Julie Green

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The largest population of seniors in the NWT lives in Yellowknife, and their numbers continue to grow. In fact, elders are the fastest-growing segment of our population. Services for them have not kept pace with growing needs. As an example, we are now in our fourth year without a social inclusion program for older adults.

I am going to provide some background on this issue. Loneliness is a major issue for older adults. For all kinds of reasons, including health, mobility, income, and transportation, seniors may spend a lot of time at home alone. Some may choose to feel more...

I am a little concerned about how the needs of people with cognitive issues were taken into account in this survey. How were they engaged in this survey?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned in my statement, helping seniors to age in place is a priority for this Assembly, but we need to improve supports for them to make this priority a reality. One area that needs work is helping Yellowknife seniors to get out of the House and socialize, whatever their physical and cognitive abilities. The Department of Health and Social Services surveyed seniors about the kinds of activities that they would like to take part in. Today, I have questions for the Minister about the results. First of all, what did seniors say they need in order to participate in...

Lots of good news in that answer. My understanding is that there will be wide-spread campaign schools and they will be offered by local people. One of the things that I was told, and the Premier was told when we were offering campaign schools, is that it was useful to have people who were in elected office be part of the teaching group so that there was the "see it, be it" dynamic there, that people could meet actual politicians doing the job. Is there any provision for this kind of "see it, be it" dynamic to continue in the campaign schools?

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister responsible for the Status of Women. As I mentioned in my statement, women found the campaign schools helpful in preparing them to run and win in the last territorial election. My question for the Minister is whether she is a supporter of the campaign schools for women? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I recognize that the special advisor for the Status of Women does some great work in the Northwest Territories, but I was thinking about ways in which to involve women who are currently in leadership and political life in the workshops. Is it possible to find a way to involve these women in the campaign schools? Thank you.

Thank you to the Minister for that response. My next question for the Minister is: when will the campaign schools resume, and who will be offering them?

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. We have in this room today the largest number of women ever elected to the NWT Legislative Assembly.

---Applause

The election of nine women in October was the result of hard work by current and former Members of this House and many others. The question now, and it is not too early to ask this, is: how do we maintain the equality of political representation we have now achieved?

Mr. Speaker, by way of background, I am going to recap some milestones in the 18th Assembly that got us here. First, Members made correcting the underrepresentation of women a mandate priority, and the...

Thank you to the Minister for that. I know that was a point of unhappiness as last summer holidays came around. There were not enough nurses to allow people to take time off. There was a commitment by the previous health Minister to expedite the recruiting system and to get job offers into the hands of nurses more quickly. Are you able to say whether, in fact, that system has been expedited?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thought you might have forgotten me. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. As I said yesterday, and again today, there have been a number of issues related to the new hospital building. Also, last we heard, there was a shortage of nursing staff.

Today, let's start with the nurses. In June, there was a 13-percent vacancy rate, equal to 37 nurses. What is the vacancy rate now, and particularly, what is the net gain of nurses in the last six months when you account for those who have been hired and those who quit? Thank you.