Glen Abernethy

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd love to say yes, but I can't, obviously. There are a lot of adults out there who were never diagnosed and we don't have the clinical diagnosis for them, so there probably are individuals who are FASD who have never been accurately diagnosed.

I could get some information for the Member on the number that have been diagnosed through the Stanton program so that we have some current numbers, but there isn't a real solid set of information out there on the exact numbers that would exist in the Northwest Territories. But I will provide what I can to the Members across the...

Just to be clear, we will put the legal registered name of a community on birth certificates, so if it has font we'll make sure that happens. If it does not have font in the legal registered name then it won't obviously. Going live on this particular component of this legislation, we talked about this at length at the hearing. There is a significant amount of work that needs to be done in order to make sure that we are not putting residents of the Northwest Territories in harm's way by limiting their ability to get passports, social insurance numbers.

Also eliminating their ability to travel...

Mr. Speaker, across the Government of the Northwest Territories there's a wide range of programs and services available for children living with disabilities. Specifically related to FASD, the Stanton Territorial Hospital Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Family and Community Support Program has been established and it basically conducts diagnostic clinics to screen and diagnose FASD in children between the ages of seven and 17.

This team consists of doctors, psychologists, occupational therapists and other speech language therapists who can work with these children and help identify their...

Once this passes and comes into effect, we'll be able to put any of the supported or any of the information in the appropriate fonts. If the registered name of community does not include a font, it will not include it on the birth certificate.

Thank you Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the Department of Health and Social Services isn’t the registrar of office names of locations, communities, towns, villages, et cetera. Those names are registered using fonts or not using. If they have fonts, traditional fonts in them, the birth certificate will now be able to include it. If the name as registered does not include those fonts, then we would be required to use the legal name of the community as registered, and if it does include fonts, it won't.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the Member's comments. The Member has indicated that this particular area is something that was intended and will be addressed in the regulations. Originally, we are proposing regulations with respect to sex designation which was consistent with the majority of provinces and territories and the Northwest Territories. Specifically, that a statutory declaration that an individual lives full-time in the gender they want to change to, and that this is not the gender currently listed on their birth certificate, a statutory declaration from a doctor, a nurse...

I would, yes, please.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following two documents entitled “Northwest Territories and Nunavut Workers' Compensation Appeals Tribunal Annual Report 2015” and “Workers' Safety and Compensation Commission Annual Report 2015 Northwest Territories and Nunavut.” Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, yes, we clearly have a difference of opinion. The COR program is a construction-based safety program. It's a good program, there's no question. I support COR and there's a lot of organizations that are using COR to significant advantage; it helps them develop the plans they need, but it's very expensive to obtain and very expensive to maintain. It costs about $15,000 for a small business to get registered with COR and about $5,000 to $10,000 a year to maintain.

So the Member's suggestion that we require COR would actually drive up the costs of small businesses. We have put in, in...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the WSCC is focused on ensuring safe workplaces and ensuring that the employees have safe environments to work so that no injuries occur. The Safe Advantage program details, as the Member has indicated, with businesses over $40,000 in assessment. It was found, Mr. Speaker, that large businesses, due to their accident records and claim costs drive the rates for all businesses in the Northwest Territories.

If the WSCC can get large businesses to lower their accident rates, then it will lower assessment rates for everybody, including small businesses. So their...