Glen Abernethy

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we are committed to getting the 48 beds in Hay River. We have to get the staff out of the old H.H. Williams. I have been pushing the Department of Infrastructure to find a way to get them out of there as quickly as possible, so that the next step can include the teardown of the old H.H. Williams, so that we can begin the process of breaking ground on the long-term care facility in Hay River.

We have also been having conversations with potential partners who have expressed an interest in owning and operating and being a partner in the delivery of a long-term care...

In addition to the work we did rolling out Building Stronger Families, we did make significant legislative changes to allow this new delivery of child and family services to become a reality. Building Stronger Families moves us from an apprehension-based system, which has traditionally been the system provided in the Northwest Territories and across Canada, to a system that the people of the Northwest Territories told us they wanted. They wanted a prevention-based system that focused on families while at the same time protecting children.

We made a number of legislative challenges. One of them...

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, a structural assessment was completed in May of 2018 by a structural engineer, at which time the building did not exhibit any major structural concerns. We were given the go-ahead to move back into the building. The building was declared safe to occupy.

We have had some individuals look at that building. It is in the 20-year needs assessment for replacement, but it doesn't appear in the short-term. I don't know the exact dates where it appears, but it's certainly not in the life of this government.

As another note, we had an opportunity to talk to...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we are going to be moving forward with 258 long-term care beds here, in the Northwest Territories, over the next. I think it's the next four or five years which are going to create a significant demand for employees. It's going to be hundreds and hundreds of jobs here, in the Northwest Territories, 60 in Hay River, 60 in Inuvik, probably more here, in Yellowknife, and then more again in Simpson. All of these people are going to be trained. Some of them are going to be RNs; some of them will be resident-care aides; some of them may be admin staff, these types of...

That question has been asked and debated many times in this House. What we have learned over the years is that in order to provide holistic care, we need to make sure that our social services side is working closely and cooperatively with the health and social services side. Moving to a single authority and moving forward with our Cultural Competency Action Plan has given us the opportunity to move in a more client-focused delivery model here in the Northwest Territories, which brings social services staff as well as health practitioners together to do holistic healing.

If we start breaking...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. It is done by a team of multiple departments. I have already indicated to the Member that I have told the department to do some updates. They have indicated that they need to make sure that the information is all right so that it can be put in there in a way that is logical. They have indicated that work is being done. Hopefully, we will see it on the website shortly.

Mr. Chair, you may be the best judge of that, but I was under the impression that we were on administrative and support services, not community health programs. Your observation will be appreciated here.

Mr. Speaker, I have actually been having conversations with some of our front-line staff to try to get a determination as to some of the frustrations they feel. Part of the frustration they feel is that, with the implementation of Building Stronger Families, they were asked to do an awful lot, both provide their duties and services they did prior to implementation but also learn and test an entire new system. It has made them a little thin. They have said they want more training. They have said they want better contact and involvement in making decisions. They want to be able to know that...

That is correct.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the project is on target. The building will be handed over to us on November 30th, at which point we will be stepping up to get occupation of that building. The go-live date, the first patient day, is May 26th of 2019.