Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So the planning studies -- so within Kakisa, they lost their health cabin to fire so we are doing the planning study to build them a health cabin.

The Jean Marie health cabin was flooded in the very first flood I remember of the 19th Assembly, and that we had to deal with, and that minor repairs were done to it but that facility needs to be replaced.

And Tsiigehtchic's planning study because that health centre also needs to be replaced. So thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the medical travel policy, as it stands right now, there is, you know, I too have heard of that. I've followed up with the department. What is happening within the department is physicians order, they book the appointment. Not all the time are those -- they're going to different facilities within Alberta Health Services when they're leaving or they're coming to the -- from the smaller communities into the capital at different periods of time. And when the person that's booking the travel, they get the piece, they don't know what they're traveling for, they...

Just let me find that. It's a different -- okay, right here. So the department is going to issue -- so this is that child and family service needs to increase its team, but the space they are housed in doesn't allow for any expansion at the Jan Sterling Building, so what we are doing is we are going to have to -- new location will require improvements to meet the needs of the program. The improvements will ensure accessibility and safety of all users. The new location will offer culturally safe environment for all users. So the department has issued a request for proposal for a leased space...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, ensuring access to quality, equitable care is one of my highest priorities. We know that the system still faces challenges in delivering that care, and improving access remains a key focus for myself, as Minister, including for transgender, nonbinary, and gender-diverse people. We're taking meaningful steps to strengthen our system and eliminate barriers residents face while trying to access the care that they need, and we are committed to working in partnership with the Northern Mosaic Network group to ensure that this is done thoughtfully and inclusively...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, you know, and I appreciate these questions because one of the things as, like the Member has said, I do support the work that the Office of Client Experience do and the patient advocates. I'm a champion for the work that they do. But we didn't have any actual data on the things that were being brought forward, especially when it came to Indigenous people. We've heard it multiple. We all can stand up in here and say we know that some of these issues. However, like, I'll use, for instance, medical travel. Medical travel, anybody -- I've travelled to most...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I know from the information that I have that there are urgent slots at the Stanton Territorial Hospital lab site, and at the primary care lab site there are as well urgent designated times for the day. And when patients are, for instance, having surgery or something like that, they usually have a preop the day before. If they need to have blood work, they should be ensuring that they're utilizing their physician or whoever their preop was with to consult the lab to make sure that they have that appointment. And with waitlists, I know that they routinely try...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as most landlords, and we did the -- like, I think throughout the Northwest Territories already have it in their leases that there is no smoking in their units. Housing is changing their policy to create that now. What we'll do as health is we'll continue to, you know, monitor what is going on in those units that are multi-units. We'll work with housing. I think that is the biggest thing that we will be able to do is to see moving forward in the future if there's more work that will need to be done through legislation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And my colleague and I, Minister of Housing NWT, have had ongoing conversations on the best way to move forward, and I believe on April 1st, there will be a blanket policy for no smoking in all housing units in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, what I do -- what I can say and for the amount of information that I can -- that I know of right now is that within the waitlist, like anybody who contacts or does the email call back, they will offer to be put onto waitlists and so anytime that there are openings, they will contact people from that waitlist to fill those openings to see if they can come in. The problem is, is that many times those are short notice and it's hard for people to get across the city to those appointments. This is something that was raised even when we were most recently at our...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Member for this question, and I know that in our system, you know, I've recently had this conversation with my department, that there's a whole continuum of mental health and addictions and the supports that go along with that spectrum. And so what I've actually gone to my department is to work with NTHSSA and themselves to figure out where all of these gaps are and so and what can we do and a lot of it's going to probably take partnerships. But, however, I can -- you know, if I can work with the Member to get more detail on what actually happened...