Julie Green

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I've heard the comments of the Member, and I will take them into account. Thank you.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I certainly welcome the Member for Kam Lake to share specific cases with me to follow up. In terms of selfharm and suicidal ideation, information provided to the Member previously reveals that the number of selfharm or suicidal ideation incidents has, in fact, been developing over the years since 20162017, which is the first year in this fiveyear chart. Likewise, the number of people seeking counselling because of suicidal ideation, that is youth seeking counselling, has gone down as well.

That doesn't mean that there isn't a problem. There clearly is a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is a situation where the health centre simply isn't big enough to hold all the staff. I said two social workers. There's actually three social workers, a social work supervisor, and two and a half healthy family workers as well as one family preservation worker. So that's a total of 6.5 fulltime equivalent positions providing social services in Fort Providence, and there simply isn't enough room in the health centre. And so they are going to move that staff group into another location. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned, this act has been in force for 25 years. And so child protection workers, social workers, have been using this legislation for 25 years. So it's not new.

In the time that I've been Minister and we've started this review of the Child and Family Services Act, I've been in frequent contact with Indigenous governments to ask for their feedback on what they would want to change in this act since we have an opportunity to make changes in this Assembly.

So I'm not sure what the Member has in mind by "making parents aware." If he has a specific case...

Please.

Yes, thank you. This answer really turns on the personal resources of the person. In some cases people may be able to access health benefits through their work or through their parents work if they're dependent children. It may be possible if they're seniors. It is possible for them to access support from the GNWT. Likewise people who qualify for Metis health benefits can have their drugs covered and those with the specified conditions.

After that, it may be possible for a person to apply for private health insurance. It may also be possible for a person to apply for income assistance and for a...

Abstain.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for Hay River South for the question.

I want to start by saying this isn't the appropriate forum to discuss specific cases or conditions. It's important that we respect the right of patients to their health information.

That said, on the general topic of the specified conditions, the list, which has 58 conditions on it, was inherited from the federal government when we took responsibility in this area in 1988. Some conditions were added in 2011 through the medical director of the time.

The specified disease list is now the subject of a review...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document, Followup Letter for Oral Question 104119(2): Student Access to Support Services. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yes, thank you. I found in my notes here that the chief operating officer was there May 2nd to the 5th. She met with community members, the mayor, the staff at the health centre, to look at ways that communication could be improved within the community and between the community and the health and social services authority.

The service levels are a concern. I've mentioned this previously. We're very short of nurses, and that applies to Fort Resolution as it does to other places. Finding staff is done on a systemwide basis. So we don't have a plan that single out particular communities. We need...