Shane Thompson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I will work with the Minister and sit down and talk to him about it to try to get some more information for the constituents. Maybe I will be able to share with other Members who are interested, so I thank the Minister for that commitment.

Has the department, Mr. Speaker, looked at bringing Dene healers up from down south to help residents, especially elders, when it is regarding their concern for their health? I will just leave it with that question, there.

That is really great information to understand and hear. Will the Minister be willing to get that information or show us where we can get this information so that we can share with the residents of the Northwest Territories?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Minister's answer. It did help clarify a number of issues from what I've heard, and I think the Minister has heard those same concerns previously. When will the residents of Fort Liard and Nahendeh finally see an agreement in place so that they can be sent to Fort Nelson for their medical treatment in the future? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the Minister for giving us that update. I appreciate the hard work he and his department are doing. Again, you can understand the confusion and the willingness or unwillingness. The community is saying it's been 25 years, and I appreciate the work he's doing right now, and the department is doing. Can the Minister please tell us what challenges are stopping this agreement from being completed?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have been asked for the past two years about connecting the residents of Fort Liard with Fort Nelson Hospital. The last Minister’s tour, as I was told by a number of the residents, this has been an issue for the past 25 years. You heard me correctly, Mr. Speaker, 25 years. Today, Mr. Speaker, I am going to share with you words from some elders who would like to see this issue resolved once and for all.

Mr. Speaker, most of the people of Fort Liard prefer to go to Fort Nelson for medical appointments and access to hospital services. It is a twoandahalfhour...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to seek unanimous consent to go to item number 5 in the orders of the day. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the Minister for that answer. I guess I am just looking for: are there some information packages that he can share with us so that we can share it with our constituents?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the second part of my Member's statement briefly talked about accessing traditional Dene treatment or Dene medicine, and there seems to be some confusion on how they can access that when I was talking with the elders in Fort Liard. My question for the Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Speaker: presently it is my understanding that medical travel only covers travel to the NWT borders, when they are accessing traditional Dene treatments. Can the Minister of Health and Social Services please confirm what the process is and how it is done? Thank you...

I thank the Minister for the answer. In my conversations with some of the residents, they were concerned about exchanging of medical information between British Columbia and the hospital there in Fort Liard. I guess my question to the Minister in regards to that is: has this been one of the challenges that we see, and how are you able to resolve this issue?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today, I regret to inform you that Rita Cazon passed away on November 16, 2017.

In talking with her family, I was told in typical Rita fashion. Rita was born in Edmonton on August 6, 1954. What the unique thing was, was her family was visiting Canada from Germany. Four years later, the family moved back to Canada via New York on a big ship, as they would say. She was raised in Leduc, Alberta, until she was 17 years old. Then she moved to Yellowknife in 1972.

That year, while attending school in Yellowknife, Ernest Cazon saw this very beautiful lady and said...