Glen Abernethy

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the previous Assembly, the Minister responsible for the PUB and Cabinet of the day provided some direction to the PUB to develop some principles when assessing net metering here in the Northwest Territories. Part of that direction included a capacity of 15 kilowatts, as the Member has identified. Those instructions are available online at the PUB's website. In this Assembly, with respect to Mandate 1.4.6, this Assembly agreed that we will support net metering through clear policy direction to the PUB to provide clarity to allow customers to recover their...

The sobering centre's goal is to provide a safe place for non-violent intoxicated individuals to sleep off the effects of the drugs or alcohol. It is also to provide better care to persons with addiction through clinical assessment and intervention to improve health outcomes. It is also to assist clients with system navigation by linking them with appropriate social service agencies. It is also intended to decrease the inappropriate ambulance trips to emergency department for homeless alcohol-dependent individuals, and to decrease the number of inappropriate emergency room visits from homeless...

We want to have a sobering centre that is safe. We want to make sure that the clients in there are safe and aren't at risk at other clients. We also need to make sure the staff are safe. There are some guidelines that do restrict individuals on a short-term basis. Some individuals could be restricted for half a day, one evening. Some, depending on the nature of the incidents that have occurred, might be restricted for a longer period of time.

I do take the Member's point. If a client is under restricted access due to violence or aggressive behaviour, the NWT Disabilities Council works...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would also like to recognize Ernie Bernhardt, who is also a constituent of the Great Slave riding. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document entitled "2017-2018 Annual Report on Implementation of the Mandate of the Government of the Northwest Territories." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As I indicated, any restrictions are sort of a last resort, and they try to work with the clients to resolve issues that may exist. We do know that 317 people have accessed the sobering centre, and that about 33 per cent of those clients use the centre on a regular basis, on a reoccurring basis. To date, there have been 30 people who have had restrictions applied to them. Restrictions, as I have indicated previously, are usually about three hours to a maximum of a week. They can go longer if situations don't improve.

As a note, Mr. Speaker, there have been 73 referrals to Stanton Hospital ER by...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the sobering centre aims to ensure that those experiencing effects of alcohol or drugs have access to a safe place to sleep it off. By safe place, that means safe for both the clients as well as the staff of those facilities. While the staff of the centre are trained in first aid, CPR, non-violent crisis intervention, and trauma informed care, I understand that there are circumstances where good training alone cannot eliminate credible risk of real violence to clients, themselves, as well as staff.

Through the duty as an employer, and consistent with the...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will try. We have already indicated in this House what our intention is of the old, existing Stanton building. We are intending to put extended care in there, long-term care, 72 beds, OT/PT, the Frame Lake clinic, as well as other functional services, like kitchens and those types of things, to support the services that will be provided out of the old building.

One of the reasons that the Extended Care Project is being deferred is that, once upon a time, we were actually looking at going with a standalone building, but as we have continued to do our work, it has become...

It is a little premature for me to say for sure. I anticipate there will be some requirements for some additional resources, but I am not prepared to say how much we think that is at this point.

As I have said when asked this question in other areas, Mr. Speaker, we spend an awful lot of money in the Government of the Northwest Territories and an awful lot of money in Health and Social Services. Before we can ask for more, we need to make sure that we are spending the money right and that we are getting maximum benefit and maximum dollar for every dollar that we spend.

We do invest a lot in...

There are different types of detox. We do have a withdrawal management program. When it comes to a medical detox, we can provide those services today in different hospitals in the Northwest Territories. We provide medical detox in Stanton, and we provide medical detox within the hospital in Hay River.

The four facilities that we are contracted with for southern placement actually have access either on-site to medical and social detox, or they are contracted with another facility in their communities for social and medical detox. All of our facilities have it. We have medical detox here in the...