Glen Abernethy

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Pages are an integral part of the operation of this Chamber and we’ve been blessed to have Pages from all over the Northwest Territories come and work with us. I really do appreciate all the work that all the Pages have done and I’d like to thank all the Pages that we’ve had over the years and the Pages that we’ll have in the future. In particular, I’d like to recognize a number of Pages who happen to live in the Great Slave riding who have been with us here since last Monday and are going to be with us here until March 12th, and those individuals are Shiri MacPherson...

Resolving this particular challenge here in the Northwest Territories is going to take partnership and awareness, and one of the main organizations that do incredible work in this area is the NWT Seniors’ Society. We do currently provide funding to the NWT Seniors’ Society to offer a toll-free line to seniors with a significant amount of information, including who they might be able to call if they are witnessing things like senior or elder abuse. We can certainly have a conversation with them to see if and how that can be expanded. But at the same time, if you see or happen to witness abuse...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was actually recently invited to a meeting of the NWT Network to Prevent Abuse of Older Adults held here in Yellowknife on February 10, 2015, where the NWT Seniors’ Society was providing that workshop. At that time I was again asked about possible legislation, and I have already directed the department to do some research into the duty to report but also other opportunities that may exist that will make it necessary for individuals to report abuse.

I will say that, I mean, all of us as citizens have an obligation, in my mind, to report violence when we see it, whether...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the Member for promoting the importance of safety in our health and social services workplace. I’d also like to take this opportunity to acknowledge just how incredibly important this issue is not only at Stanton but for staff in all of our facilities across the entire Northwest Territories. I totally agree that our workers deserve a safe workplace that is free from the threat of physical assault. At the same time, we need to ensure that our patients and our clients deserve to receive treatment in a caring and supportive...

There isn’t a specific fund for that but there are different types of training that are available to all residents of the Northwest Territories. Things like First Aid, Medical First Aid, and Mental Health First Aid. There are a number of programs that are available. But as far as specific palliative care training, no, there isn’t. But we do have some dollars in our budget that allow staff to put in some overtime to provide some one-on-one support to families and the patient if needed.

Just a reminder, this is palliative care for short periods for certain medical conditions. It certainly can’t...

That will give us the ability to insert it into the capital planning process, which the Member does know takes a bit of time. I do hear the Member clearly around palliative care. We want to make sure, where possible, individuals can be supported for palliative care in the communities. While we’re doing the planning study and we’re getting the information which we can have further discussion on, we are making sure that our staff are trained so that the communities can support palliative care where medically possible in our communities in individual’s homes for short periods of time. In Deline...

The initial work being done by the contractor is going to be done, I believe, at the end of March, at which point we will start putting together the results and how we’re going to move forward. Of course, this is a consensus system, so we will be sharing those results and having further discussion with the Members as the report comes in. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. I went into some detail on this when we were in front of Committee of the Whole, but at this point the working group has actually gone out to a number of communities in the Northwest Territories. What we’re trying to do is get a small community, a large community and a remote community so we can get a variety of different inputs and opinions. We’re also looking at all the data that’s been gathered on medical travel over many, many, many years. So that’s been thrown into the mix. There will be some discussions with different stakeholders and groups in Yellowknife. They’ve also been...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize a couple people in the gallery. I can’t see if two of them are behind me, but I’m hoping they’re there. Ms. Rachel Kirizopoulos, who is the executive assistant/research analyst for the office of the chief public health officer, Dr. Andre Corriveau, who has been working with the anti-poverty file with us, as well as Mr. Grant Gowans, who is the senior advisor of anti-poverty.

I’d also like to take the opportunity to recognize a respected consultant for fundraising, communications and advocacy issues, a member of various committees and boards for a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document, entitled “Sharing, Love and Respect: Report on the Deliberations of the 2014 NWT Anti-Poverty Round Table.” Thank you, Mr. Speaker.