Glen Abernethy

No, Mr. Chair. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the Department of Health and Social Services continues to be committed to improving the health and the lives of Northerners. To achieve this goal, Health and Social Services, along with the Tlicho Government and the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, submitted a proposal to the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to establish a Strategy for Patient Oriented Research SUPPORT unit in the Northwest Territories. In February 2016, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research approved funding over five years to the Tlicho Government to establish this unit. This funding is made available...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On my right is Lisa Cardinal, the director of planning and evaluation with the Department of Health and Social Services, and on my left, Thomas Druyan, who is legislative counsel.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am pleased to be here today to introduce Bill 18, An Act to Amend the Health and Social Services Professions Act. The current Health and Social Services Professions Act is an umbrella statute that will regulate a number of different health and social services professions. Before the act can come into force, amendments are required to address some oversights that were missed during the original drafting. These amendments were not identified until the department began developing the first profession-specific regulations.

The amendments addressing the oversights include:

req...

With the single territorial authority here in the Northwest Territories, it gives us an opportunity to re-evaluate the programs we are providing and where we are providing them with the possible opportunities to reach out with additional services, given that we have a collaborative system. That is obviously complicated in Hay River, recognizing that they are outside the public service, but it is a fantastic new hospital. It has a long life. It was built to grow and meet the changing needs of the region and the community. In short, Mr. Speaker, the answer is yes, it is an area that would be...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it certainly is more complicated for a GNWT employee to do a transfer assignment into an organization like the Hay River Health and Social Services Authority, because it is outside the collective agreement. It is outside the public service. If an individual within the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority was looking for a developmental opportunity, we could put him or her on a transfer assignment, which really would have no impact on the benefits. They would still be employees of the public service, and we could move them into a...

These items are in our mandate. These are issues that, as individual Ministers, we bring up at the appropriate time at the appropriate FTPs to make sure that the federal government is aware of our realities, but also the realities of Canadians from other jurisdictions. We do raise those issues on a regular basis, and we are going to continue to do so. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yes, the federal government is moving forward on the National Strategy for Poverty Reduction. I have had the opportunity to meet the federal Minister responsible in cooperation and collaboration with my provincial and territorial counterparts, where we had an opportunity to explain some of the realities that we face in our different jurisdictions, talk about some of the actions that we are undertaking, and provide some advice on a broad approach on addressing poverty at a national level.

Mr. Speaker, I know that the federal government has also been doing a...

With the legalization of marijuana in Canada, one of our primary foundations in moving forward is promotion and awareness of the negative impacts of marijuana. This is one of the things that we are going to be working on. Currently, marijuana use is already normalized both in the Northwest Territories and across Canada, which is, I think, one of the reasons the feds may have considered moving forward in this way. The message is still the same, Mr. Speaker. We have heard loud and clear from residents that they want options, and we are looking at providing the widest range of options possible...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the reserve has actually submitted a proposal on the use of that particular building on the reserve. Their design includes turning that into more of a wellness centre to provide different types of programming for residents of the Northwest Territories, in particular the South Slave. We have received that proposal. We have reviewed it, and we are working with the band now to turn the building over to them, so that they can move forward with the plan that they have put forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.