Julie Green

Yes, thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, some of the things that the medical social worker would do is to assist the person to get into housing, assist them to get into treatment, assist them to obtain income support, assist them to obtain referrals for medical care if such referrals are necessary, referrals to counselling, completing Jordan Principle applications, getting them set up with a proper ID whether that's a birth certificate, a general identity card, or whether it is a driver's licence. So this is a position that facilitates people's access to services that may be provided...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there's a meeting arranged for the end of November with the Tlicho government and the chief of Behchoko, to which the Member has been invited, to talk about addictions and aftercare. So I'm looking forward to having that conversation. In terms of a constituency tour, I will repeat again that if she invites me and organizes the constituency tour, I am happy to come. Thank you.

Yes, thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, one of the things that we committed to in the response to the OAG recommendations is to engage with Indigenous governments to identify barriers to people attending addiction services and take a look at our standards and policies for contracts to make sure that they are culturally safe. So this is work that we plan to do in response to the OAG.

But in the interim, I had a meeting with the NWT Council of Leaders, which included leadership from the Member's region, to talk about addictions and aftercare. That happened at the end of September, and...

Yes, thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I'm not planning to provide any more information than I have already provided about the contract with Poundmaker's Lodge. It ends at the end of this month.

We have five other treatment options that residents can go to. There are three in Alberta, one in BC, and one in Ontario, as well as they can stay home and use the community counselling service, the community on-the- land programs, and so on. So while we are not going to continue with Poundmaker's, we do have those other options. And recognizing that we don't have a specific Indigenous option...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I apologize to the Member but I'm not able to answer that question; I'll have to take it on notice. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, falling pregnant is not a medically necessary intervention provided by our healthcare system, and we have no plans to change that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I appreciate the question from the Member. We've done a jurisdictional scan, and there are some large jurisdictions with big populations and big revenue bases that can support specialized services such as fertility treatments. But that is not the case here, and fertility treatments are not covered. Thank you.

Thank you for the comment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you for the question. So the GNWT provides services to individuals who need a diagnosis and treatment for an underlying medical condition that is preventing pregnancy from taking place, and this is part of our insured health services. So if that service is required here, it would be provided here. And if is required in the south, then medical travel would pay for that to happen in the south. So that's the "why aren't I getting pregnant" answer.

In terms of assisting people who don't have underlying medical conditions to get pregnant, that is not part of insured...

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member better watch out or maybe by then I'll be a personal support worker helping him get in and out. So just pray that doesn't happen.

So what we've been able to do to supplement home care is provide funding for three additional positions in the last two years so that there is more staff available because, in fact, there are greater demands for that. The detail there is that's two home care nurses and a home support worker. The additional nursing position has enabled us to create more hours of service. So the service hours are now 8:30 to 4:30...