Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are many times where there are procedures that may overlap. Those conversations usually happen between the patient and the surgeon and the health care provider. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know we have a lot of things going on in our life and -- anybody, you know, and I'll be the first to say I do not like needles, and I would try and make any reason why I don't want to get a needle. But I always make a priority to get my flu shot ever since I was young. You know, but I think the thing is is that the reason why -- and I'm going back to my public health days -- is that vaccines are -- yes, some areas, they may have released public clinics in certain areas. There were public -- you know, we start in the high-risk areas. When we look at releasing flu...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At this time, this is not work that we are doing within the department. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I don't want to go into too much detail but I had this -- or there's been -- there's a BF on this with the Member and the answer -- you know, there are surgeries that happen and insured services -- the insured services parts were billed. There are parts of the surgeries that are not considered as insured services and therefore those pieces get billed to the patient. And that stands. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the strategic framework is currently being developed, as I mentioned yesterday. The -- developed to provide clear direction and performance benchmarks for this initiative and will be expected to be completed in 2025. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I apologize, yes, we live in a small community and we know each other by first names.

Right now it's actually just in the works, and the teams are working on it. And what I'm hoping to have is something to share to all MLAs because dental is not just in our region; it's -- people are travelling from all regions and they will need accommodations. So it will go out to all MLAs. It will go out on my social media, and I encourage MLAs to do that as well. And as the plan comes up, I will share with the MLAs. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I -- as I've been recently briefed, it seems that Yellowknife is experiencing a rise in tourism right now and which is putting additional pressure on an already strained system. NTHSSA is working with its partners right now to identify solutions on this issue. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm going to just speak to the on-the-land camp a bit, I'm not going to delve into -- this falls under EIA so the -- although health didn't put money into it, there was federal dollars. This was all through -- for homelessness so that fell under EIA, to be clear.

As to the Member's question, there are currently -- health is not going to be putting any on-the-land camps anywhere in any of the communities. What we do do, though, is, we've heard loud and clear, and I've said this many times in the House, is that we are providing funding to Indigenous...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You know, I hear what the Member is raising, you know, I think, but what we're looking at is what the things that are covered that are insured services that have been -- and it's not just here. It's across Canada. There are a standard of things that are covered, what are covered under insured services. These are core services. And then there's other things that would be considered cosmetic and those -- the process -- I can't tell you how the process goes when it's in between patient and doctor. I mean, I can find out the information as to how that process works and...

Mr. Speaker, vaccination is one of the most effective ways to protect residents and communities from serious diseases. Today vaccine hesitancy and misinformation are weakening trust in the science and public health. As a result, vaccination rates are declining, leaving residents, especially elders and children, vulnerable to preventable diseases. Right now, Canada is seeing more cases of influenza, measles, and pertussis (whooping cough). The NWT is not immune to these trends.

Measles vaccination rates among two-year-olds have dropped from nearly 90 percent in 2019 to just over 82 percent in...