Glen Abernethy

There is no territorial law or regulation prohibiting the practice of cremation in the Northwest Territories. The department and I did commit to developing regulations under the Public Health Act in 2019, and these will provide essentially greater support and certainty to providers who may wish to offer cremation services in the territories. Having said that, Mr. Speaker, the department is responsible for regulation of cremation that is limited to public health matters, such as handling the body and disposing of human waste materials. Other aspects of cremation actually fall under the mandates...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Member indicated, we did release a discussion document on May 1st with an opportunity for feedback until the end of May. We did receive two submissions, and, based on that information, we have issued some drafting instructions for the regulations. In broad terms, and, I mean, I could spend a significant amount of time going into the detail, but I am not going to, but, in broad terms at this point, based on the feedback that we received, we feel that the regulations are going to be quite consistent with that key elements document that was released previously. I...

Eighteen, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are aware of the concerns and the challenges facing the Hay River Health and Social Services authority. I agree with the Member that some systemic change is required in that authority. To that end, I know that the chief operating officer and the public administrator are looking at bringing about some change in that organization.

I have asked the deputy minister of Health and Social Services and the chair of the territorial Health and Social Services authority to go down and meet with them to talk about opportunities that we have to make some improvements in that...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. On my left is Heather Ruptash, who is the senior policy analyst at the Department of Health and Social Services, and on my right, Laura Jeffrey, legislative counsel, Department of Justice. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Since we put the sobering centre day shelter in its current location, we have had a lot of concerns raised. We have been working to improve those services to make sure that we have appropriate outreach. It is continuing to evolve. One of the things that we have done recently with our current provider is to put in place a day and sobering centre safety patrol.

These are individuals who walk around a set path around the neighbourhood. They wear identifiable clothing. They are trained in dealing with individuals in crisis, providing them with the information where they can get different supports...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am pleased to introduce Bill 41, the Tobacco and Vapour Products Control Act. As with Bill 40, the development of Bill 41 has been a result of significant time and effort by the Department of Health and Social Services and would not have been possible without the input and contribution from the Standing Committee on Social Development, as well as many members of the public. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Members of the Standing Committee on Social Development for the time that they have taken to ensure that this bill received a comprehensive review...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Unfortunately, the good neighbour agreement was not done by the end of June. We are still committed to getting this work done. We have hired a contractor to help us facilitate the process. It does take all the stakeholders. It does take the GNWT, the RCMP, the contract provider, as well as the neighbours to make this a reality. We did share a draft good neighbour agreement with the partners on the 24th, and we are hoping to reconvene here in August to work out the details and finalize that good neighbour agreement. We can propose. We can work with our neighbours. We can...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We just need to finalize a number of regulations, but as I said, we are hoping to have that done at the beginning of the next Assembly, after the election.

The employee is scheduled for a full day, but in the community itself, a portion of that time is spent driving to and from the community, as the Member has already indicated. I can get the exact numbers from the department on how many hours per day the RN was able to spend in the community during those periods of time. The nurse does work a full day; only a portion of those hours are actually spent in the community, as the Member previously indicated in his statement.