Glen Abernethy

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document entitled "Follow-up Letter to Oral Question 307-18(2) and Oral Question 315-18(2) Fort Simpson Health Centre Planning Study." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, one of the advantages of coming together as a single authority here in the Northwest Territories is when there are vacancies in different regions or communities some of the other communities and regions can stand up. It was my understanding that there was an individual once upon a time responsible for some medical travel coordination in the Sahtu. I'm not aware of whether or not that position was eliminated. I will have to get back in touch with the department and the authority to find out what is the actual status in the Sahtu, and I will commit to getting that information for...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the single authority went live here in the Northwest Territories earlier this year. Since that time we've had an opportunity to bring the different council members, the Regional Wellness Council members into Yellowknife for some training and orientation into the new system.

They've all then gone back to the communities, the chairs have come together and have held their first board meeting, if you will, then there has been some of the communities, regions, have actually already had some regional wellness council meetings. The CEO is travelling to those often...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, within the Government of the Northwest Territories when it comes to detox, we often refer to withdrawal management. There are basically two different streams of withdrawal management that are available. There's social withdrawal, which we are facilitating through counsellors and other NGOs throughout the communities across the Northwest Territories. Then there's also the medical detox component or the medical withdrawal management. That can be done in a number of different locations in the Northwest Territories, Inuvik and Yellowknife are the prime examples...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are a wide range of services available to residents of the Northwest Territories, including youth. We do have community counsellors in most communities. Where they don't exist in communities, we can reach them by outreach. We have 1-800 numbers, a 24-hour help line; we have the ability to do psychiatric assessments and provide treatment.

Every community in the Northwest Territories has a community wellness plan. Many of their activities focus on supporting youth through on-the-land programs. We as a government fund different Aboriginal governments and organizations...

Mr. Speaker, as the House is aware, we are doing some review of our medical travel policies here in the Northwest Territories with a focus on improving the results for our clients as they travel. I've made a commitment to getting that information to Members and I'll continue to provide the Members with updates.

I will say that now that we have moved to a single authority there's a real ability to consolidate and figure out how we can work together as a system to provide our residents a more seamless medical travel experience, and we're looking forward to seeing some positive results coming out...

I'm not sure that I actually understand the question, I'm not familiar with the referral coordinators the Member is referring to. Is the Member referring to something related to medical travel or something else? I'm not sure.

Mr. Speaker, there are variations across the Northwest Territories depending on the size of some of our smaller, more rural remote communities. Some of those communities do have mental health and addictions counsellors in them, some do not. All have access to our 24-hour hotline; all of them have access to professionals regardless whether they are there in person, by way of phone.

On top of that, Mr. Speaker, every community in the Northwest Territories has developed the community wellness plans, as I've mentioned before. Many, if not all, of those community wellness plans actually involve...

We've actually just almost concluded the work on a mental health and addictions framework here in the Northwest Territories, which I hope to share with committee either later this week or early next week and table it the week after. That framework outlines the parameters on which we're going to be moving forward on a number of items, including the development of a comprehensive Mental Health and Addictions Action Plan for Youth, which we hope to get out as quickly as possible. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Before I begin my remarks I want to state clearly and for the record that I believe wholeheartedly in the principles of accountability. Cabinet shares that belief with me and that is why on December 17, 2015, all Members in this House supported unanimously for Motion 17-18(1) which was to establish a mid-term accountability review.

I'd also like to point out in case anybody has forgotten, that the Premier, prior to his selection as Premier, was the mover of that motion which established with the unanimous agreement of all 19 Members that prior to the fall 2017 in this...