Glen Abernethy

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In 2014-2015 we had a total of 174 residents who took advantage of the treatment facilities available to Northwest Territories residents. In 2015-2016, to date, we’ve had 109 residents of the Northwest Territories take advantage of those same treatment facilities.

Just as a note, we have put in an expedited referral process to ensure that people can get to those facilities as quickly as possible. Sometimes now is the right time for individuals. We have seen some significant success with those bonafide referral processes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I appreciate the Member’s opinion. I disagree with him. I’ve made a commitment; we’re going to stand up to the commitment. There’s a significant amount of work that needs to be done and they were hoping to do it this week, but they will do it the week after or the week after, depending on what the chief of the community says is appropriate.

Department staff need to work with the authority and we need to work with the community to conduct a functional program assessment of the wellness centre that exists. They also need to complete a health assessment with the needs of elders and residents with...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’re committed to getting this done and are working with the community of Deline to get this done. We had actually hoped to go in this summer, but due to staffing issues and the fact that Deline was probably one of the busiest communities in the Northwest Territories this summer, we didn’t actually manage to get in there.

Last week, during our bilateral meetings with the Sahtu, I committed to getting in there as quickly as possible, prior to October 23rd. In fact, we were hoping to go in this week, the same time that the Sahtu AGM, the Sahtu Health and Social Services...

I’ll commit to meeting with the Member after the sitting today to get the specific details. We, as the Department of Health and Social Services, I, as the Minister, have committed to the families and working with families, and I recognize that family law and divorce is a responsibility of the Department of Justice and I am sure that our two departments can work together to find a solution that the Member is referring to.

I can only really answer the question in the context of child and family services. If we’re talking about a divorce situation or a situation out of child and family services, you might be better positioned to ask the Minister of Justice that particular question as he is responsible for courts and those procedures.

Within child and family services, the social workers work with the families and we try to ensure that families are involved, families are engaged in the processes of supporting children. As the Member knows, we are moving forward with Building Stronger Families, which focuses on the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following seven documents, entitled “GNWT Response to Motion 36-17(5): Workplace Safety at Stanton Territorial Hospital;” “GNWT Response to CR 12-17(5): Report on the Review of Bill 36: Health and Social Services Profession Act;” “GNWT Response to Motion 39-17(5), Domestic Violence Death Review Committee;” “GNWT Response to Motion 40-17(5), Wellness Centre at Stanton Territorial Hospital;” “GNWT Response to Committee Report 18-17(5), Report on the Review of Bill 47, An Act to Amend the Child and Family Services Act;” a “Follow-up Letter for OQ 813-17...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Thursday, October 1, 2015, I will move that Bill 68, An Act to Amend the Child and Family Services Act, No. 2, be read for the first time.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize a constituent of the Great Slave riding in the gallery today, Mr. Kieron Testart. Thank you for being here.

We will be making this information public. We will be sharing the new guidelines when they come out. A couple things around that: There is still going to be a requirement for individuals who are going to be away from the Northwest Territories for extended periods of time to let the health services office know, and I would still strongly encourage residents who are travelling outside of the Northwest Territories to get medical travel insurance to cover any extra costs while they’re in the United States or other parts of the world as well as in the southern parts of Canada.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Currently, residents of the Northwest Territories need to be in the territory for six months plus a day, which works out to about 183 days. But over the last number of years, a large number of jurisdictions within Canada have been decreasing that time period to about 153 days, so they only have to be in their province for 153 days to be eligible for a health care card. Those jurisdictions are British Columbia, Manitoba, Alberta and Ontario.

We have done some analysis based on questions that have been asked in this House and questions that have been asked by seniors, and...