Julie Green

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I appreciate the question. I have the opportunity to meet with Indigenous organizations at bilateral meetings with my Cabinet colleagues, and I recall that in the time that I've been in this role, which is about 18 months, this issue has come up once, and it was the Tlicho government that raised it. They were doing a cost benefit analysis of a treatment centre for their region. If other Indigenous governments raise this, I'm certainly willing to engage in the conversation. I think the question is what the valueadded of a building is; what would it provide that...

Yes, thank you. I'm sure the Member appreciates that we want the initiative to come from the Tlicho government, and so we are interested in seeing any proposals they have that would expand their service delivery, would make it more culturally appropriate to their region, more specific to their region. We have the specific funds that the Tlicho government applies for, such as ontheland healing. But we're interested in seeing proposals for other services that we provide that the Tlicho government would like to provide instead. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the Member for raising this issue. The staffing shortages that we see across the NWT are particularly acute in the Tlicho region and Behchoko in particular.

There are vacancies for the manager of health services, the nurseincharge, two nurse practitioners, two public health nurses, five community health nurses, one clinical nurse educator, eight community social workers, two child and youth care counsellors, one child and youth care supervisor, two individual and family counsellors, and one trauma counsellor. In other words, I don't know who's working in...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to clarify my previous statement. It's not that I don't think that any life is important. Obviously every life is important. And the Department of Health and Social Services provides a suite of services to people who are looking for addictions recovery and aftercare. There's no reason for people not to engage in that process starting today by making an appointment with the community counselling program in their community. The sameday appointments are available.

In terms of having a conversation about a treatment facility in the NWT, I'm prepared to...

Yes, thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, we have a pot of money called the community initiatives fund. And what we ask communities to do is create their own wellness plan to identify the things they need in their community in order to be well and to be healthy. These wellness plans are on the Department of Health and Social Services website. They're funded annually. The funding can be carried over. The plans also are evergreen plans, meaning that they can change over time to meet the needs of the communities. And this year, we are going through an exercise where we are reaching out to...

Yes, thank you very much, Madam Speaker, and I appreciate the question from the Member for Monfwi.

The provision of Health and Social Services in the Tlicho region is delivered by the Tlicho Community Services agency. They create their own budget based on their own process, and they submit it to me for approval. I've recently received the budget for the next fiscal year. I haven't yet reviewed it. But I certainly will be doing so. What I suggest is that the Member speak to the board of the Tlicho Community Services agency about how to address the needs that she has in mind to improve the social...

Yes, thank you. I'll return with that information. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I'm not familiar with this report so I'll have to come back with that information. Thank you.

Yes, thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I commend the Member for providing a listening ear. He's right; often that is exactly what people need.

As I mentioned previously, there are services available. They've been available throughout the pandemic. We have counselling available on a sameday basis. We have the child and youth care counselling program to assist youth with their mental health issues. So at this point, I think our biggest challenge is staffing.

We do have a number of vacancies. Yesterday in response to a question from another Member, I mentioned that a shortage of housing was...

Thank you, Madam Speaker, and I appreciate the question from the Member. There's no question that the pandemic has been a very stressful time. It's produced a lot of anxiety, a lot of depression, and people are reaching out for services. We have, since the beginning of the pandemic, been tracking social indicators and publishing them on our website. They are examined quarterly. And what we see is that the use of our programs has varied over time. It was lower at the start of the pandemic and greater now, and it depends on the particular service that we're talking about. But when it comes to...