Julie Green

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. June is Seniors Month, a time for us to recognize the important role of seniors in our families, communities, and the territory. They connect us with language, land, and culture, and bridge the past with the future.

Under the mandate of the Government of the Northwest Territories 20192023, we are supporting this role by enabling seniors to age in place with dignity. We want to help seniors to remain at home for as long as they are able. In order to be successful, we must address the core issues. We collaborated across government and engaged seniors, their families and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don't have any information about what other jurisdictions do. I can certainly commit the resources to see what Alberta does as our closest neighbour. There is no path forward for this service unless the health budget is increased. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you for the questions. We have no plan to hire psychologists. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is time to revise the Child and Family Services Act to bring it into alignment with Bill 92, the federal act respecting First Nations, Inuit, and Metis children and families, youth and families. This will align things that are already being done in terms of cultural safety. And so while the legislation has not come up for review in this session, the changes have been made in standards. And it's worth noting as well that we have a limited number of staff to do this policy and legislation work and the staff who would normally be involved in revising the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As of May 30th this year, there are 133 children and youth in temporary or permanent custody. That compares to 169 children and youth in temporary or permanent custody on September 1st, 2018. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I see Ed Hoff in the gallery today. He is a neighbour, a retired engineer, and a solid community volunteer, and I'd like to welcome him to the House. Thank you.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that would be a great topic to bring up with the 20th Assembly who will be doing the next business plan for the 20242025 fiscal year. I think that some of this is a coordination effort. I know that Home Base Yellowknife does enable people to get into leases with landlords and sets youth up in their own housing. I'm not sure whether there is enough of that to make a difference. I think that some youth need significant wraparound resources to be successful as tenants. And so I think all of those are very worthy of consideration. I think for youth as...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, our concern is for youth who have some interaction with child and family services. I think the youth homelessness issue is bigger than that, and it does require a number of parties to come to the table to try and understand the scope of the problem and what the solutions are. I know that there are some resources available now. I'm not familiar with where the gaps are, but that is something that would obviously be useful not only here in Yellowknife, with the largest homelessness population, but in other regional centres. Thank you.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think that what the Member is talking about is the contracting that GNWT does on behalf of Indigenous Services Canada for NIHB. And so we let those contracts and they are primarily for travel costs - they are for travel costs. The dentist needs to get approval from NIHB for the services provided. And in terms of the services that they do provide, as the Member knows there is a preapproval process, and the dentists make their own determination of what service is most required by the patient. That's not something that we have oversight over. Although I...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I appreciate the Member giving me notice on this so I could get that specific information. There are three dental therapists located in Fort Simpson, Fort McPherson, and Inuvik. There is a dental hygienist located in Fort Smith. There is a territorial specialist who is a licensed dental hygienist who provides frontline service to communities and is located in Yellowknife. And we also have dental hygienists who work on casual rotations to fill vacancies. Thank you.