Tom Beaulieu

Lawrence was highly respected in his position at ENR. The DM and many ENR employees from across the North attended his funeral. ENR presented Lawrence’s family with a pulaski – an axe with a blade and a hook on the back – a hardhat, and a plaque to honour and remember him. Another fire expert described him as the best fire behaviour specialist she knew. All of Lawrence’s pallbearers were from his fire crew and they were fully equipped with their firefighter’s uniforms.

Lawrence is also a part of the team that wrote the Chipewyan language dictionary, which was launched on March 26, 2012.

My...

Like I said, we’re going to be working with the communities to look at what is needed. I could stand up and say now that no, we’re not going to put two nurses back in Wrigley because there isn’t enough work for them in that community. However, we don’t want to give that kind of answer. What we want to do is we want to work to see what is needed and provide what is needed, not just put two nurses in a community because that’s what people say is needed in the community. What we’re saying is if there’s a need for less than one nurse, requirement for a job of less than one nurse in a community...

Madam Speaker, this Assembly has a vision of strong individuals, families and communities sharing in the benefits and responsibilities of a unified, environmentally sustainable and prosperous Northwest Territories. Our vision includes persons with disabilities.

June 4th to 8th is Disability Awareness Week in the Northwest Territories. Each year Disability Awareness Week gives us an opportunity to celebrate and recognize the contributions persons with disabilities make to our communities in spite of the many challenges they may face every day. This year’s theme is Broadening our Acceptance...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. The way we are approaching all communities to provide what services are needed, we’re trying to use a primary care team, which refers to trying to provide a service in the communities where the services are needed. Right now we are reviewing right from the smallest communities in the North to Yellowknife exactly what services are needed. Right now the standard is that communities that have more than 250 people are eligible for at least two registered nurses. We don’t have a formula to cover communities that have under 250 people. What we’re trying to do is provide a...

I’m not familiar with the specific contract with the dentists in the Sahtu. I don’t have that information. What I am familiar with, or what the department is trying to do over a longer term to address this issue, we clearly recognize that good oral health leads to good health, period, and we see this as a preventive item. The department contracts an actual dentist to work with a dental therapist. Unfortunately, those two positions in the Sahtu are vacant at this time. Under normal circumstances where the therapists are filled, then that dentist works with the therapist to promote oral health...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Currently we’re having difficulties filling dental therapist positions right across the territory where they’re needed. In the Sahtu there are two dental therapist positions, both of which are vacant. It’s causing some problems, and also the fact that dental services are a federal responsibility for First Nations people. So, again, we recognize the issues, and what I’ve asked the department to do now is to work with the federal government to develop an oral health strategy, and we’re going to look at that to see if there are areas that we can work together with the...

Yes, I’m willing to look at those statements and review them to see if they’re relevant to the work that we could be doing. Thank you.

Mahsi cho, Madam Speaker. To date, I have had the staff – that is my own staff here in the Legislative Assembly – review the Members’ statements to see, firstly, which of those statements and maybe some work that we are actually already working on in Health and Social Services, seniors or the disability files. Thank you.

This new 18-bed long-term care facility is intended to be a regional long-term care facility for the entire Sahtu. There is a plan to fill all the positions in the building with people from the Sahtu. I believe that there will be as many as 27 people in the building. It’s going to be a long-term facility with a new, modern health care attached to it. The plan is to have all the people right from the registered nurse to the aides that work in there to the cook to the cleaning staff, everything, that they would be trained. We’re going to be scheduling some training in there so that place is run...

Mahsi cho, Madam Speaker. The plan is for some of the preliminary work to be done now and we’re hoping that the long-term construction… I think the target date for the long-term construction is to begin construction in the summer of 2013 and conclude it in the summer of 2015.