Glen Abernethy

I think the Member and all Members remember, when we brought forward the audit of the 2015-2016 files, the audit, too, was broke. We ended up having a real problem making some determinations. From that audit, we knew there was something that wasn’t exactly right, but we didn’t understand the magnitude. I directed the department to fix the problem so that we could do a comprehensive audit so we could understand where we were. That audit was completed in May 2017, at which point the department expressed to me and demonstrated the challenges we were facing.

At that time, I immediately directed...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the Member is correct. When he and I had an opportunity to attend the opening of the Fort Resolution Health and Social Services Centre there, we did talk about that building and how incredible it was, and we both talked about the fact that the building in Lutselk'e was intended to be, not a replacement, but a renovation.

I am not as big a fan of the renovations that we have done over the years, and I think Lutselk'e deserves a facility that is state of the art, so I agreed with the Member. I also got a letter from the community saying that they wanted to see a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Health and Social Services portfolio is a significantly large portfolio, and there are many different competing priorities and demands. The Member is assuming that I haven’t made child and family services a priority. This is an area that has been important to me since before I was an MLA.

When I became the Minister of Health and Social Services, I was deeply disturbed to find out that no progress, zero, had been made on the implementation of the recommendations put forward by the standing committee. I made it a priority to move on all of those...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I know the Member is aware of our capital process and how we dispose of assets. When those facilities are empty, they will have to be obviously reviewed, checked, assessed to see if there's any life in those buildings. If there is, then obviously Health and Social Services would have an opportunity to say, "Do we have any use for it, or do we not have any use for it?" At this time for our program areas, we don't have the use for that facility that we have seen. However, that may change. We are always trying to maximize opportunity here.

When it comes to seniors'...

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we did discuss it in the department after the Member had raised it a number of months ago. Basically, that building is fully subscribed with long-term care, extended care, the family clinic, other clinics, OT/PT, so there's not a lot of space in there for things like classrooms and other things to run a school. The school and the education programs are ultimately something that is under the responsibility of Education, Culture and Employment, and the nursing program here in the Northwest Territories is an absolutely amazing program.

We are happy to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on page 13 of the directors' report that I tabled late last week, there is a chart that shows a number of individuals who are receiving services in any given year. For instance, in the 2017-2018 year, there are 815 unique individuals who are receiving support. If you look at that chart, it will also show that there are multiple years. Many of those kids are in the system for many years. It is not like you are in one year and you are out the next. It is sometimes the case but not always. I do not have the total number of kids that received services over the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Government of the Northwest Territories made a commitment in its mandate to ensure the effective supports and programs were available for persons with disabilities. Our government believes that every person living with a disability has the full right to citizenship and opportunity which is why we have been working with our partners and stakeholders to advance plans that will effectively guide our efforts to support this goal.

In March 2016, our government initiated the Disability Program Review and Renewal Project to look at the status of current...

In 2017-2018, the department allocated about $970,000 which came from the federal government under the Health Services Integration Fund. This included about $476,000 in carry-over funding from the previous year to help us actually develop these programs, test these programs, reach out to other people throughout the Northwest Territories to make sure we are getting a proper cultural component, to make sure that it's relevant to the people in the Northwest Territories, recognizing that it may be slightly different in Fort Smith than it might be in Paulatuk.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it's completely inappropriate for any Member in this House to be talking about an individual.

I can say that there was a review done of a situation a number of years ago that resulted in some suggestions and recommendations on how to move forward to address systemic racism that exists here, in the Northwest Territories. The Member should be aware because I am pretty sure he was in the House when we tabled, in November 2016, Building a Culturally Respectful Health and Social Services System, which is our commitment to building a Health and Social Services...

Unfortunately, this is one of the areas where the auditor said that we aren't doing as good as we need to do, and we aren't having as much follow-up with our residents. That includes both the families as well as the children as we need to. We are stepping that up. We are making sure, moving forward, that there is regular contact. Part of our requirement is to help people understand their rights under the legislation, but also the services that are available to them.

We are trying to move away from the apprehension system more to a prevention system, so we are also working with families on a...