David Krutko

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On the last point that the Premier mentioned, the work plan, apparently you have only two Aboriginal groups developing a work plan, which you have six groups outside the table who have to follow a work plan developed by two groups that are going to have an impact on their region. I would like to ask the Premier how you explain the lack of Dene participation in the Devolution Agreement to the other parties and to other Canadians.

One of the issues that the Dene leadership have issue with is why does the federal government still retain one-third of the Norman Wells oilfield in which the Dene-Metis claim clearly identifies the Norman Wells Proven Area as their land claim package.

The other area of contention is this 5 percent cap that’s in place. I’d like to ask the Premier what areas the government is willing to push to improve the devolution package that would satisfy the concerns of the Dene governments.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are mechanisms we can use to entice people to the table, but more importantly, mechanisms, if we can’t work with them, let’s find a person who can through arbitration. Bring someone in who can bring the parties to the table, bring the parties with their issues, and at the end of the day, have a deal for all Northerners and have the best deal we can for the Northwest Territories and the people that we serve.

Mr. Speaker, there has to be questions out there and resolutions to these outstanding problems. Mr. Speaker, Dene issues and Dene concerns are valid. They have...

Again, in order for programs and services to exist, you need bodies on the ground. It does take investment. We have health centres in the Northwest Territories that don’t have nurses in them. I think it’s a shame in this day and age that we are funding health centres without the core staff to run them. I’d like to ask the Minister what he is doing to ensure we have nursing services, and programs and services in communities where we have the basic infrastructure already on the ground, yet we’re not delivering programs and services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are directed to the Minister of Health and Social Services and are in regard to my Member’s statement. In this day and age we still have critical programs and services not being delivered to a lot of our more isolated communities. I think in order to have healthy and vibrant communities, the building block of any community is to develop a healthy side to those communities. I’d like to ask the Minister what his department is doing to ensure we have essential programs and services delivered in all communities so we have healthy and vibrant communities.

Again, I think that people have to realize that a lot of times our services in the communities include one doctor’s visit a month. If you’re lucky you might see a social worker once a month. The same thing with regard to core service positions, whether it’s dental care once a year. That’s the type of stuff that people want to see improvement on.

What are we doing to improve the number of days that doctors and professionals spend in those communities and expand that service so they can see more doctors visiting, more nursing days in our communities, and the same thing with dental care?

Again, I think it’s important that we do as government seem to have a lot of programs and services in the larger centres. A lot of the time we lose sight of those programs and services that do not exist in a lot of our communities. I think I’ve talked about respite care and midwifery, caregiving programs, wellness programs, and even mental health and addictions programs. Those are the building blocks for healthy communities. I’d like to ask the Minister what the department is doing to ensure that it streamlines the funding that is going into the area of Health and Social Services, and ensuring...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Programs and services are fundamental to saving our vibrant communities. To have healthy communities we must have programs and services in place in all 33 communities in the Northwest Territories so that all our children can grow up healthy, elders can retire in their home communities and not have to worry about being sent away, people can find work in their communities and raise their families, and also apply for support to local economies to support them.

Not having programs and services gives us a situation where we have have and have-not communities when it comes to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, I know Joe Greenland is a unique problem, but I think that problem appears all through the Northwest Territories. A lot of our communities, like McPherson where we have 120-something elders over the age of 60 -- that’s a large portion of our population -- need these type of programs. I’d like to ask the Minister what he’s doing to expand the respite care program, the care programs for elders throughout the Northwest Territories, especially in a lot of our rural and remote communities.

I’d like to ask the Minister if he can give me an exact breakdown of that $350,000 and are those positions fully activated. If not, when are you intending to have those positions filled and the programs and services that you mentioned being delivered on the ground?