Thank you, Mr. Chair. The increased positions would be reflective of the northern wellness agreement because that is the only place, I think, where we have any increase in positions in this budget, other than positions -- the four initiative positions which are all in Yellowknife. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go to the Member from Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. It states that there's an increase in Beaufort Delta positions, and it's -- I don't know why it's saying it's in Yellowknife. Can you clarify that.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I have it broken down into the different sections, and so what I can commit to is taking this back and sharing with the Member -- we can organize it into the regions, the health authority regions, and provide that to Members.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Mackenzie Delta Member.
That's it. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. Are there any other questions? Member from Monfwi.
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Hospital services, I know the budget went down from last fiscal year to upcoming fiscal year. Even with the revised, it still has remained the same. So I know in the hospital here there's MRI -- we have CAT scan but we don't have MRI. Can the Minister explain why MRI is not available in the Northwest Territories.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, when the new hospital was built, it was built to have a CAT scan in there. I don't have any information as to why or the decision-making behind only a CAT scan, but I do know that as of right now we are looking at that for Yellowknife. I believe we are doing a feasibility study right now, and it is -- it's something that we kind of -- we are working through that because with the federal budget allotments that were announced that there's allocated, you know, hospital, you know, capital funding, these types of things in the federal budget for the North, we need to have all of these things put -- feasibility done so we're ready to go if this is something that we're able to -- an area where we will be able to utilize funding for those things. Thank you.
Thank you. I will go back to the Member from Monfwi.
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Well, that is a shame because that hospital -- you know, to build that hospital, millions and millions and millions of dollars was spent especially -- not only that -- especially when a hospital that we do not own, you know. And they left out one of the most equipment, an MRI, you know, like it's early detection of all kinds of illness. So that is -- it's -- you know, I mean, that is a shame because it's a lifesaving equipment for many of our people. And so with that, because there's no MRI in that -- at Stanton Hospital, so can the Minister explain to us -- so, not explain, but -- so how much -- according to the medical travel number, so how many -- how much or how many of our people travel out of the territory for MRI service? Thank you (audio).
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister, please.
I can commit to getting that information back. I don't have that here.
Okay, thank you. I will go back to the Member from Monfwi.
Thank you. Well, that's -- MRI machine is very important and, you know, when I said the department of health is very important for the -- for our people, especially the Indigenous because of our treaty rights -- my colleague always talks about treaty rights so it is part of our treaties, so that's why I said, you know, department of health and education are two important departments for us.
Dialysis, hospital -- I know that, you know, larger regional -- no, I don't think Inuvik does have one, but I know there's one probably south of us. But dialysis machine, you know, there's quite a few people from my region, they travel to Yellowknife to -- for dialysis services, and we've been asking about this in our community because some of our people don't want to travel on the road daily or three times a week for dialysis service and other -- you know, other services as well for cancer. Is there a plan in place in the near future for a dialysis machine to be installed or to have that service in Tlicho region? Thank you.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, that has not come up in conversations that I've had with the TCSA at this time. One of the areas, we have Yellowknife and we have Hay River that currently provide dialysis. One of the struggles that we do have is that putting a dialysis machine to some of the smaller communities -- not smaller communities, but even in Inuvik, we're redoing a feasibility there to see if there -- if there's -- the numbers do meet what we would need to put in there. And the other part of it is is that we already -- you know, I think with the current dialysis nursing specialty that it is to do the -- to run the dialysis that we currently have, we sometimes run when vacancies and struggle to hire those specialized nurses. And so we are -- and we already know that in the Tlicho region that we struggle to hire nurses overall in that region and we would need somebody, you know, permanent and dedicated in the regions where we would have those pieces of equipment.
There's also many other factors that I just recently learned about, and it's plumbing and the amount of water that can -- that has to be able to support a dialysis machine, and that was just newly told to me in this last bit of -- like, just getting an update. And so the work that's going on even in Inuvik is to see if our own water system, utilidor system can even hold that capacity. So there's many -- and so when we look to a community that, you know, that's smaller and struggles to have nursing capacity, this is not something that has been raised by TCSA. And as they are self-governing, we usually take the lead of what their concerns are and where they want us to assist with. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go back to the Member from Monfwi.
