Sandy Lee

I am interested in collaborating with NGOs that might be knowledgeable or interested in this issue. As well as that, I think I will make a commitment to direct my department to do more research, gather information, look at the idea, explore it further and get back to the Member and Members on the other side.

Mr. Speaker, I think it’s important to note that the two authorities that are under the most pressure and having a significant deficit are the ones with a hospital. Stanton has a hospital and Inuvik has a hospital. Hay River and Deh Cho have hospitals too, but it’s a different level of hospital care. I think there’s unique pressure in running these hospitals that causes deficits.

The second thing is, whether there’s a board or not or a public trustee doesn’t seem to…. That’s not a factor that helps or doesn’t help deficit situations.

I do want to assure the Member that I am working closely and...

I think the Member is aware of the work this government does and that the western provinces, Nunavut and Yukon do to address FASD issues. I have to admit this is the first time I’ve heard it. I was not aware that this was being practised in Winnipeg. Perhaps there are other jurisdictions that are doing something like this. I’d be very interested in seeing what the program entails, how it works and whether or not we could look into implementing something like that here. It sounds like something that would require a great deal of work to explore, but I’m certainly willing to give the commitment...

The Stanton Territorial Health Authority has been under the management of a public administrator since 2002, I believe. What I did was appoint a new public administrator in May of this year.

With respect to Beaufort-Delta, there is no plan to dissolve that board and appoint a new public administrator. As the Member is aware, the Strategic Initiative Committee on Refocusing Government is reviewing the work of all the boards under Health and Social Services; Housing; and Education, Culture and Employment. We will have to wait to see the outcome of that work.

I do take the Member’s point that it is...

As the Member is aware, this is relatively new legislation. The last Standing Committee on Social Programs worked to implement that.

The second thing is that all of the tools and the legislative framework are there. We just need to work harder to get the communities to come on board. There’s not a lot of money allocated for that. It’s a situation where community leadership and interested parties could get together, and we will give administrative support in that regard.

Lastly, what I want to say is that in some situations in our regions, families agree…. In Sahtu they have agreed to the...

I wish to table the following document entitled Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Annual Report 2006–2007.

Document 8-16(3), Health and Social Services Annual Report 2006–2007, tabled.

There are a lot of details and facts to this; it’s a highly unusual situation. I will get back to the Member. Because this is a non-medical escort, there are some additional questions and facts that we need to look into. We’re doing that, and we’ll get back to the Member.

The short answer to that is that if a non-medical escort is approved, then all of the incidental costs would be approved.

Generally a non-medical escort is approved where a patient needs a family member for physical support or for language support, where there might be some interpreter services. I understand that in this circumstance it doesn’t fall into either of the two, but that is a general situation where the non-medical escort would be approved.

It gives me great pleasure to join Mr. Lafferty to recognize another class, nursing students, from Aurora College: Jenna Alexander, Leslie Bader, June Bartlett, Heather La Foy, Lindsay Ransom, Shannon Rutherglen, Ayrma Schreurs and instructor Vee Faria. We would like to welcome them.

As I have committed already, I am looking into this; the department is looking into it right now. I will get back to the Member by the end of the day. Given the privacy and confidentiality of the patient, I think I’ll just have to leave it at that, and I will get back to the Member.