Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, what I would like to say on that is that, you know, in this House, you know, we've heard time and time again how it's impacted within education; however, a lot of these supports are -- you know, I think -- we know we don't have enough positions or whatever in ECE -- in the schools. You know, we're bound by what our budget is. We're bound to be able to provide the services, and we try to reallocate as much to the programs as we can. Within health and social services, it's the same area. Jordan's Principle has been supporting health and social services as...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, within the mental health and speech-language, both -- for years, both the education and I think when -- and within health have had separate budgets, so the K to 12 I can't speak to that. That can go to the Minister. But where the health authority lies is when those children have needs for speech and those can -- those referrals are made to the speech pathology through a referral process. And they can be self-referral from families, from physicians, from the schools. And we provide those services; however, you know, right now we're challenged with a lot of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yes, there are timelines. And like any other year we have, we ended up having delays. You know, there was the Dehcho journey that was part of this mapping of -- you know, with medical travel. That was one piece that was delayed. There are many different parts that are going on. And the Member's statement was people strategy. Well, when we went out and we heard from the -- myself, the public administrator, the deputy administrator, and the CEO went out and heard from staff, there was a lot more outside of the health and social services NTHSSA area so we had...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there was a chronic disease framework that was completed. And to implement that, the department is currently -- in the proposed budget, there's some staffing resources in there to implement that budget. However, to get to more specifics, and because I knew that the question was coming, I broke it down for the Member for TCSA. So within each authority in each region, they all work with the communities to see what their priorities are. And within the TCSA, diabetes has been highlighted. And so to better -- TCSA is working collaboratively with the Tlicho...

Mr. Speaker, primary care is the first point of contact for most residents in our health system. It sets the direction for the care they receive and helps ensure people get the right care, at the right time, from the right provider.

As an Indigenous Minister with a background in health care, I understand both the frustrations of residents and the challenges our system is facing. Improving access, reducing inequities, and strengthening the way our system operates are priorities of this Legislative Assembly and are the priorities that I have been working hard to address since becoming Minister.

Th...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, within the whole of the territory, this is where primary care reform is the leading area of this. It's access to care. I've said it on the floor of this House many times, you know, we have the challenges over the years of access to care. And so people need to know how to access care and where is the appropriate -- and that's what implementing this framework is going to do for chronic disease management. It's going to give everyone a roadmap as to how to access the certain different areas in their region to be able to deal with these things. However, by...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, throughout the Northwest Territories, the health authorities lead this work. The department works with them and, you know, if there's funding that they can access through federal funding, that they obtain through that. However, the authorities have their health promotion arm where that is where community health representatives, public health, all of those different areas, primary care providers, so your first response to -- or your first access to care would be through your primary care provider. In the small communities, it would be your health centre...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as that -- the model of care is the health centre model; however, the home care program is currently an ongoing program that is in the small communities. It's in all of our communities. Within that program, the -- any community member can, you know, self referral or to have an assessment done for home care and home support services. As those home care and home services needs are, then the health authority then reviews the staffing that is needed for those areas. And so when it comes to after hours, if there's a -- you know, if there's a great need to be...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I know that child and family services does collaborate with the RCMP, and in the smaller communities, you know, I recently was in the Deh Cho and had the opportunity to talk with some of the concerns that the social workers had when going into small communities. And so with the communities that have no social worker or no RCMP that they are to, you know -- they're to travel together but if it's high risk, then they will contact RCMP. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, yes, I have directed my department to do the feasibility study. That's the first part so that we -- you know, where we know what it's going to cost, what it's going to take. And they're currently in that process right now. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.