Alfred Moses

I would like to thank the Minister for that very comprehensive response to a second medical opinion. They’ve done a lot of work and I agree that residents shouldn’t be afraid to offend any medical practitioner or physician in seeking a second medical opinion. He did mention something and I was going to ask a question in terms of the lack of physicians in the Northwest Territories in some of the regions and the medical costs. He understands the situation we are in, where some of the regions don’t have physicians and we have locums who continue to come through.

Would he be looking at reviewing...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On February 22, 2013, in Committee of the Whole, I asked the then-Minister of Health and Social services, during the review of the main estimates, questions on the right to a second medical opinion. There were some good questions and there were discussions of the review of the right to a second medical opinion. I bring this forward again today only because I’ve had discussions with people who were concerned about their medical results and their diagnosis and weren’t sure if they were getting the right treatment. Every resident in the Northwest Territories should have...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, colleagues.

The Standing Committee on Social Programs thanks all stakeholders who provided comments on Bill 42 or attended the public hearing.

The committee advises that it supports Bill 42 as amended and reprinted and presents it for consideration to Committee of the Whole.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When some individuals commit a big crime, they’ll get put in jail for a very long time. I just did some quick calculations here and at $303 for a year, that’s about $110,000 per inmate within our correctional system, which is equivalent to a job position, possibly a part-time nurse in a community, just to put it out there.

But I want to ask, what is the Minister doing to work in the communities to develop some type of treatment or counselling program, especially in our small communities, to prevent individuals from having to eventually come to the end result, which is...

It just shows anybody who’s having addiction issues or mental health issues that they don’t have to be institutionalized, that there are other streams of helping these individuals out so that they don’t go into the system. However, of the 13 who got referred by the same, and, yesterday, it sounds like there were eight who were institutionalized. For these eight individuals who didn’t get referred through the Wellness Court system, what kind of plan of care is given to these individuals who were referred from the Wellness Courts but didn’t meet the requirements? When they get into the same...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too had a look at the Auditor General’s report on some of the issues dealing with the Department of Justice and corrections, and it got my attention in terms of the rehab services, mental health services, and just the treatment that our inmates need to go through or lack or don’t have. However, I want to take a different route on this one.

When I was reading this, I was conflicted in the sense that we have people who are in the jail who have mental health issues, and if we actually had the services in the communities, they might not be there. As my colleague mentioned...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think you’ve heard from my colleagues in support of the office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner to have input into how we develop our legislation here within the Government of the Northwest Territories and not to have her give input during the consultation phase after second reading or also with our policies as we develop them. One case in particular was the online registration. She made reference to how that was put forth without any information on online registration for vehicles without any input from her. With all the work and information that’s being...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Standing Committee on Social Programs has been considering Bill 36, Health and Social Services Professions Act. Members may recall last week we read a five-page report on the committee’s review of Bill 36 that was presented to the Legislative Assembly on March 5, 2015.

By motion, the House received the report and it was moved into Committee of the Whole for further consideration. The committee commends the Minister for developing the bill as a result of five years of hard work by the Department of Health and Social Services, professional stakeholders and the public.

Th...

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to waive Rule 93(4) to have Committee Report 13-17(5), Report of the Standing Committee on Social Programs on the Review of Bill 42: An Act to Amend the Residential Tenancies Act, moved into Committee of the Whole for consideration later today.

---Unanimous consent granted

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, your Standing Committee on Social Programs is pleased to provide its Report on the Review of Bill 42: An Act to Amend the Residential Tenancies Act and commends it to the House.

Bill 42, An Act to Amend the Residential Tenancies Act, makes substantial improvements to the Residential Tenancies Act. The Standing Committee on Social Programs commends the Minister for presenting the bill. It is the result of extensive consultation with stakeholders and the public.

Bill 42 will amend the act in a number of ways, including: allowing decisions of the rental officer...