Yes, Mr. Speaker.

I don’t have a timeline, but we do plan on doing this review in the 2014-15 fiscal year. We will get to the Member before the end of that fiscal year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I’ve said previously in the House, I have directed the department to do a review of the ISDM to see what make-up of professionals would be appropriate in the smaller communities. I have committed to doing that. I note the department has had some discussions with the Beaufort-Delta, specifically around Tsiigehtchic and the options that have been presented by the Member, but we have not hired an LPN for Tsiigehtchic. We need to finish the other work before we figure out what would be the appropriate course of action. I’d be happy to work with the Member, happy to work...

It has been in effect for a couple months. I’ve been the Minister of Health and Social Services for four months now and it was one of the things that I looked at when I came into the department, because health human resource recruitment is one of the areas that’s obviously important. I’d like to have a strong workforce here in the Northwest Territories.

However, I will check the letter I sent to committee to confirm the date that we did actually suspend these programs temporarily. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are committed to developing a good, solid, quality workforce here in the Northwest Territories of health professionals and allied health professionals, but the bottom line is when I became the Minister of Health and Social Services, I did have an opportunity to meet with the division which had recently moved over to HR. There were a number of questions about the effectiveness of our program, and continuing to spend dollars for no effect did not seem like a prudent course of action, so I actually directed the department to begin the development of a comprehensive...

Thank you. We are committed to working with residents on this particular issue and we’re committed to doing a number of things, including some prevention and direct supports to our residents. We have run a number of pilots in different communities on diabetes programming, but I hear the Member, it’s an interesting idea. I would love to sit down with the Member and committee and get a little bit more input on specifically what they’re making reference to and I would be happy to have some additional discussion on that. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, diabetes is, from my understanding, on the rise across Canada. We are not unique. Our rates increase by about 200 people a year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The review, analysis and direction will be completed within the 17th Assembly. It might take a bit of time, but I will continue to work with the Member and committee. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. With me today are Ian Rennie, legislative counsel with the Department of Justice, and Natasha Brotherston, the manager of policy and legislation with the Department of Health and Social Services.

I am pleased to be here today to discuss Bill 4, Health Information Act. This bill is detailed and complex. It deals with highly sensitive content – the personal health information of patients – and is fundamental to enabling the health system to provide better care to residents of the Northwest Territories.

The Information and Privacy Commissioner has repeatedly called on this government to move forward with health-specific privacy legislation. The Information and Privacy Commissioner has supported the Health Information Act as a way to ensure that patients’ information is properly protected...