Glen Abernethy

Mr. Speaker, the Government of the Northwest Territories has made a commitment in its mandate to ensure that effective supports and programs are available for persons with disabilities. In March 2016, our government initiated the Disability Program Review and Renewal Project to identify the status of current services, gaps in services, and opportunities for improvements through the development of a new strategic framework and five-year action plan.

The development of this framework has been the product of a partnership between the Government of the NWT and our disability partners from the...

As I have indicated, I have already provided direction to the department to move forward on this initiative and to engage British Columbia, but this is a negotiation between the Northwest Territories and the Government of British Columbia. I'm cautious about sending out or setting a finite date, because there is a third party here. There's the Government of British Columbia that will have certain expectations and criteria they want. This may not be as big of a priority for them as it is for us, but we'll have a better sense, I think, towards the end of March on what kind of timelines and what...

There are a couple of things. First off, I want to say, as Canadian citizens, all residents of the Northwest Territories can go anywhere they want to receive acute care and primary care services. Residents of Fort Liard can go to Fort Nelson now, and those services will be covered. It's the referrals that I think are the problem. Right now if we make a referral, they're referring to our system, which means often they'll end up in Yellowknife or Edmonton, which is I think the main issue that's being raised.

One of the challenges we have is in gauging the level of interest in Fort Nelson and...

Mr. Speaker, the information on the NIHB, the NonInsured Health Benefits, is online. It is available. I am happy to sit down with the Member and find out exactly what he is looking for as far as content and to figure out how best we can flow that information through MLAs on both sides of this House so that our residents who are interested can certainly apply for support through NIHB. As I indicated, they still have to get prior approval, so we can help figure out that process for residents, as well.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, medical travel doesn't actually cover travel for individuals who wish to attend traditional Dene-type healing in the Northwest Territories, or even outside the Northwest Territories. However, the federal NIHB program may actually cover some of the transportation costs, offer individuals to access traditional healer service, but that must be preauthorized by Health Canada's First Nations and Inuit Health Branch, so they need to apply through NIHB. It is not something that is currently covered through GNWT or Medical Travel.

Privacy rights of our patients is certainly an issue. A number of years ago, we come up with a new health privacy legislation here in the Northwest Territories. Having that legislation actually, I think, will help us in this particular situation because we know what the expectations are, as opposed to when all privacy was under the Access to Information and Privacy. I think we're actually in a better place to have a more informed discussion on this, but it is absolutely a factor. I mean, the rights of all patients to have privacy and their information not ending up where it shouldn't be is...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This issue first came to my attention about three and a half years ago, when I travelled to the communities of Fort Liard and Nahanni Butte with the former MLA for the Nahendeh riding. At that time, I indicated that we would certainly be willing to have a discussion with Fort Nelson and the Government of British Columbia to put in place any protocols that would allow us to refer our residents from Fort Liard to Fort Nelson. At that time, I did say we would wait until we finished our negotiations with the Alberta government that we're currently updating our protocols on...

I look forward to working with the Member to help get some of that information. There are, unfortunately, some limitations. I understand that NIHB will only cover individuals as far as provincial boundaries or borders, which actually, I think, goes to the Member's second question.

In the Northwest Territories we want to support traditional healing and wellness. We want to do things differently, and up until now there really has been nothing done to support traditional health or wellness in the Northwest Territories. We are trying to change that right now. We want to have more options for...

Yes, absolutely. Certainly, and, as a note, we do administer NIHB on behalf of the federal government. We do not make program decisions. We do not make fundinglevel decisions, but we do administer it, and I do know that staff are happy to help individuals fill out applications if they are interested in pursuing these types of opportunities, either in the North or the South.

Yes, Mr. Speaker, we moved to a single medical system here in the Northwest Territories, even though we have individuals located in different communities. We do have physicians who will travel to other communities. Some of our communities, as the Member is aware, do not have permanent physicians, some of our smaller, more rural communities, so doctors will travel to those communities, but not just doctors. We have community health nurses and advanced practice specialists who have additional training. They can do some things like suturing and some level of diagnosis based on formulary and other...