Glen Abernethy

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would like to thank the Member for Frame Lake for bringing forward this private Member's bill to propose amendments to the Vital Statistics Act and the Public Health Act, to provide some certainty that cremation can be authorized in the Northwest Territories. We do support the bill in principle.

Currently, NWT residents are sent south for cremation and are subject to a comprehensive legislative framework in Alberta. As the Member appreciates, an NWT regulatory framework for cremation will involve input from several departments of the Government of the Northwest...

I know we have challenges with the Hay River Health and Social Services Authority, but medical travel is not one of them. Hay River is not responsible for medical travel; it's the Territorial Health Authority. They currently have a contract for the provision of medical travel services with a separate organization in Hay River. It's the only place in the Territories where medical travel is delivered by non-GNWT or territorial staff.

I've made a commitment to the Member that we're certainly going to look at that. We need to make sure that we have a consistent application of medical travel for all...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I hear the Member's concerns, and I've heard the concerns from residents as well. Usually, the medical travel officers throughout the Territories work with patients to develop a medical travel solution that meets the patient's needs.

I understand that there have been some challenges in the Hay River area, and we have worked together to address some of those, and I do apologize for those frustrations. For the most part, we work to actually accommodate individuals' needs throughout the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The concept of a family or a community caregiver was highlighted in the Continuing Care Action Plan. It is certainly something that we are excited about and certainly something we are pursuing. We believe all the actions we are taking, whether it is enhancing home care, working with community and/or family caregivers, working with the Housing Corp to put independent living units in throughout the Northwest Territories, or all the other actions that are clearly articulated in the continuing action plan, all build to supporting an environment where we can help individuals stay in their homes and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in this government's mandate, one of the priorities that we have is to support aging in place. As a result, we have moved forward with the Continuing Care Action Plan which has been shared with committee. The number 258 was identified in the long-term care review, and that actually contemplates doing more work with NWT residents to support them to stay in their homes for as long as possible.

We know that seniors benefit and want to live in their homes as long as possible. If they cannot live in their homes, they would like to stay in their regions; but...

I think it was a contract that was let in the previous government prior to my time. I think we're on a year-to-year-basis contract. I think we're going to be coming to an end of that contract at some point, at which point we will be exploring options to provide medical travel in a consistent manner with different regions of the Northwest Territories, which would mean the NWT Health and Social Services Authority would be responsible for medical travel like everywhere else. Thank you.

We recently released a handbook that actually has a significant amount of information available to residents who travel on medical travel, and our medical travel officers throughout the Northwest Territories for the most part actually provide the information that is necessary so that the patients know what is available to them. Whether or not, for instance, they could stay at one of the boarding homes; whether they're eligible to stay at one of the boarding homes on a daytime basis.

It doesn't appear to always happen in Hay River. I'm aware of the challenges that the Member from Hay River has...

That responsibility would fall under the Department of Lands, but I do hear the Member. I would like to sit down with the Member and have him explain to me in more detail the exact issue, and I am happy to engage with the Minister of Lands to see what, if anything, can be done. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As I have indicated, we have come forward with an aging in place or a continuing care action plan that talks about supporting and enhancing home care. We are talking about family or community caregivers who are providing supports to help people age in place. The Housing Corporation has moved forward with the construction of independent living units at a regional level, at a community level, to support people to stay in their communities if they are not able to stay in their homes. At the end of the day, we also know we need long-term care beds. The evidence is there. The numbers are there to...

This is a very exciting initiative. Child and youth care counsellors will be an important part of the overall continuum of mental wellness services for children, youth, as well as families. They will work in the schools and the broader community and will work in an integrated fashion with other communitybased professionals to ensure person and familycentred services are delivered as close to home as possible.

This is an incredibly important resource that is required in all regions, and it needs to be implemented thoughtfully and with input from all involved stakeholders. We are working with the...