Sandy Lee

Mr. Chairman, I could give him that assurance. Anybody who needs that dialysis service is being, and will be, provided with it at Stanton.

I think the Member mentioned that…. I’m not sure if I would put it that way. I mean, I don’t think a Minister or any official in the department goes into the book and says, “What mandate can we eliminate?” May I just get that reworded?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I could assure the Member that the reductions being proposed are more than compensated for by new investments we’re making. As the Premier stated in his budget statement, there’s a $1.8 million new initiative, and most of the money is coming from THAF. It’s going to enhance the NP programming we have and the opportunities we can give to the NPs.

Mr. Chairman, the increases to Stanton are the registered nurse for Northern Women’s Health and two positions for dialysis registered nurses. So that’s three. There is a typographical change, a correction of the error from last year, on three positions, so it’s not real positions per se. The only reduction at Stanton Territorial Health Authority is a Telehealth position.

As I indicated yesterday, in adhering to the realignment exercises that we’ve had to go through, my department placed the most minimal impact on the front-line services as much as possible. That is the reason most of the reductions are within the headquarters, within the Department of Health, not in the authorities.

There are reductions of 17 positions from the department, and that is about 12.5 per cent of the entire workforce of the department. I do have a table here for the Members that I can provide to the Clerk. I can advise the Members that out of the 17 positions, nine positions are...

Obviously, I’m not as familiar with the situation in Fort McPherson and Tl’oondih as the Member is, but I like to think I have spent some time in meeting with the people and talking to the Member. I have had the occasion of meeting with the people from Tl’oondih Healing Society and the community people. I don’t think we could generalize; we need to work on specific situations.

With respect to Tl’oondih, the Beaufort-Delta authority has been working with the community to have that community person do the job she has been doing for a long time. There were extra training models provided. She was...

I agree with the Member that we need to do more work on that. I appreciate the work the Member did on that Plan of Care provision of the Act that we amended. I supported that as a member of the committee. Regrettably, we do not have as many Plan of Care committees set up as we would like. The department is working with any committee that acts interested in it, to give them workshops and to help them set them up. That is something we need to do a lot more work on, which I am planning on doing more rigorously as we move forward.

I do agree with the Member that if it’s at all possible we should try to keep our children in our communities and with extended families. This is information the department keeps close tabs on. Currently in the Territories there are about 620 children in care. The vast majority of them are with extended families. Back in 1999 there were only 100 children who were with the parents or guardians or extended families. This year, as of March 31, 264 children are with parents retaining guardianship, and 316 children are with extended families. Many of them are in their communities. I think we could...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Member’s question. The million dollar increase that the Member mentioned is part of our new initiative funding in the budget which increases the rates that the foster parents receive. I could also advise the Member that in his communities of Mackenzie Delta, Aklavik, Fort McPherson and Tsiigehtchic, there are currently, as of March ’08, 36 children in care. The vast majority of them are with either the families or with extended families under various arrangements that makes it possible, with agreement from the government and the parents and the children...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Disability Awareness Week is from June 1 to 7, 2008. This year’s theme is Disability Is Not a Choice…Your Attitude Is.

One of the priorities for the 16th Legislative Assembly is to improve support for children and adults with special needs and disabilities. The week is an opportunity for us all to recognize the contributions that persons with disabilities make in our communities and to consider how persons with disabilities can contribute or participate in the social, recreational and educational lives of communities across the Northwest Territories.

The July 2000 report...