Sheryl Yakeleya

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Looking at the mental health, you said it's part of inclusive schooling. How many mental health workers are in the Deh Cho region for the schools? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Recently, there has been discussion in the House and in the media about the Government of the Northwest Territories' affirmative action policy and the proposed changes that are coming later this year. Today I would like to talk about other programs in place for prospective and current Indigenous employees.

The Indigenous Career Gateway Program, which targets Indigenous aboriginal candidates for entry level and training opportunities within the Government of the Northwest Territories, and the Indigenous Development and Training Program provides skills training or work...

Thank you. So there's quite a bit of communities in the Deh Cho if you look at the whole Deh Cho as Nahendeh and the Deh Cho together. For half-time position for all of those communities, it must be -- it really must be a lot of work for this part-time individual. So the question is if you were to add another position in there, hypothetically, would it be -- can the person -- well, right now because people -- everybody is centered in Fort Simpson, and I would like to have some jobs put in the communities in my riding in the Deh Cho riding, not so much the whole of the Deh Cho but is there a...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. How many communities does this program service? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And thank you to the Minister for that. It's very important for people in the -- you know, to have some kind of assurance or to know for sure that this is what they can do and the -- I don't know if it's called CHR, the person that provides the care in the health cabins, to know this information so they could pass it on to their community residents so everybody's aware. You know, more information is better than nothing, so if can you clarify that and get that organized for them, that would be really good. Thank you, Mr. Chair. That's more of a comment than a question. And...

Is there one in Enterprise? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Now, will the people that are organizing the -- or redeveloping or relooking at the medical travel, will they be consulting with health care professionals and providers in the communities? Because you got to find a better way of how to work with the people otherwise we're going to keep getting the calls, we're going to keep getting the calls from people that say this is not working, this is not working, this is not working. We need to find some solutions to make things work better for the people that we represent in the Northwest Territories and the ones that are...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm trying to figure out how to word what I need to say. When people get sent out for medical travel, I guess going back to how things are done and needing to recognize how Indigenous people live and how we know that when a person is going through a medical condition, say cancer or something that might be detrimental and if they have a family member with them, we know that studies show that people heal faster, they heal well, they heal faster knowing that somebody's with them.

So I wanted to ask, like, for even with -- especially for older people, is the new changes that...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Like, you said it was really remarkable thing to do and it would be good for the kids to know, in the North, what the treaties are and how they work. So is there future plans to have it -- to do something like that again or to get some more funding for that? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Does the Department of Finance track how many Indigenous employees enter the public service through the career gateway program tracking their progressions into senior positions in the public service? In other words, are we seeing development and succession for these employees? Thank you.