Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Indigenous elder-led counselling; it's not just a service, it is a lifeline. If we require every mental health worker to have a clinical degree, then we may be regulating some of the elders out of a job. With that in mind, Mr. Speaker, how many elders or Indigenous counsellors are employed as part of the community counselling program? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Monfwi. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don't have that level of detail with me, but I can get back to the Member with those numbers. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's my understanding that some small communities do not have regular in-person access to counsellors who provide mental health supports. What steps is the department taking to address these gaps and ensure equitable access to this free service to all small communities across the Northwest Territories? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We do provide mental health counselling across the Northwest Territories; however, there are some vacancies in some regions and that we continue to struggle with as many of our counsellors within our program, as the Member has said, you know, they are clinical counsellors and they should have -- be able to register, and we encourage them to register as soon as they are hired on under that, which also then, like the Member says, provides a barrier. Some of the people that have been working in our system for years. But we do provide virtual telephone counselling and fly-in services to those communities that do need it, and then when there is something going on in the community, usually the leadership will reach out to the department and we will arrange to have counsellors go into those communities when there are things going on. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Final supplementary. Member from Monfwi.
She touched base on some of them, but I will ask this question. What is the GNWT doing to work with small communities that are currently without a counsellor to address these vacancies? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, you know, I'm not going to repeat my answer. And what I will say is that with the Indigenous governments, you know, we do sit at the Council of Leaders, we do have bilaterals. We do have the community wellness and recovery fund that we do encourage Indigenous groups to access if they want to provide other, you know, traditional counselling, traditional elders with their traditional healing aftercare. So I do know that many of our Indigenous groups have been accessing this funding. There are some that we are continuing to work with on being able to access this fund. And this year, I think, is the first year that it's almost been all used. So that's a good news story, that the Indigenous groups are knowing about this and they are accessing it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife North.
