Yes, Mr. Chair.
Does the committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses into the chambers. Okay, we'll continue. Would the Minister please introduce her witnesses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. To my left, I have deputy minister Alan Doody. And to my right, I have assistant deputy minister Jeannie Mathison.
Okay, thank you. Committee, we will resume consideration of administrative and support services starting on page 197, with information items on page 199 to 200. Are there any questions?
I am going to the Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just have one quick question about the legislative agenda in the business plan. I believe it has been updated such that the Change of Name Act is no longer on the legislative deck. Will the Minister give some rationale behind that considering that I've brought it up here in the House several times about the importance of amending that Act. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I believe with all of the legislation that was scheduled -- initially was scheduled to be able to go through for the 20th Assembly, my colleagues on the executive council and myself, we had to prioritize the legislation from each of our departments. I believe that the legislation that the Member has referenced to was lower on the list of the other legislation that we had that we wanted to ensure that got finished before the life of this government. Thank you.
Thank you. I will go back to the Member from Great Slave.
Yeah, nothing further, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. Are there any other further questions? Okay, please turn to page 198. Health and social services, administrative and support services, $71,470,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Committee agreed, thank you. Moving on to health and social services programs, beginning on page 201, with information items on page 204-206. Are there any questions?
I will go to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So my first question is I understand that there's a new position allocated for supporting the delivery of hematology and medical oncology services. Can the Minister explain what type of position is the new full-time equivalent that's being added and how we're planning to enhance delivery of hematology and medical oncology services? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The hematology/oncology position that's in the budget is the nursing support to support the Alberta hematology/oncology program with Alberta Health Services. This is something that was -- you know, we moved and we actioned very fast to be able to get these -- this position and the funding for this; however, recruitment has been a challenge within the Alberta Health Services department and therefore we're still working with them to continue to be able to provide the service. However, they still are having challenges hiring oncologists to be able to designate to the NWT program. Thank you.
Thank you. I will go to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. And first I should say, too, that I know this is an area that's important to many of my constituents and many others too who are suffering from cancer, blood cancer, who have seen changes in these services and are particularly, you know, vulnerable, especially going back and forth to Alberta. So can the Minister clarify, and so I can understand correctly, are we hiring a person that's going to be based in Alberta for this service? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, when we have agreements with Alberta, especially with specialist services, the agreement is to offset their costs to be able to have that person designated for us and so they would be based in Alberta still; however, we fund the position to be able to support the Northwest Territories. And I believe that it's two part-time positions that they're -- that they're looking at to be able to support the hematology/oncology. And I believe they have one, but they're struggling to find the second one, and according to their standards is that that's why they stopped providing the service in the Northwest Territories. And we'll continue to work on -- NTHSSA has continued to work with them to try and rectify that issue.
Okay, thank you. I will go back to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So just so everyone is clear, does this additional funding in the budget allow us to resume providing the service in the NWT, or it doesn't have anything to do with that? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
We continue to provide the services that we're able to provide for hematology/oncology in the Northwest Territories; however, there are portions of it that we continue to have to send patients to Alberta to see the haematologist/oncologist. And this funding is there. It is in the budget. It will continue to be in the budget because we are continuing to recruit for those positions. Once we are able to designate -- or Alberta is able to work with us to designate those positions, the oncologist positions to us, then, you know, that's what the money will be spent on. At this point it's there; it's allocated. Thank you.
Thank you. I will go to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Okay, thank you, Mr. Chair. I will be trying to dig more into that to understand better. But at this point, I also just wanted to ask my understanding is that in terms of gender-based violence crisis hotlines, we've had a sunset in federal funding, at least $125,000 that was supporting crisis hotlines for survivors in the NWT. So is it expected that we will be able to renegotiate this funding, or are we going to see loss of supports or services in terms of crisis hotlines? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would have to follow up on that question and get back to...
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Okay, thank you, Madam Chair. So in the budget line for community, culture, and innovation, there's a significant increase there. I would say it's the most significant change overall from any of the other budget lines. I wonder if the Minister can explain -- well, I mean, I think we saw that in last year's revised estimates but then it's carrying on from there mostly. But what has changed from last year around this time for the 2025-2026 Main Estimates that's led us to such an increase in the work of community, culture, and innovation? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. This is really exciting because this change comes from the trilateral group that ISC and Indigenous governments and GNWT meet, and the Indigenous representation at the table highlighted how they wanted to take more involvement in home and community care in the things that they could provide under the social aspects, the transportation, those types of things. And so when renegotiating the Inuit home and community -- First Nations, Inuit home and community care agreement that there is an increase in that northern wellness agreement that will go directly to Indigenous governments to provide the home and community care that is not nursing care or personal care. They will be able to allocate -- so I believe there's about $2 million -- so there, that's what that agreement is.
Thank you. I will go to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Okay, thank you, Madam Chair. And finally, the line 4, community clinics and health centres has gone from about $115 million last year, and this year we see almost $111 million. So that's more than a $3 million decrease. Why are we seeing that decrease in funding for community clinics and health centres? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you. I will turn that over to ADM Mathison.
Thank you. I will go to the ADM.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. That's related to the funding associated with the federal agreement for working together. That money is money that sunset in 2025-2026 so that we're expecting to have represented in the budget for 2026-2027 once we finalize the agreement here in the coming weeks. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Okay, thank you, Mr. Chair. And does that same explanation apply for the decrease under community mental wellness and addictions recovery, that it's just a federal sunset that we're renegotiating? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you. No, that's the sobering centre staffing transferring to the housing. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I will go back to the Member from Yellowknife North.
That's all for now. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I am going to go to the Member from Monfwi.
Okay, thank you. Community clinics and health centre from 25 -- from previous fiscal year to upcoming fiscal year, there's a decrease in the budget. Can the Minister explain why? Because in the small communities, you know, like, I mean, there's a lot of places -- there's a lot of communities that does not have health centre, and we have been advocating for more health centres or a suitable health centre because in the -- one of the community that I represent does not have a health centre but the health centre is -- it's in the office building. So I just want to ask the Minister why there is a decrease from previous to the upcoming fiscal year. Thank you.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. That's because we are -- sorry, we're in the negotiations with Health Canada for the Working Together Agreement, and so the positions that were previously funded were funded up until March 31st. And so this budget starts on April 1st, but we are in the process of negotiating and signing off a new agreement which will -- I believe is the same amount that will go back into that budget. Thank you.
Thank you. I will go to the Member from Monfwi.
