Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yes, I too want to acknowledge the champion of health care we have here, my good colleague from the Range Lake riding. I know that I share his passion, and that was kind of why what started with the town hall meeting we had this summer which is to hear the voices of the everyday family, the everyday person, struggling with health care challenges. And I reiterate what I said before a few days ago, not at length, but I want to point out that the building was busting at the seams. We were probably borderline on the fire marshal's load capacity of the building...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have one written question here for the House.

My question is for the Minister of Health and Social Services with respect to doctor and specialist positions, including their individual current staffing status in the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority.

Furthermore, my detailed questions are targeting the specific position type, and for guidance as an example, such as oncologist or general practitioner, where each of these positions are located, either at Stanton or elsewhere, and lastly, the expectation is to fully understand the position staffing...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One parent told me that they have to find a way to help fund the support worker to allow their child to be part of a summer program. So whether you're sending your child to a soccer camp or some other type of initiative like that, parents are paying out of their pocket. Is there any way the department can take this message back -- sorry, the Minister can take the message back to the department and say maybe there's ways we can help support and fund summer jobs programs so we can help expand these opportunities to these families and desperately excitable and engaging...

All right, Mr. Speaker. My questions will be to the Minister of education regarding autism supports.

Mr. Speaker, I'm aware of the inclusion program that they have within the program, an application-based program, but often I hear from working parents, Mr. Speaker, professionals, that they can no longer live here in the territory where they're struggling to take so much time off of work, whether it's for after school -- lack of after school programs, whether it's days off of school, short days, SIP days, you know, you name it. These families are reliant on the goodwill of their employers and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Does the Minister -- I'll accept the Minister's offer.

Does the Minister know or is aware of what services are provided to people who have autism in the context of physio, speech, etcetera? Does she know -- is she aware of the resources and what is available to those parents? Thank you.

Again, thank you, Mr. Spooker. So Mr. Spooker, yesterday in my Member's statement I talked about autism. And we know that there are professionals, family members are leaving the North because of the lack of ability to either get diagnosed or services for autism, Mr. Speaker. So my questions will be targeted to the Minister of Health and Social Services.

Now, the Canadian average says 2 percent of the population has autism, or I should say has been diagnosed. And if you use a standard deviation, that's 900 people in the Northwest Territories. My question is, does the health department know how...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, you know, these capital budgets are not the same as operational budgets, and I think that that's very important, you know. In other words, this is roads versus this is employee salary. It's not that simple, but in a sense, if you're trying to decide, you know, why this budget matters versus the other one, the timeliness of some of the questions -- my good colleague here next to me, he's right. Like, we don't have a lot of opportunities to say truly hold the feet of -- the government's feet, that is, to the fire with respect to important needs. I mean, the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just want to take a quick second to recognize Bob Overvold. He is maybe retired but he's probably not -- never been as busy as he ever has been in his life considering the consultation work is he truly doing now. So I want to thank him.

And, of course, I wish to recognize -- because I'm on my feet -- Ms. Kyla Kakfwi-Scott who happens to be the Premier's -- one of the office staff and leaders in the principal secretary's office. So thank you very much. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Very quickly, I just want to stress, parents, highly educated professionals, people who have invested their life into the Northwest Territories, see better autism or disability support just across the border. It's called southern Alberta. Mr. Speaker, would the Minister be willing to meet with these parents, if I organized a meeting, to hear about their day-to-day struggle and ways to help encourage them to stay North and continue to be great partners in our communities? And not just Yellowknife, by the way, Mr. Speaker. I hear from my good colleague from the great...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Working through the the program offered under ECE is called Supporting Child Inclusion and Participation, Mr. Speaker. There are rare, and I mean exceptionally rare, program spaces for summer programs for young people who are dealing with disabilities, and today we're highlighting around autism but, I mean, all disabilities deserve their fair recognition in the sense that we need to find ways to support them all, not one over the other.

Mr. Speaker, two-week slots are rare -- rarer than hen's teeth, Mr. Speaker. So if you're lucky to get one of those, it's only for two...