determine whether they have relapsed in their program. I will mention, however, that there is a survey that will go out early next year to people who visited the treatment centres to determine what has worked for them and what hasn't worked for them and try and build some best practices out of those responses. Thank you.

I am certainly willing to have that conversation. Thank you.

It is my understanding that the only travellers or essential workers who get immediate tests are people who are going into a healthcare setting, that other people do not receive those tests. That is primarily a function of our capacity, that, if we do not have people who are symptomatic, we do not really have a good test for them at this point. There is work going on to provide that kind of testing, which is not really testing; it's screening. That is coming down the pipe, but it does not exist now. The gold-star approach would be that everybody who comes into the NWT is screened to see if...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Department of Health and Social Services has a range of programs and services that will assist people in small communities with their mental health. The child and youth community counsellors program is available through the schools to people from the community. It's just a matter of calling and making an appointment, so that's right onsite. For people who don't want to meet in person, there are virtual care appointments that are available. Of course, that goes back to needing some technology and broadband availability to access that.

There are also apps for phones. I...

Contact tracing is the responsibility of public health and community health nurses. It is up to them to interview the patient who has become ill and to establish where that person has been and who they have been in contact with. This is not a function that can be carried out by a business.