Steve Norn

It is concerning. I know there are some safety in terms of protecting our healthcare providers, our doctors and nurses from doing home visits. My second question: a lot of our small communities, there are no ambulance services. What does this department do to deal with patients who need emergent care?

Marsi cho, Mr. Speaker. I want to point out that, during my constituency visits, I noticed some common themes in terms of gaps in our healthcare system, in particular dealing with the elders and mobility-restricted individuals who needed medical assistance. I am happy my colleague from Deh Cho mentioned helping our elders age in place with dignity, and it kind of follows with what I am about to say.

Mr. Speaker, I want to give this visual to you. If you could picture yourself as an elder in a small community, as an elderly individual who might not have English as a first language, and you have...

Marsi cho, Mr. Speaker. To start off, I'd like to begin by welcoming all my colleagues back and getting back to the grind. This first year in office has been tumultuous to say the least, given the ongoing global pandemic that we are dealing with so far.

Mr. Speaker, going forward, I'm hoping to continue building on the work we've done so far since last year's territorial election. I know we dealt with a lot of deaths in our communities, a lot of elders, and it's very sad to deal with all our restrictions. I'm hoping, when all this is done, I really want to make sure that we have a proper chance...

Marsi cho. Yes, thinking about it, I do have one final question. I will start with a beginning comment. There is the new announcement of sending our residents to Lloydminster and Toronto. Again, I feel like this is a missed opportunity. I really feel that we need to get more value out of our programs and where we are spending our money. Again, it pains me to see our funds go to the South, and I really feel this is an opportunity to bring them back. I know we can't address all the issues in terms of drug and alcohol addiction, because it is a problem, we all know that in this room, but if we...

I think it's important, and I had another question going back to after-care reporting. I'm just wondering if there are measures in place before people go out to treatment that there is a follow-up to say, maybe two months, three months, six months down the road, just checking on them to see if they are doing well and if their treatment has been successful or not and to do those kinds of increments.

Marsi cho, colleagues, and marsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Mentioning those three gentlemen, they put themselves in harm's way to go out on the lake and to rescue a couple of the community members. Their boats sunk and they had to go rescue them. They're stranded. To do that, you have to be selfless. You have to be brave. For me, it was inspiring, and I'm really proud of them. To me, if we could draw some parallels, that, like I said, was inspiring. If we could follow their lead and pick up. Even if there's some rough waters out there, they went out there and faced diversity. They worked together, and...

I did have one final concern. I think maybe it's just a communication case; I'm not too sure. Maybe it could be an opportunity for the department. If all of this money is not being accessed throughout the year, I'm just wondering if that is something the department can look at. In, say, the past couple of years, have there been carry-overs for this fund, for the on-the-land fund?

Marsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Holy, we give an initiation to our new health Minister today. I had a couple of questions for the Minister after hearing my colleague from Monfwi's statement on addictions and addiction services. I have a quick preamble. I'll keep it brief. I heard that there is $1.8 million allocated for on-the-land funds available for healing. For me, I think it's important to have good metrics in place for aftercare and stuff, to make sure that we follow up with our people who are healing and make sure that they're doing well, and also to let us know if we're doing a good job and if...

Marsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Colleagues, I am sure you appreciate how difficult today's motion is for many Members of this House. We are only nine months into the life of this government, and I can almost guarantee that none of our colleagues could imagine we would be considering a motion like this at this time.

When we were first elected, it was a hopeful time, enthusiasm for change and fresh ideas, and I still think we can go in that direction. I know that many people may think that we have let them down, but I am forever an optimist, and I remain committed to the strong ideals that I championed...

Oh, God, I ask for your guidance today to give us clarity to help the people we serve to the very best of our ability. I ask that you help us maintain our resolve, no matter what obstacles we may face. I also ask you to keep our wits sharp and that we always keep our loved ones in mind while we do our work, with every keystroke, pen stroke, with every word. Amen.