Michael Miltenberger

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. There may be; the Member is correct. There may be cases out there that we aren’t aware of that haven’t reported in, who haven’t been sick enough or come forward as being part of any other kind of blood test or blood work that’s being done for other reasons. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate the Member’s comments. As indicated yesterday that as we move ahead with the document that’s going to deal with the facilities, flowing out of that will be the conclusion of the master planning for Stanton, as well as Hay River and Fort Smith. So there will be an opportunity to look at that and to have that input. As well, just to state the obvious to the Member, very clearly, as a department, officials in Yellowknife are tracking the discussion in this House and issues that are raised and commitments that we made for follow up and to identify as well...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I am not trying to minimize the HIV issue, but what the information tells us is that the highest STI rates put us at particular risk with the rapid spread of HIV. Since the first HIV infections were identified in 1987, 36 persons -- 30 males and six females -- have tested positive for HIV infection in the NWT. In 2003, four new cases were identified; a significant increase from previous years. Seven of the 36 HIV cases occurred in persons between 20 and 29 years of age. Seventeen of the 36 HIV/AIDS cases occurred in persons between 30 and 39 years of...

Yes, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to point out that we are working on this with Infoway, which is a national body. There is a national interest in every jurisdiction, plus the federal government, to move ahead on electronic patient records and health records. We’ve made the offer to Infoway, which we think will be accepted, to use the whole of the Northwest Territories as a pilot project where we can demonstrate a system that works not only in urban settings, but in remote settings. We have the distance, we have the geography, all the challenges that the larger jurisdictions have. No...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, through the chief medical health officer’s shop, we do work on prevention and health promotion. We also work in conjunction with active living and healthy living initiatives with Education, Culture and Employment. We work with MACA, as well, and Education, Culture and Employment as it pertains to youth; trying to work on the prevention side, active living, healthy choices, right choices. We’re also part of the Pacific Northwest FASD Partnership because it is a concern clearly across the country, but in the northwest it’s a big issue and there are benefits...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the Member’s comments. We will keep that in mind as we move forward with the Telehealth expansion.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, clearly we, the Legislature, the government, have supported the creation of these processes to give people every protection and access to due process when dealing with government and decisions made. That is a process that’s available for use. Should it be put to use and a judgment is made then, of course, as a government we would be looking at how we comply with whatever the decision is. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I don’t want to quibble with the Member. The change to STI is very, very recent. The numbers of what we are talking about in terms of what used to be STDs have been accumulated for many years when they were called STDs. So the disease label clearly didn’t really hold anybody back from unsafe sex practices, I would submit. Maybe STIs will, combined with all the other work we intend to do. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, the Member is correct; we’ve had numerous discussions on this issue and it is, as the Member said, water under the bridge. There were 476 positions affected by the review; 201 of the positions were -- pardon me while I put my glasses on -- re-graded with salary increases, 24 positions were downgraded, 235 positions remained in the same salary range, and 16 positions were new. There were some grievances and appeals filed. There are still about 21 outstanding.

Why did we do this? Because, in my mind, there was pressure from the nurses and in their opinion a...