Jackson Lafferty

Masi, Madam Chair. What would be the regional funding allocation? Are we not on that page? I'll ask another question, Madam Chair. As you can see, I'm trying to get to messaging, importance of languages. The Northwest Territories has 11 official languages. Here in the House, we have two interpreters per individual who speaks the language. With the Stanton Hospital, do we have just one interpreter for patients who speaks the language? Let's say, for example, Tlicho. Do we have one interpreter or two or three? I'm just curious because we have so many patients from across walks of life in the...

Masi, Madam Chair. Obviously, whenever we're in session, the federal government is listening to us, looking out for our discussion here. Clearly, this is of importance to the Northwest Territories. We have 11 official languages, and the federal government only recognizes two. We recognize our 11 official languages, and we have to stand firm to say, "These are our own Northwest Territories. We identify nine Aboriginal languages." We need to identify that as part of our budget going forward.

In the previous terms when I was education Minister, I spoke my language to the federal government, and...

Masi, Madam Chair. I'm looking at page 168, the French language services, $970,000, which stands out. As you know, the population of the Northwest Territories, the majority is Aboriginal-language-speaking people. Is that due to the course of a federal contribution towards the French language services? Is that why it's identified on its own? That would be my first question. Masi.

I need the Minister to elaborate more on this on-call system that she's referring to. Is it in place now, or is it coming? It's just a consideration that the hospital is introducing a night shift for medical interpreters at the Stanton Territorial Hospital. Medical interpretation is such a complex system to interpret, so it's very important that we have interpreters available for these patients, Mr. Speaker.

Masi, Mr. Speaker. [Translation] When I made my earlier Member's statement regarding interpreters for the unilingual elders, I would like to ask the Health and Social Services Minister a question. [Translation ends]

…to help the medical staff community with Dene elders after the medical interpreters have gone home for the day after 5:00, especially after visiting hours at 8:00, when family members can no longer be there? Masi, Mr. Speaker.

Masi, Mr. Speaker. [Translation] When we look at the hospital, there's a lot of people in the hospital. We wonder sometime how they are being taken care of. When you're hospitalized with an illness, there's the discomfort of the treatment and worry about the recovery, and the heightened fear of the COVID-19. When you're a unilingual Dene elder in an English-speaking medical world, it's more stressful for the patient. During the daytime, the Stanton Hospital provides interpreters, but once their shift is over, the interpreters are not available. What happens after 5:00 p.m., when there are no...

Masi, Madam Chair. If the department doesn't have that information, I would really appreciate, at any given time, do we have one interpreter or two interpreters for one language at the Stanton Hospital? It will be information if they can provide that, if they don't have it now, at a later time.

Madam Chair, on page 173, if I can ask one more question, that's On-the-Land Healing Fund, $1.825 million. My question to the Minister and to the department: is that funding adequate? Because we're servicing 33 communities, and $1.8 million can only spread so much throughout the Northwest Territories. As...

Along with that second question, this is a follow-up. If the Minister can provide that if she doesn't have it with her, along with that consultation with the RCMP. How many charges have the RCMP laid under the Behchoko prohibition order? Masi.

Masi, Mr. Speaker. The enforcement of Behchoko temporary liquor prohibition, Mr. Speaker, the first question I have is for the Minister of Justice. What measures have the RCMP adopted to meet increased law enforcement challenges of the Behchoko temporary ban on liquor? Masi.

Masi, Mr. Speaker. [Translation] Right now, when they put the restriction on liquor, we were told by the RCMP that they were going to help and do the check stop. When this sort of stuff happened within the community, people were trying to help themselves, and the leaders are doing work for the people and also get help from the RCMP to do the check stop, because we all know that the restriction is there and that the RCMP are not there most of the time. Thank you. [Translation ends].