Sandy Lee

The Consumer Protection Act that my department of MACA works under does not have a legislative mechanism to control price changes and frequency and how much. Also, the NWT is not one of the jurisdictions that regulates fuel prices. There are four in Canada who do that.

I’m also aware of situations where there are occasions where price fixing or coercion charges were looked into, and those have not been found to be the case. The only example we know of is an isolated case in Quebec.

Now, having said that, all are options we could consider — it’s not a MACA responsibility — as a government, and...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table four documents. Further to my Return to Written Question 21-16(2) I wish to table the following document entitled Aboriginal Employee Statistics, Sport, Recreation, and Youth Division, Municipal and Community Affairs. Further to my Return to Written Question 23-16(2) I wish to table the following document entitled Use of Agency Nurses in the Northwest Territories. Further to my Return to Written Question 30-16(2) I wish to table the following document entitled Travel Summary: Sport, Recreation and Youth Division, Municipal and Community Affairs for the Fiscal Years...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a return to an oral question asked by Mr. Hawkins on June 18, 2008, regarding services for children with autism.

The Department of Health and Social Services does not operate under a framework or policy that is specific to autism. Services for children with disabilities are delivered within the context of the integrated service delivery model, which allows for access to rehabilitation services, referrals to specialists and, if necessary, voluntary support agreements through the Child and Family Services Act. A framework for services for children with disabilities...

Mr. Speaker, I’d like to recognize my beautiful mother, who usually watches us on TV but decided to show up in the gallery today. She’s also a resident of Avens Court.

I have worked with parents of children with autism, and I am aware of situations in Yellowknife where certain children with autism have someone with them the entire day at school because that child needs a full-time aide every minute he is in school.

What I’m saying is it’s hard to talk about how many hours we provide a child with autism. My answer is: it depends. It depends on the needs of the child as well as what services are available. Children with autism sometimes need…. I don’t know; I’m not a professional. I think that’s all I can say for now.

Mr. Speaker, I’m not aware of parents being able to receive funding from Yellowknife Health and Social Services Authority or any authority.

What I’m telling the Member is that parents can receive the services. We still have more speech therapists — or any other specialists — that the children with autism or any other disability need. They’re mostly hired by the health authorities. There is a team of people who would work with children and families to provide the services they need.

You have to understand that children with autism come with all sorts of individual and varying degrees of needs...

All of our health care professionals employed by the GNWT or funded by the GNWT have to put their priority to the NWT residents.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Department of Health and Social Services, in cooperation with educational services that we provide, do assist families and children with varying types of disabilities, including autism. Those services are made available on a case-by-case basis.

Yes, I did indicate in my letter to the Member that we are working on a framework to have a coordinated intervention plan. I look forward to having this framework reviewed with the standing committee members and working to make it more concrete through our upcoming business-development process.

I am aware that the Alberta government has instituted intensive behavioural intervention programs. It is one of the most aggressive programs in the country, but it’s not something that’s available everywhere, and the success and merits of that Alberta program are not conclusive.

I do also believe this is an area where the federal government needs to step in to provide some comprehensive national response.

With respect to Yellowknife or the Territories, it is really hard to speak about exactly what services are available to children without knowing exactly who the child is. Autism is not a one...