Glen Abernethy

No.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there are lots of things that are happening in the Health and Social Services system with a focus on improving the delivery to all residents. Moving a single authority has given us many opportunities, and the construction of the new Stanton building will certainly help us provide efficient services in that building.

More importantly, for residents outside of Yellowknife, residents of the Member's riding, I think that one of the most important things that we are doing right now is the Cultural Safety Action Plan, which is going to help ensure that our...

All of the programs and services, counselling and treatment services, that we provide are based on a referral. They would need a referral for us to provide them with financial supports and coverage.

Many insurance providers don't need our same-level referral. They can always approach their own insurance provider if they have it, recognizing that not everybody has it, but typically, no, if someone seeks treatment outside of our system, we wouldn't cover their costs.

I am hoping to get some concrete direction on the 21st from our partners working together in a collaborative way. If that does not happen, I am prepared to bring it in-house.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in follow-up to those meetings, staff from the department did reach out to a number of stakeholders in Yellowknife. There was a meeting. They had an opportunity to share what different organizations are doing within the community. I had an opportunity to speak, myself, to the mayor and talk about the concept of supporting Yellowknife to become a seniors-friendly community. I think there is a lot of room that we can do there.

There is another meeting scheduled for February 21st to see where we can go based on what we have heard and what we have been able to...

In many ways, I have already done that myself, but I hear the Member. I have visited many long-term care facilities. I have talked to many residents. I have heard many of the same things that the Member has already articulated, which is why we are doing much of the work we are doing.

Yes, staff will be going to facilities, will be learning from the residents, will be talking to the residents, but there are a number of things that we are already doing. I mean, we are implementing interRAI. I won't go into the details on that, because I know the Member knows how important it is to do assessments...

I don't think this is a surprise to the Member. We had money to go out for an RFP to deliver this service. We still have those dollars available for us. We will use those dollars to deliver a program in-house. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

When we went with the Yellowknife MLAs, we explored a number of options, and we pretty much, I think, came to the conclusion that going out for an RFP was off the table, but it was suggested that we reach out to a number of different groups and figure out if there is an opportunity to partner together, building on the strengths that exist in a number of the NGOs, the municipality, and the government so that we could partner on a solution.

InterRAI will be rolling out in quarter four of 2019-2020. The accreditation is currently taking place in a number of facilities. I can't tell you exactly when that will be done. It really depends on how it rolls out. For the regulatory framework, we are going to need to do an LP and a number of other things. Some of that, we might not see the results in the life of this government, but the work will be beginning in the life of this government.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to, obviously, thank the Member for his statement earlier today. I would like to confirm, first off, that I personally feel that our minds, the minds of everybody in this Assembly, the minds of the staff who are working on this incredibly important file, have been turned to the exact issues that the Member has identified.

When it comes to the particular action plan that the Member has referenced, there are other action plans as well that we are working on. We are moving forward with the long-term care review that actually clearly articulates some of the work...