Glen Abernethy

Thank you. The Healthy Family Program will be moving to Tuk in ’15-16. It was based on a supp that occurred in ’14-15. The planning is occurring now, but there will be a Healthy Family Program in Tuk in ’15-16. I’d just like to add, that’s in partnership with the IRC. As I say often, a lot of these programs really benefit from partnering with community governments, Aboriginal governments as well as other people throughout the Northwest Territories. Partnerships really make these programs better and this particular one in Tuk is being done in partnership with the IRC.

I’ll state what I’ve already said. There is a continuum of care services and opportunities for individuals who are suffering from either mental health or addictions issues from community-based counselling to residential treatment facilities. We’re still pursuing the on-the-land programming. There’s the Matrix program, which is actually an outpatient, community-based treatment program. There’s a number of these programs and they’re available throughout the Northwest Territories. Unfortunately, Matrix isn’t available in every community, but we’d obviously like to find ways to expand that out...

We appreciate the City of Yellowknife. They’re a fantastic partner on the delivery of the Day Shelter here in Yellowknife and we look forward to a continued positive relationship with them. The city is contributing some money, as are we, but at this time there are some significant infrastructure improvements that need to be made in that building so that it can meet the long-term needs, and taking that money away from the infrastructure and putting it to programs will actually adversely affect our ability to deliver those programs in the future. We need to get that construction done.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I do want to just articulate quickly that Yellowknife is not the only place where this diabetes program has been going on. Hay River, Fort Smith and Inuvik offer a targeted diabetes education and care program through their authorities by teams of educators that include nurses, nurse practitioners, dietitians and physicians. The Tlicho Community Services Agency, in partnership with the Tlicho Government, is training local diabetes educators to work with their nurse practitioner who will work directly with people diagnosed with diabetes to learn how to manage their disease.

Fun...

I don’t know how I can say it over and over again. This is something we do take incredibly seriously, and this is something that we want to get done, and this is something that we’re working on. The amendment the Member is talking about is not a small amendment. It isn’t an easy fix. It would take significant work just to amend the old, outdated, archaic act that we have to address this one issue, and because the act is so outdated, fixing one little clause is not going to give us the tools we truly need. Rewriting the act, the new act is going to give us the tools we need, and we are moving...

Thank you, Madam Chair. The individual deficits will become the Territorial Health Authority deficit. It will be one deficit. The Members have asked a number of questions about cost savings and there will be, in certain program areas, an opportunity to save money, which we’ll be able to roll back into the system and we’ll be able to use that to start paying off some of the deficit. We figure it’s about a five-year transition period. We should be able to start knocking that deficit really down.

On top of that, we’ll also be able to really dig into where all the key indicators or the key drivers...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I don’t have that at my fingertips, but I will commit to getting that to the Member and committee. Oh, wait! Yes, we do. For ‘14-15, $100,000; ‘15-16, proposing another $100,000.

We’ve talked a lot about mental health and addictions services here in the Northwest Territories and we do provide a continuum of care. There are a number of programs and services that are available to all of our residents whether they’re homeless or they’re not homeless. We’re always looking for ways to expand and enhance our programs so that it’s more effective. It’s forums like this where we’re hearing from the Members and we’re getting good ideas, so we appreciate that. But those programs and services are available to all residents whether they have a house or not.

Just for clarity, I can...

The Day Shelter has only been open for a couple months at this point and there are number of things happening there, including some significant renovations in the building. We have talked to the provider who has indicated that they’re hoping to provide some additional programs and services as well as links to the programs and services that exist. There is space in that building for health practitioners to go to the building and meet with people, as well as Housing staff to go and meet with people, as well as individuals from Justice or income support to go and meet with the people who are...

Mr. Chair, for the specific detail on the action items and what’s happening, when we hope to have some of them available, I will go to the deputy minister for that detail.