Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am more than committed to, you know, having these discussions with the Member and with the Tlicho on being able to better analyze the data that's for the residents in the Tlicho and what the need is and, you know, to have a discussion on what the -- where and what can happen with the residents of the people in the Tlicho and work with their government. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, within child and family services, there has been a bigger shift in foster care placement. I believe that there is around 1,000 kids that are actually utilizing -- families that are utilizing the service of child and family services; however, I believe there's only 154 at this time that are in placements out of that. Many of them -- 75 percent of them, I believe, are remaining in their home, and those that aren't remaining in their home are with extended family or family -- community members known to the child. So everything that child and family services...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the paramedic scope of practice, you know, to be clear, is when those conversations happen, the nurse is within -- is in on the call. The part of it is that once the assessment is done, many of the health centres -- so people who live in small communities and health centres know that if there is a callback that there needs to be an eight-hour rest. And if there's only two other nurses and one nurse is assigned some other duties and the nurse that gets called back, usually what ends up happening is all of the clinics get cancelled for the next day. So what...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to be very, very clear so that -- the paramedics that we have used in the health centres are a contract that we are obligated to hold when it's fire season. So we contract paramedics so that way if a community is evacuated, that we send the health -- like, the community health nurse and all of the staff in the community leave the community; however, we need to send in paramedics into that health centre to support the emergency responders working in that community. So what we have done is we've been paying for them, and so over the summer months is...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is on the work plan; however, as I said last week, the health care sustainability unit is analyzing and looking at the supportive living program as it is, so we have paused any of this work until we get the outcomes of that because we don't want to be investing into areas where there's a higher need that may come through the analysis through the healthcare system sustainability unit. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am only the Minister of Health and Social Services so if I established it within the housing of health and social services, that would defeat the Member's concern. So this is a conversation, I think, that is beyond my role, I think, so. You know, we've been having these conversations, and the Member is correct that, you know, we've heard from Members in the past government, and I was part of the other side of the House, where these concerns come up. But what we need to do is we need to identify is it the -- you know, where these concerns are coming, what...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when any family comes into contact or children come into contact with child and family services, the role is between the family -- the family protection worker or the family preservation worker to work with that family to bring forward their concerns. If there's protection issues, then the child protection worker works with the family to ensure that there's a safe place for the child. They'll work within the system, usually working with the families. If there's children that come forward which is, you know, more than likely, if the children are raising...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when hiring certified paramedics into the past work and the ongoing work, we have many, many services that we provide in the Northwest Territories that do not currently have a regulatory body, like respiratory therapists who manage patient airways in the Northwest Territories, lab technologists, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, imaging techs, x-ray techs. There's many, many -- mental health addiction, like, counsellors. They work within what their jurisdiction of their licensing is, and so within the -- as long as they're in good standing, then...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that's a really important part of the work that the child and family services has shifted to. I think within that area that's the importance of -- the 75 percent of the kids remaining with their family, that is where they're going to get their culture. That's where they remain with their family. The next part is extended family. If it's a child protection issue within their immediate family, it's extended family and they work to support children. And that's why they now have the family volunteer agreements with family members. And this was something that we...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as per the process for when children, you know, are accessing child and family services, when families come into contact with child and family services, it's when there is either a child protection issue or the family themselves are coming and requesting assistance to support them. When there is a child protection issue, the child protection issue is investigated and the child protection worker -- the child and family services does everything in their power to try to work with the family to provide supports for the child to stay within their family or, you...