Glen Abernethy

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize a couple of individuals in the gallery today. My parents, Dick and Loretta Abernethy, are with us, as well as, all the way from Oxford, Nova Scotia, my aunt Diane Harrot is with us. This is the first time she’s been to the Northwest Territories. Welcome to the gallery; welcome to the Northwest Territories. It’s great to see you.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document entitled “Follow-up Letter to Oral Question 138-18(2): Hay River Long term Care Beds.” Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, medical travel is actually currently being reviewed and one of the pillars that is being reviewed is escorts when and how they should be supported. We did go out for public engagement. We got a significant amount of feedback from residents across the Northwest Territories as well as other stakeholders and we are moving forward with that plan. I’ll have a conversation with the department, certainly, and I’m certainly willing to continue to have a dialogue and discussion with the Members across the floor about what we should be covering under escorts. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are physicians across the Northwest Territories providing obstetrics services. We also have midwifery services in Fort Smith, Hay River, as well as the MORE OB program up in Beaufort Delta, and we have birthing here in the Northwest Territories. Unfortunately, and I think it’s to the Member’s point, there are individuals that do have to come out of their smaller communities to centres like Yellowknife or Fort Smith, Hay River, or Inuvik to facilitate birthing. To bring those individuals in, the mothers, we do bring them in on medical travel and we do provide...

Mr. Speaker, the department has $82,000 in annual funding, and ongoing funding which was available to implement What Will It Take? training across the Northwest Territories. We’re looking at branching out and launching a broader media campaign to create awareness of the program, but also to start working to break down some of the other myths that exist around family violence. We have been attending the community healthy living fairs that have been taking part in the Northwest Territories and we’ve been promoting What Will It Take. We intend to keep running this program. How it looks in the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as the Member has indicated, the campaign was intended to break down some of the myths and stigma that exist around family violence and create awareness. The program has had a number of workshops delivered across the Northwest Territories. In 2015-2016, as an example, there were 26 workshops that took place. Twelve of those were facilitated by the Status of Women with 146 participants in communities across the Northwest Territories. We also had other facilitators providing the workshop. FOXY facilitated 14 sessions for youth across the Northwest Territories...

Mr. Speaker, anything’s possible, but we can’t really do anything until we actually have the program designed which is what we’ve hired these individuals to do. Given that they have the appropriate background, it may be appropriate to do so, but it would also depend on whether or not the incumbents were interested in doing that. There’s a lot of ifs here, Mr. Speaker, but we’re open to creativity.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We tried to the last fiscal year to hire some positions and we weren’t able to get anybody until February 2015 is actually when I believe we were able to get those individuals into that position. I’ll have to confirm. I don’t believe they’re term positions, but I will confirm whether or not they are term, and if they are term what is the end date. I do believe they’re indeterminate at this point, but I will confirm. Thank you. Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m not sure there’s enough time on the clock. The Our Elders: Our Communities framework outlines seven priorities that will be used to guide the future program design for older adults to assist them to remain in their communities, as long as possible. That’s the ultimate goal of aging in place. The seven priorities include:

Healthy and active aging;

Home and community care services;

Integrated and coordinated services across the continuum;

Caregiver supports;

Elder responsive communities;

Accessible and current information, making sure it’s available; as well as

Sustainable...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I would like to recognize June 15th as World Elder Abuse Awareness Day. Colleagues and visitors in the gallery are wearing purple to promote awareness of this important day, and I’d like to recognize the significant amount of purple in the building today. Mr. Speaker, our work towards eliminating elder abuse is done in partnership with the NWT Seniors’ Society and the NWT Network to Prevent Abuse of Older Adults. I would encourage all Members to read the Creating Safe Communities for Older Adults: a Five Year Strategy for the Northwest Territories...