Bill Braden

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. My questions this afternoon are for Mr. Dent, the Minister responsible for the Workers’ Compensation Board of the NWT and Nunavut, and it relates to the efforts by an injured worker to have his appeal heard before a freshly constituted board. Mr. Speaker, it’s rare that an injured worker’s appeal makes its way all the way to the Supreme Court. The onus is almost always on the worker to shoulder the expense, and the time, and the burden, and the energy that’s required to get it this way, and I think it’s to Mr. Valic’s credit that he has persisted over the years to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m not a lawyer and I’m not going to attempt to turn the Chamber into a courtroom, but the point was the decisions and the policy and the practice undertaken by the WCB as it relates to Mr. Valic were a violation of the Charter. It found that the way in which it treated Mr. Valic and others who have come forward with chronic pain syndrome was different than the way they were treated from workers with other conventional kinds of injuries, if you will, Mr. Speaker. So that is the point where the WCB was found at fault. That was the point that the officers and the...

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the answer, but it is quite consistent with the kind of responses we’ve had from the WCB on such a range of issues. There is never any issue of whether or not there may be some fault or some lack of consideration or process at the WCB. The ability of the WCB to put a fresh panel forward is really what’s at question here. So we’re now coming up to six months, Mr. Speaker, for this process to grind its way along. Now I’m hopeful that qualified tribunal members will come forward from this latest process, but I anticipate that there’s going to be training and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m not a lawyer and I’m not going to attempt to turn the Chamber into a courtroom, but the point was the decisions and the policy and the practice undertaken by the WCB as it relates to Mr. Valic were a violation of the Charter. It found that the way in which it treated Mr. Valic and others who have come forward with chronic pain syndrome was different than the way they were treated from workers with other conventional kinds of injuries, if you will, Mr. Speaker. So that is the point where the WCB was found at fault. That was the point that the officers and the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the February session, I spoke of the ongoing difficulties of an injured worker, a 51-year-old man whose life has been shattered by a 19-year-long battle with the Workers’ Compensation Board. Mr. Ivan Valic is one of some 40 injured workers that I know of, Mr. Speaker, who have experienced a never-ending appeals treadmill with the Workers’ Compensation Board Appeals Tribunal system.

Mr. Valic is angry at the system. His oft repeated question is who is responsible? Who is accountable? Why doesn’t the Minister do something? Why doesn’t the Premier do something? Who...

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the answer, but it is quite consistent with the kind of responses we’ve had from the WCB on such a range of issues. There is never any issue of whether or not there may be some fault or some lack of consideration or process at the WCB. The ability of the WCB to put a fresh panel forward is really what’s at question here. So we’re now coming up to six months, Mr. Speaker, for this process to grind its way along. Now I’m hopeful that qualified tribunal members will come forward from this latest process, but I anticipate that there’s going to be training and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the February session, I spoke of the ongoing difficulties of an injured worker, a 51-year-old man whose life has been shattered by a 19-year-long battle with the Workers’ Compensation Board. Mr. Ivan Valic is one of some 40 injured workers that I know of, Mr. Speaker, who have experienced a never-ending appeals treadmill with the Workers’ Compensation Board Appeals Tribunal system.

Mr. Valic is angry at the system. His oft repeated question is who is responsible? Who is accountable? Why doesn’t the Minister do something? Why doesn’t the Premier do something? Who...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. It's been estimated that here in the Northwest Territories some 8,800 people have or will experience some form of mental illness or addiction disorder in their lifetimes. Further, Mr. Speaker, it's been predicted that the number and complexity of these disorders will increase significantly, with service demands up by 50 percent. This was an estimate made eight years ago, Mr. Speaker.

For those individuals and their families, a sad reality is that our government services have actually been badly eroded over the past decade. Here in Yellowknife, Mr. Speaker, we've seen...

This, again, Mr. Speaker, is a continuance of a sad legacy that our government has had over so many years. What we are abandoning here, Mr. Speaker, are 15 years of investment by this community, not just a government contract, but the schools, the medical people, the NGOs that are part of this. That’s what we are abandoning. Will the Minister understand that this is what is at stake here?

Mr. Speaker, while the Minister is adamant about moving this program, even in the midst of the confusion and uncertainty about how it is going to be done, will he do what the 700 people who signed this petition asked for, and that was to continue this service in Yellowknife? Why does it have to be abandoned?