Diabetes, I talk to many of my constituents and a lot of them have been saying, you know, we need that program back. In the past, there was a diabetic -- or the nurse used to come and visit the communities and work well with the community. Lately, I know that diabetes among the Indigenous is on the rise because of the lifestyle. We know that. So I want to ask the Minister, because we do have money for healthy choice funds, healthy family, on the land, diabetes program, etcetera. And is there any plan in the near future to bring the diabetes program to the small communities? Thank you.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The diabetes program throughout the Northwest Territories I think has been -- like, as before, I remember working in Inuvik and we had a diabetes educator. Those were federally funded because that was the thing of the -- of that government that -- so that was time-limited funding and that. And then there's -- there's other -- like, there's the northern wellness agreements that we give to communities that can create -- what's the health priorities of their community, and then they can allocate those funds to running different types of programs. We also have CHRs that have the -- like, you know, for diabetes education, like awareness and things like that, could be doing more in the communities. But what we did do is that chronic disease management and diabetes is looked at as one of the chronic diseases, like one of the major chronic diseases in our territory, and we see a high incidence in our Indigenous population, and a lot of it is diet and exercise and things like that, to change in diet. And so what we have done in this budget is we need to -- we have the position, the project management for the chronic disease prevention and management, which is going to be key to developing the territorial governance model for chronic disease and prevention. So this will help to give us guidelines and then be able to, you know, go out and do these things. But in the meantime, like all those other things that I mentioned, and so we have heard this through the regional wellness councils, and we can bring this back to see what type of information and education the community health representatives are doing in the communities.
Thank you. I don't know if the Member has a quick question, or is there a follow-up?
(audio).
Okay, just one more follow-up, and then we're going to go to Denny. Thank you.
(audio) take up my time, yeah. Okay, well, since we're on the topic of diabetes, we know that it's very important and you said, you know, the chronic diseases, it's on the rise, especially among the Indigenous people. And on the land diabetes program, there's no funding for next fiscal year. Why is that?
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Yes, that was a one-time initiative funding, and it was sunset.
Okay, thank you. I think maybe what I will do is I will just stop it there. We'll resume tomorrow with the Member from Monfwi, if you have further questions.
I am going to go to the Member from from Inuvik Boot Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I move the chair rise and report progress. Thank you.
Thank you. There's a motion on the floor to report progress. The motion is in order and non-debatable. All those in favour? All those opposed? Motion carried. Thank you.
---Carried
I will now rise and report progress. And I have to excuse the witnesses too as well. Thank you very much. Mahsi.
Member from the Sahtu.
Mr. Speaker, your committee has been considering Tabled Document 448-20(1), 2026-2027 Main Estimates, and would like to report. And, Mr. Speaker, I move that the Report of the Committee of the Whole be concurred with. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Can I have a seconder. Member from Range Lake. All those in favour? Opposed? Abstentions? Motion carried. Unanimously.
---Carried
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Standing Committee on Public Accounts will meet at the rise of House.
Orders of the day for Tuesday, February 10th, 2026, at 1:30 p.m.
Prayer or Reflection
Ministers??? Statements
Members??? Statements
Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery
Replies to the Budget Address (Day 4 of 7)
Reports of Committees on the Review of Bills
Reports of Standing and Special Committees
Returns to Oral Questions
Oral Question 974-20(1), Medical Travel Policy and Ministerial Exemptions
Acknowledgements
Oral Questions
Written Questions
Written Question 26-20(1), Application of Waters Act Provisions to the Sale or Transfer of Mining Assets
Written Question 27-20(1), Physician Recruitment and Retention
Written Question 28-20(1), Medical Travel
Written Question 29-20(1), Paramedic Contracts
Written Question 30-20(1), Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority Action Plans
Returns to Written Questions
Replies to the Commissioner???s Address
Petitions
Tabling of Documents
Notices of Motion
Motions
Notices of Motion for First Reading of Bills
First Reading of Bills
Bill 40, An Act to Amend the Vital Statistics Act
Bill 41, An Act to Amend the Real Estate Agents??? Licensing Act
Second Reading of Bills
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Tabled Document 448-20(1), 2026-2027 Main Estimates
Tabled Document 453-20(1), Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 3, 2025-2026
Tabled Document 454-20(1), Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures and Borrowing Authorization), No. 3, 2025-2026
Report of Committee of the Whole
Third Reading of Bills
Orders of the Day
Thank you, Mr. Clerk. This House stands adjourned until Tuesday, February 10th, 2026, at 1:30 p.m.
---ADJOURNMENT
The House adjourned at 5:59 p.m.
