Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as we did the town halls throughout the territory, one of the themes was safety. You know, the safety of the frontline staff in all of our regions, our small communities, you know, they're -- in the health centres, you know, they go and the nurses have to go in. Sometimes they're there; they have to call in an extra staff member to be with them at night. We've heard from Hay River the concerns from the Hay River region. We've heard from the Tlicho. We've heard from the Stanton. And I would like to let the Members know -- and I can follow up with further --...

Mr. Speaker, making health care accessible to every Northwest Territories resident is a core mandate priority of this government. People across the Northwest Territories access our medical travel program, whether they are travelling to access health services in a regional centre, in the capital, or in the south. This means that a reliable medical travel program is vital to the Northwest Territories residents and to achieving this mandate priority.

In every community I have visited, residents tell me how difficult it is to navigate medical travel. This process can be confusing and frustrating...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will get the full details of that, and I will be glad to share that with the Members. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, those town halls are internal meetings with staff. Those are considered staff meetings. We did highlight in the -- so that way that they could freely speak to leadership. We have highlighted in the letter, and we have shared with committee, you know, the highlights of these and we will continue to work with staff through the public administrator as this is the operation of this arm. And right now, some of the things that he's doing is -- you know, as soon as he got off the ground, he and the CEO have travelled into the Deh Cho and they are looking at...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as this -- the people strategy is to be released, as I get the fulsome -- you know, I had the highlights of it early on before it was being drafted. So as soon as I have the people strategy draft, and I'm more than willing to send, you know, as soon as I have it, to standing committee on social development to be able to, you know, have a conversation with them of what's in that document. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is a conversation that I've been having with my staff and, you know, what happens across Canada, there are some jurisdictions that do have this, you know, and then there are areas that they -- you know, there might be some difference that they don't -- you know, they don't put it out on -- in public, so we don't have that access to the information. But what I can commit to is that looking at -- and I don't want to do a broad across the board, but what I would commit to is working with my staff to figure out in some of our higher priority areas...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, first, I want to assure NWT residents that health care services for transgender individuals, including children and youth, will continue to be available within our health system. If the Northwest Territories clinical experts in transgender care cannot meet the needs of the residents, a referral can be made to an out-of-territory practitioner. What I have taken -- steps I've taken is to ensure that concrete steps to a safeguard access for NWT residents are put in place. I have directed my department to secure alternate out-of-territory care pathways for...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following two documents: The Structured Decision-Making System for Child Protection Policy and Procedures Manual, and Additional Information for Return to Written Question 14-20(1): Operating Room Activities for Stanton Territorial Hospital. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And sorry, yes, it does say "should", and that means that we encourage all our staff. And, like, there are different ways that they can, under their -- like, with their -- the difference pieces in Canada, the Canadian association, some can register through that, but then there are some social workers that are professional counsellors and so they would be under the Health and Social Services Profession Act. So there are some clinical counsellors that are being regulated under Health Professions Act, and that being social workers, but if they're not social workers and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, at this time our efforts are being currently focused on bringing current regulated professionals under the Health Professions Act so not -- we are not considering counsellors and psychotherapists at this time. Psychologists are being brought under the Health and Social Services Professions Act. However, this is not an issue specific to the Northwest Territories. From the information that -- you know, that I've gotten from my team is that nationally there is a consistent -- there is not one consistent approach to regulating counsellors; however, for our...