Julie Green

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don't have with me information about how many people attended the four previous treatment centres that were offered in the NWT, but I will ask the department if they can produce that information.

I also want to say that we have had a preliminary conversation at the Council of Leaders about alternatives to one single facility for healing and treatment, which is what the Member asked for, to see if there's something that could be developed on a regional basis that would better meet the needs of both treatment closer to home and the particular languages and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Member for the question. I do not have those responses here today, and I haven't been given a date they're available. But I will commit now to making sure she has them before the session is over. Thank you.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the NWT medical travel program is for people who don't have private means to travel through their employer benefits, for example, whether those are public employers like the GNWT, or they are private employers, the medical travel program fills that gap.

In terms of who gets these benefits in the GNWT, the medical travel benefits are part of the compensation package for staff, and so they have them on that basis through their collective agreement.

In the last fiscal year, the medical travel program spent $43 million for approximately 15,000 cases. So...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the question.

I want to start with that access to healthcare while it's determined by whether someone is Indigenous, Metis, on a private healthcare plan, or a public healthcare plan, access is the same. That is guaranteed under the Canada Health Act. How you get to that medical treatment I think is what the Member wants to hear about.

So the medical travel program is in place not to reimburse residents for everything that they spend but rather to reduce the financial barrier of travelling for a service that's not provided here. So the benefit...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the repositioning on the site doesn't deal with the problems I mentioned around maintaining essential services to the building. Certainly repositioning could happen, but the maintenance of service is the first thing that needs to happen. What we're waiting for, and I know other departments are waiting for as well, is the new flood maps that will be created as a result of this flood. And the bottom line here is that if the building is not insurable, it can't be built in that location. Thank you.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm not able to speak in a very informed way about the content of treatment programs. I am not in a position to deliver them, I'm not in a position to need them fortunately, so I can't give any detail to that question. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Member for that question. The demolition of HH Williams Memorial Hospital is well underway and will be completed in this calendar year. Thank you

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the reason that the bed evaluation was redone is because we had better information from ten years of data as well as better population projections. Following the reevaluation, we committed to further reevaluations every four years. So there is every possibility that the number will change. And we will build the facility to meet the need that we know of, the most recent need that we know of.

One of the reasons that Hay River bed size went down is because it turned out there was a greater need in Fort Smith so it made sense to build two longterm care...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Member for that question.

The criteria for escorts is set by Indigenous Services Canada which pays most of the $44 million bill for medical travel each year. If the person receiving care is a minor, the parent goes with that child. But there is no provision at this point for the other children to go with that parent.

Having said that, I am aware of times where this issue has arisen and social services has been able to help with the voluntary services agreement. So if the Member knows of someone who needs this service, I suggest that they contact...

Yes, thank you it's true that there is a twotier approach. There are people who have insurance through their employer, including the GNWT, maybe through the federal government, through the school boards and so on, and people who don't, and the approaches are different and the benefits are different; one of the reasons that we are currently reviewing the supplementary health benefits. So the concept of providing benefits to employees is to compensate them, as part of their compensation, and it's also a part of the usually the retention strategy that people want employees to have these benefits...