Inuvik Boot Lake

Statements in Debates

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 19)

We have some really great youth programs out there, Youth Ambassador Program, Northern Youth Abroad Program. Skills Canada is doing a great job. We do all these programs to empower our youth. Is there something that we can do to empower our volunteers and empower our youth, our workforce who provide these programs to the youth? I guess my question is: Would the Minister be willing to look at creating, coordinating and planning for a youth symposium for our volunteers for our workforce who provide these programs for youth so that they can share their stories, so that they can work the...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 19)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I’m going to be speaking on the Inuvik-Tuk highway. Yesterday we had a couple of strong statements and some questions in the House that gives a perception out there that our government is actually hiding something in terms of moving forward on this project and that deals are being done behind closed doors.

I sat here and I listened to it, and I felt that I had to say something today that we do have a process, and that process is waiting for the right correspondence from the federal government. The Minister sat up in the House yesterday. He explained himself. He...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 18)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have written questions today for the Minister of Health and Social Services regarding the NWT Mental Health Act for treatment data for the fiscal year 2009-2010 to the present.

In accordance with Section 6.(a) and (b) of the Mental Health Act, how many voluntary patients applied for hospital admittance in the Northwest Territories and how many of those voluntary patients were denied admittance due to a lack of beds and/or space?

In accordance with Section 8.(1) of the Mental Health Act, in how many cases has a medical practitioner had to make an order for the...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 18)

Can I get a confirmation from the Minister that all the lay dispensers underneath the Mental Health Act were actually transferred to the new job term health workers, and whether these health workers are covered under the Mental Health Act to provide those types of services, and whether they’re going to amend that changing and add health workers to the Mental Health Act so that they understand they’re covered for any type of liability to provide any type of emergency services?

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 18)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. Quite frankly, I’d just like to ask the Minister how the Mental Health Act is being enforced in small communities where there is no psychiatrist and, in some cases, no nurses to complete a psychiatric evaluation or assessment, specifically in the isolated communities.

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 18)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m going to continue on today with some of the findings that I had read in the Mental Health Act. What brought me to there is how many people are slipping through the cracks in the Northwest Territories. When I read the document it raised a lot of questions and I tried to get some of those addressed in my written questions yesterday.

Some of the questions that came across to me that I wanted to make sure that our government knew and the people of the Northwest Territories knew about were protocols. What are our protocols in the small communities in the health centres...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 18)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that we report progress.

---Carried

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 18)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When an individual is brought to a health centre emergency room by a peace officer or someone in the community under a mental health disorder, a written report has to go to the Minister’s office to ask for the individual to be detained. How is this addressed in the small communities when we have, possibly, communication challenges as well as somebody in the community possibly not being able to fill out the proper forms and allowing these people to get back out into the public when they really do need the help? How is this addressed with these written reports and does he...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 18)

The Minister flowed perfectly into my second question in terms of evaluation put on by the nurses. In the Northwest Territories we have eight communities that do not have a resident nurse. When we come up with these issues dealing with someone with a mental disorder, what is put in place for those eight communities where there is no resident nurse readily available to do that assessment? What is the protocol for the communities that do not have a nurse, that can’t provide that type of assessment?

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 18)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I also would like to welcome a former resident of Inuvik, Mr. Dez Loreen, who also was a student youth councillor when I was on town council at one time, and a very good advocate for Inuvik in terms of reporting the news as well as other information that’s happening around Inuvik, Northwest Territories. Welcome, Dez, to the House. Thank you.