Sandy Lee

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to announce that the Status of Women Council has named the recipients of the 2010 Wise Women Awards.

This is a prestigious award. The Status of Women Council of the NWT has been honouring northern women since 1992 for their wisdom, strength and accomplishments and particularly in working to make our communities better and stronger for all.

Mr. Speaker, these women are all known for their ability to stand with dignity no matter what hardships life has handed them.

They are known for fighting for the disadvantaged and downtrodden. They are known for thinking of others and...

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, that Bill 2, An Act to Amend the Dental Auxiliaries Act, be read for the second time.

Mr. Speaker, this bill amends the Dental Auxiliaries Act to provide that an applicant for registration in the Dental Hygienists Register who is not already registered as a dental hygienist in a province or territory must have both graduated from a program in dental hygiene accredited by the Commission on Dental Accreditation of Canada and have successfully completed the National Dental Hygiene Certification Examination set by the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Any position like that, if there were any vacancies for any reason, the authority would be using locums to make sure that those duties are fulfilled. I’m not aware of details of what the Member is raising. That’s the first time I’ve heard of it, so I’ll take the question on notice and get back to the Member.

My understanding is that this equipment is very advanced but simple to use and that there are people allocated in each community to use that machine, but I will undertake to get more details on where these defibrillators are located in each community and who are authorized to use them and how they are trained to do so. Thank you.

On that specific file the government has recognized that there are only a few shelters that are funded in a specific way. We recognize there are other communities without shelters that need outreach and support. Not everybody wants to be able to or wishes to take advantage of a shelter, but we have people in the communities who need the support on family violence issues. We have put in money to do the outreach work. I’m not sure where we are with that money for the Sahtu region, but I will make a commitment to get back to the Member as to how we are reaching the communities on that.

That is a good example. I need to state clearly that the reason that application was not able to be approved was not because it was not coming from an NGO but because the funding for that specific fiscal year had been fully subscribed. We are considering that application for the next fiscal year, which is coming up on April 1st.

I can also advise the Member that we have had applications from other communities like Fort Resolution and we worked with people interested in accessing that funding to find a sponsor in that community who could apply for funding. We are totally able and we will work...

The Member is right; I am aware of the situation where the patients waiting were bumped off, but I was not aware that there are only two seats assigned. I was not aware that there were seat assignment situations. By and large we do move a lot of our residents around to receive the care that they need and obviously we can always do better, so I will undertake to review how we deliver that and where we can improve it, we will do that.

I think it’s important for people to know that the NIHB Program is completely separate from extended health benefits. That is a federal program and what happens there would not have a bearing on what happens with extended health benefits. This is our GNWT program. This is extra health benefits that we provide to our residents above and beyond what’s normally considered under the Canada Health Act. We have some of the most generous programs. We cover prescriptions, vision care and dental care for our seniors. We cover 100 percent of specified conditions.

We are not talking about reducing...

I don’t believe we have our stats broken down into that detail, but it is true under our current system that those with employer insurance, whether they work for the government or whatever third-party insurance they have, if they are over 60 they get a top-up. Nobody else would get the top-up. Same for those with chronic conditions. If they have private insurance they will get a top-up. But because our system basically covers 100 percent of it all, they come straight to us.

Yes, I will undertake to do that.