Tom Beaulieu

Thank you. The plan is to do consultation with the communities in the Deh Cho. One of the things that may have been misconstrued was the intent to try to provide better medical service to three of the communities in the Deh Cho by providing that medical service out of Hay River. The social services side of all of the Deh Cho, including the Hay River Reserve, Fort Providence and Kakisa where we are contemplating providing medical services out of Hay River as opposed to out of Fort Simpson, will all remain with the Deh Cho communities. So social services side of it, there will be no change in...

Mr. Speaker, the target for finalization of the legislative proposal for the Mental Health Act review is for the winter of 2014. I’m hoping that’s early winter and not late winter 2014. If that’s not the case, then I will report back to the Member. My understanding is it’s early winter 2014. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I’m not a health professional. That responsibility for placing an individual in one of the acute care beds for going through medical detoxification would be made by a physician. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I’m having a meeting with the JLC, Joint Leadership Council of all authorities, on the 13th and 14th. We’ll discuss it at that time. It should be soon after that. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I became aware of the name shortly before the press release had occurred. Unfortunately, during the time when the decision was being made, we were in Ulukhaktok at the Caucus meeting. From Ulukhaktok, I then went south immediately, and that press release occurred on the day that I travelled to southern Canada.

The information is not given to me until the decision is made. I knew that we were seeking a CEO. I knew that. The deputy kept me advised that they were interviewing individuals, and the process was that once the decision was made, I would be advised. At this time I was...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At this time the bariatric surgery is not part of the formulary; however, it can be, depending on what type of programs the doctor will recommend to an individual that may require bariatric surgery, depending on the body mass index. So, based on that, there would be several programs an individual could go through and nutrition programs, a routine that they would have to go through in order to become eligible for bariatric surgery. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, an individual may apply for their health care card in time within four months of their birthdate. The time frame is that if you apply within four months of your birthdate, then the process would run to where you will have your health care card prior to your birthdate. That is the time frame that we are using. Essentially we would, I guess, try to get everything done within those four months, not even longer or not much shorter because we need the time to do the process. At the same time, we have to protect the integrity of the card. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, they do have a guideline, a procedure that they follow so that each application received with the appropriate and correct information is processed in exactly the same way and then is sent out for a card. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I recognize that accessibility, we are talking about physical accessibility into buildings or into infrastructure at the community level. That is a major issue. Only a couple of communities have physical accessibility for persons with disabilities. We know of individuals that cannot return to their home communities because they happen to be in a wheelchair and so on. We recognize that. It is a major project. I think that we would have to continue our work with the NWT Council for Persons with Disabilities. We would have to work with those guys in order to maybe try to create some...

The items that are incomplete are incomplete for various reasons. Like I indicated, some of funding, definitely. Some have just not been signed off by the groups that are working on that particular action item, and some were considered not applicable. Of the 88 recommendations, nine of those fell into that category.

The 38 recommendations that are ongoing are being actioned, but they are in the nature where they weren’t action plans that could have a completion date. Essentially they are action items that would continue on to support the persons with disabilities. Thank you.