Kieron Testart

Mr. Speaker, every year, the Canadian Institute for Health Information releases emergency department data from across Canada, covering wait times, diagnoses, and circumstances of patients who leave without being seen. Every participating jurisdiction relies on this data to guide decisions and ensure public accountability because it is essential for planning and reporting. Even though the CIHI's expert panel recommends every jurisdiction participate, health and social services does not and they don't submit even a single emergency department visit, not from Stanton and not from any emergency...

Thank you. Can the Minister reassure the House that as the system is now -- not counting the RFP, because that's something that's yet to come -- that the medical information and information that the health system holds is safe from cyber security risk and the health information of Northerners is going to be protected until this replacement comes in? There are concerns, Mr. Speaker. People need to know their personal data is not going to be hijacked by some ransomware or shared willy-nilly with people out there in the world. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the public administrator has been in place for 14 months with not much to show for it, unfortunately, Mr. Speaker. Has he been tasked with bringing the NWT into CIHI compliance? And if not, what is the $700 million buying in system accountability? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am sure you'll be surprised to know I have questions about health care informatics.

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of health said in October that our health IT is, quote, outdated and can't do anything more. Is the vendor for that technology still providing security patches? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I think when the Minister finds out, she'll find that we are lacking, Mr. Speaker. The labour market supplement covers nurses, physiotherapists, social workers, many professionals, Mr. Speaker, yet HIM professionals are excluded. Will the Minister commit to fixing this and provide labour market supplements for these important professionals so we can get our data to where it needs to go and use it properly? Thank you.

Yes, Mr. Speaker. CIHI's expert panel recommends every jurisdiction mandate NACRS reporting. That's reporting to the National Ambulatory Care Reporting System, the uninitiated. What is the Minister's plan and what is her timeline to catch up to this national standard? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier today I mentioned the Canadian Institute for Health Information reporting relationship with the emergency room data for the NWT Health and Social Services Authority and the fact that there is none. So my question for the health Minister is, the Yukon mandates emergency department reporting to CIHI and submits roughly 41,000 records a year. Can the Minister confirm that the NWT submits zero? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, thank you to all my colleagues who spoke to this motion very passionately with very moving testimonials as to the importance of this motion. And thank you to the Minister for laying out the government's position on this.

I want to quote from my colleague from Frame Lake where he said the ombud is very busy right now. The ombud office, one, that is about administrative fairness, as I said, so it's not dedicated to advocacy of any particular person or segment of society. It is about making sure the government is doing the right thing based on its own policies...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, and to be clear to the Minister, we're not talking -- we're talking about people who are paying the minimum wage for service jobs, and that's what we're talking about here. And this is a real situation. This is not a hypothetical. There are Northerners in those jobs, people who are born and raised here, who are making minimum wage versus nominee program workers who are making median wage. So how are we going to reconcile that so we make sure everyone is on a fair playing field? Because I don't think it's fair to those minimum wage workers, and certainly it's a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I've been speaking with business owners who use the Northwest Territories nominee program, and one of the issues that's been brought to my attention is they pay Northerners minimum wage but they pay nominees median wage based on their occupation, and usually -- and it's always higher than the minimum wage. Now, that is -- there's a good reason for that. But can the Minister explain clearly to the House, so there's no confusion, about why there's a discrepancy in compensation for Northerners versus nominees? Thank you.