Glen Abernethy

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we are committed to trying to fill all of our physician positions with local practitioners rather than locum practitioners. We run about a 23.6 per cent vacancy, and we continue to recruit pretty much all the time. That is both for the GPs and for the specialists.

We do recognize that it is a challenge. We are trying to do a few things differently that will hopefully help us improve some of our numbers. One of the things we have done is we have recently talked to the University of Alberta about running a medical residency program here in the Northwest...

That is actually one exact model that has been discussed previously, and we have explored it. We do have some of our physicians who can go out and provide time in other locations. There has been talk about expanding the pool in Yellowknife so that we can do that coverage rather than rely on locums. We still have trouble recruiting physicians, so we continue to try to figure out how to move that, roll that forward. In the meantime, we continue to provide that distance care.

One of the things that many of the doctors have approached us on, as well as practitioners throughout the system, and we...

Mr. Speaker, we have most of the positions filled in Yellowknife. We do still need some locums to cover time off, sick time, annual time, those types of things, and people do come and go, so there is turnover in Yellowknife, as well. Beaufort Delta and Inuvik, right now we are pretty fully staffed. I believe there are five physicians out of five up there on a permanent basis, but, you know, any one of them could leave at any time, so we must continue to recruit, even when positions are filled, just to keep the awareness up.

When it comes to Norman Wells, Forts Smith and Simpson, we have...

Some of that depends on the types of proposals that we get in. We would obviously like to see something that lasts beyond the upcoming fiscal year, but it really depends on the nature of the proposals that are submitted. I would like to see some consistency and some continuity on this particular approach, but we have not seen proposals that have come in at this point. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As I indicated, the RFP is almost done. As far as the drafting, we are hoping that that RFP will come out in the next couple of weeks. It will follow its normal process to make sure that we are getting solid applications. They will all be assessed and evaluated against the criteria that is established in the RFP.

I am hoping that we can get this contract out as quickly as possible, hopefully before the end of this fiscal year. Granted that we really only have about a month and a half before that time ends; I cannot guarantee it will happen before the end of the fiscal year, but that is my...

These youth community counsellors will be fully trained counsellors here in the Northwest Territories. They will be part of an integrated team. They will certainly have access to all of the programs and services that are available for youth. They will be able to provide supports to our youth, but also referrals, as well. It is a holistic approach to providing those services. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mobile treatment is one of the options that we have pursued and continue to pursue here in the Northwest Territories. It hasn't made the type of progress that I or any of my colleagues would like to see. We did run a pilot in Fort Resolution a year and a half ago. We haven't delivered as a government since that time, but we are continuing to monitor it and look at options to deliver.

I can say that we should really applaud some of our partners like Salt River First Nation and Chief Martselos, who actually stood up and met with southern partners and provided a local mobile treatment option in...

I will commit to sharing a copy of the RFP with the Member once it is released.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Following up on conversations with the Member and committee, we have agreed to move forward with the development of a seniors' day program here in Yellowknife.

The RFP was supposed to be out shortly before Christmas. Unfortunately, we ran into some difficulties with some of the content. We want to make sure we get it right. It is my understanding that the department has almost finalized that work, and we are hoping that the RFP goes out very shortly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

This government makes $1.2 million available through the Department of Health and Social Services to support on-the-land programming that is led by different Aboriginal governments across the Northwest Territories. That money flows every year. I can say that there are a number of on-the-land programs that are available. They are all different. Every one of the Indigenous governments has indicated their own way of doing things. They have some specific things they are trying to accomplish at the regional level.

We have said we would make our clinical staff available to them. Some of them have...