The environmental health officers are working with small operators and people applying for temporary or permanent food establishment permits to ensure the food they provide is safe. Providing for locally sourced meat products will require revisions to the Public Health Act and regulations, and it may require other regulations or amendments to be done, regulations and legislation that might exist in other departments, like ENR, Lands, or ITI, so we would need to work with those departments to ensure that any sales or distribution of locally harvested foods is safe for the residents when it...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we do have environmental health officers employed by the Department of Health and Social Services who can offer NWT food safety courses when requested by a community. They can go out and do that. They are usually waiting until they get at least 10 individuals who are interested in that course. However, we do know that, in some of the smaller communities, finding 10 individuals has proven to be difficult, so that can be offered by Telehealth as well, but we would need a request from the community that they would like that course provided and we can certainly...

As the territorial authority looks at expanding services at any point in the Northwest Territories, we would have to build a business case and justify any decisions which are being made, which will obviously include costs analyses and those types of things. I just do not want to set any false impressions.

At this point, a sonography machine, an ultrasound machine for deep exams, things like hearts and deep analysis, is a very expensive piece of machinery that can only be operated by a sonographer. If we are to put these very expensive machines in communities and then only use them occasionally...

As I’ve already indicated, the existing portable ultrasound in the Fort Simpson Health Centre is out-dated and needs to be replaced. It will be replaced. We’re hoping to have that portable ultrasound on-site by the end of June, barring any challenges with delivery and/or purchasing.

I badly want to say yes, but I recognize that any financial hit is going to have to be considered in line with all other costs that this government is faced with. We need to do the business case.

I’m looking forward to working with the Member. I’m looking forward to working with all my colleagues on both sides of this House to find a way. Recognizing that, if it has a significant cost, I will not commit to have it done in the life of this government, but I commit to making significant progress by working together to find a way. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

In 2005, when I actually worked for the Government of Northwest Territories, we were looking at bringing in the Hay River health and social services into the public service at that time, and I was actually working on that file. At that time, it was estimated to be around $5 million to bring the Hay River authority into the public service. Since then, because it was decided not to move forward at the time because of the cost, we have had to top up their pension every year. Last year, the top-up on the pension was about $872,000 and, for this year, we have an early estimate that suggests we’re...

We need to have a close working relationship with ENR, and ENR does conduct monitoring activities which include measuring the different types of contaminants that are in the environment as well as in wildlife. They also fund some independent researchers both locally and internationally who can do some measurements on some of the wildlife and land around the Northwest Territories. When that information is made available to Health and Social Services, if there are concerns of contaminants or there are concerns that the locally-sourced meat or other food might be contaminated, we will share that...

Currently local meat must be inspected to meet food establishment safety regulations in order to be sold in stores. The Department of Health and Social Services is working with ITI to set out a method for legal sale of locally harvested and grown foods. This method needs to ensure that food are safe, which I think is understood and supported by the Member and all residents so that it is safe and the residents will not get ill by eating the food.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I've been listening carefully as everyone has been talking this afternoon and this is clearly a tough one, a tough discussion for many individuals. I hear two conversations that I believe are separate conversations but they're being morphed into one, and those are the right of individuals to run for election, but also the major problem we have here in the Northwest Territories of domestic violence. I truly appreciate the work that the committee did, and I know what they did was not easy and they put their hearts and souls into this report, and I truly...

Prior to moving to a single authority in the Northwest Territories, we used different protocols by regions and communities on how things were monitored and assessed. We now have 32 performance indicators that we utilize in the Northwest Territories and collect on a regular basis. That information helps make some evidence-based decisions moving forward. We are continually trying to enhance the monitoring that we are doing of the services and program delivery to make sure that they meet the needs of our residents, and we will continue to move forward. I am happy to sit down with the Member and...