Okay, thank you. So then some of the communities that does not have adequate health centres, will they be getting the help that they need or build more health centres in small communities? I know that's a capital project, but still. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, this budget here is just for operations of community health clinics and health centres. It doesn't include any capital or -- yeah, it doesn't include any capital. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Member from Monfwi.
Okay, thank you. With the hospital services, okay there is an increase from previous to current -- to upcoming. But, you know, I know my colleagues they talk about that medical travel and patient advocates was mentioned and, you know, like quite a few times that, you know, I've been hearing from my constituents and others as well regarding their experience with medical travel and a lot of times we were told, or they were told, go talk to the medical -- to the patient advocates. And some of them they said who, who do I go to, but -- so I don't know if they're being utilized, if -- you know, if that -- those positions are well utilized. So therefore I want to ask the Minister, okay, so we've been talking about improving the health system. Was there any discussion or any -- or if there's a plan in place to transfer these patient advocate positions to the regions because then if they were -- if those positions are located in the regions, then I am sure there's going -- the constituents, people from the region, will be in contact with them regarding their experience. Thank you.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we currently have four Indigenous patient advocates: one in Yellowknife, one in had Fort Smith, one in Inuvik, one in Hay River. And those are all -- they were put into those places specifically because that's usually where, like there's -- the hospitals and the larger health centres are in those communities so that when people are travelling in from small communities, you know, they're there to be able to help them navigate within that facility or to hear their concerns. However, although those are only in those communities, they can reach -- any resident can reach out to any of the Indigenous patient advocate or through the Office of Client Experience which has the patient navigators. So at that point, this -- at this time, that's the only funded positions that we have. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Member from Monfwi.
Okay. Okay, she mentioned all the regions, and I know that in Tlicho region, you know, we make up 10 percent of the population, and Behchoko is the largest community. Has the department ever thought about putting a patient advocates or Indigenous patient advocates in Tlicho region especially now with that -- and I know that language is -- for many, it's a barrier. So if we have a patient advocate in the region, people will know who to go to, and they can speak to the person in their language. So I just wanted to ask the Minister is there any -- is there a plan in place, or have they -- to put a patient advocate or Indigenous patient advocate in Tlicho region. Thank you.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I can take that back and have conversations with the TCSA who administer the health file -- the health authority within the Tlicho region. But I can take that back to have that conversation with them. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I will go back to the Member from Monfwi.
Thank you. And I know it's not on here, but I know there was the out of territory treatment program but community wellness, mental health -- community mental wellness and addiction recovery, there is a decrease, the operation and expenditure summary. Why is there a decrease when we know that we have an addiction issue and problems in many of the small communities? Thank you.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Yes, the reason why that budget has decreased, that budget line item has decreased, is that that has been transferred to housing as that's the funding change -- the amount is the difference in the change that the Yellowknife sobering centre -- for the staffing. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I will go back to the Member from Monfwi.
So the operation for the small communities have not changed, then? Within that area, addictions recovery?
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
That's correct. The only change is that decrease for the sobering centre. Thank you.
Okay. I will go back to the Member from Monfwi.
Okay, thank you, Mr. Chair. My colleagues have -- you know, we all did at one time, too -- about treatment facility in the Northwest Territories. We all want a treatment facility because many of our young people are going south though talking to some people, and we heard that once a person goes south for treatment program they come back to the same scenario so, you know, they relapse, so the relapse is great. But what -- the success -- talking to some of the psychologists and some of the counsellors, the success with a treatment program is that they do 60 days and 60 days of the extended care, but it's the aftercare. I know those too is funded and approved by health and social services, but it's the aftercare. Why the department is not supporting the aftercare?
Some of the people that go south for treatment, they said they want to stay because they don't trust themselves or they're a bit apprehensive to come back going to the same situation and they don't want to relapse, they want to succeed, and some of the counsellors have said that if they are away from their community for one year and we walk them through the process, then they're -- they're more likely to succeed on their -- with their sobriety. So I just wanted to ask the Minister why the department is not funding the aftercare program. And I do -- I would like to say that thank you to some of the Indigenous governments that help their member with the recovery for aftercare program. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. And, yes, we do fund Indigenous governments. We have multi-year agreements with many Indigenous governments, and they are in those communities. And so with the community wellness and recovery fund, we do provide Indigenous governments to be able to provide that service. It's transferred directly to them, and they run that however they choose to use it, you know. Based on that, it's used for wellness and recovery.
We also as a government have opened a -- you know, we have two THARP, which is transitional housing and recovery programs, in the Northwest Territories now. We have one that's open and currently operating in Yellowknife, and it's run by an NGO. And then we have another one that will be opening in Inuvik, I believe, shortly. There's -- and it's been run by an Indigenous organization. And that is for when people are transitioning back. Exactly what you said, coming back to the North. They have a house, they have programming. There's people there 24/7 to support them on their next phase. And we are in the process of, you know, reviewing the one that's running right now after the first six months, I believe, and, you know, as we need to make changes we will, and as we see that this program is working,then, you know, we'll -- that's where we'll work through our business process to expand that.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I note that there is a $740 -- or $740, my goodness, if only -- $740,000 allocation to support 8-1-1 now that the Government of Canada has ceased to fund 8-1-1. My question for the Minister is, is this going to be an expected ongoing cost? I am hoping that it will. 8-1-1 is a great help to many constituents. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Yes, Mr. Chair, this is funded, and it's for ongoing funding. As the many gifts we get from the federal government, we start wonderful programs and then we have to decide and choose which ones we can bring forward to keep. This one is important because I believe that it also helps offset many of the calls that would -- like, would be going to a lot of our health centres. So yes, it's ongoing.
Thank you. I will go to the Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. That's good to hear.
I know my colleague from Yellowknife North has been very strong in her advocacy on this next item, and I expect that the Minister will say it might pop out in the people strategy and if so, I hope to have more details that she can share. But is there any progress being made in investigating the feasibility of an Office of Practitioner Experience? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the public administrator and the NTHSSA work directly with the NWT Medical Association and, you know, this has been talked about on the floor of this House; however, it hasn't been brought back through that venue. But what I can do is I can take that back and add that to the conversation that I -- next conversation -- that meeting I have with the NTHSSA.
Thank you. I will go to the Member from Great Slave.
I think that's all for here and for me. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. Is there any any further questions? Seeing none, no further questions, please turn to page 203.
Health and social services, health and social services programs, $445,961,000. Does the committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Moving on to long-term care -- sorry, long-term and continuing care services, beginning on page 207, with information items on page 209 to 210. Are there any questions?
I will go to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So I wanted to start by asking about changes to outpatient IV therapy. I think it falls under this item. I believe we're seeing in the budget three and a half new positions, and I understand it's to somehow enhance the outpatient IV therapy program at Stanton. But I wonder if you could explain what improvements patients or outpatients should be expecting to see or what we're expecting to accomplish here. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Yeah, thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. This was federal funding that expired, and so this program is very important to ensure that, you know, patients can be discharged earlier and be able to continue on IV therapy, so they will go through the outpatient IV therapy program. And also where people are, you know, going through emergency, they're not having to be admitted, they can just -- if they -- if they need to have IV therapy, they can be seen and then they can go to the IV therapy clinic to be able to get that outpatient treatment. It's very important that we make sure that, you know, we don't -- we put this in the budget because the federal funding sunsetted, and we don't want that to be burdening our emergency room because if those positions were gone, then they would end up back in the emergency room. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I will go back to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Okay, thank you, Mr. Chair. Okay, so I am glad to hear that we're maintaining the outpatient IV therapy program. I agree that it is critical. It's frustrating that we're having to spend money just to sort of tread water and stay in the same place. I guess maybe I will first just ask what attempts were made to try to renegotiate this funding with the federal government. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, there's -- as the Premier put it today, you know, every government comes up with some priorities and then they allocate dollars in these small little lumps of -- to each territory and province, and then we have to use them for specific areas and when that funding runs out -- and these are the conversations that we have at the FPTs, and one of the biggest conversations we had this last time was the Working Together Agreement which is, I believe, one of our larger programs that it was kind of first time and it was, like, announced and, you know -- it was the first time that the federal government ever increased funding to the health care in many, many, many, many years, and so we had to fight to renegotiate that one. So all of the smaller ones, sometimes they -- they just -- there's no -- there's not even any conversation about it.
Okay, thank you. I will go back to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Okay, thank you, Mr. Chair. I also just wanted to ask for more explanation about the additional budget for home care and support services. I know the Minister just explained a moment ago that we did manage to negotiate a new agreement with the federal government that is seeing Indigenous governments take more control over home care. I am confused as to why we see -- so last year's mains, we had $14.7 million for home care and support services. The actual estimates went up to $25 million and now we're back down again to $16 million, which is more than initially last year but less than -- anyway. So just to explain what is the roller coaster of numbers that we're seeing there and, I mean, at the end of the day are residents going to see a change in home care services, like expanded home care services? What difference is this going to make to our residents? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Yes, thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will get ADM Mathison to explain the funding roller coaster.
Thank you. I will go to the ADM.
. Thank you, Mr. Chair. The 2025-2026 increase is a one-year amendment to the prior agreement. So that amendment expires March 31st, 2026. And then we're just in the final stages of renegotiating the new longer term agreement. So it's a new agreement which yet hasn't been reflected in the budget until it gets signed. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go back to the Member from Yellowknife North.
