Jane Groenewegen

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Does committee agree?

Thank you. There is a motion on the floor to report progress. The motion is in order. It’s not debatable. All those in favour of the motion? All those opposed? The motion is carried.

---Carried

I will now rise and report progress.

Thank you, Mr. St. Germaine, Mr. Murray, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. One last thing that I have on my list, and I don’t know if I will think of anything else or not, but the last thing I have on my list is, I’d like to ask the Minister to update the House and me on where we are in terms of bringing the Hay River health board employees and operations into the fold, so to speak, so that we’re not a one-off in Hay River in terms of pay and benefits, union, and so on. When this initial discussion started, the request of the workers in Hay River was that they would be on par and have equity with their counterparts who work for every other...

Thank you. I'll call Committee of the Whole to order. We are Bill 18. We're on the Department of Health and Social Services, general comments. There was a number of people who still wanted to speak to general comments from yesterday, so will continue with that after we have a break. Thank you.

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Thank you. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So that is the stated policy of this government? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Maybe it is just the age that I am at and the fact that I am a female, but one type of cancer that seems to be very noticeable and prevalent in the North here is breast cancer. Almost in every kind of cancer, including breast cancer, early diagnosis seems to be the key to being cured and having a good chance of a good outcome and prognosis for survival. Mr. Speaker, where are we with our mobile mammogram program and access for women in the Northwest Territories to detection through mammograms? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, I know there were some obstacles to getting the midwifery program off the ground in Hay River and that is, in my opinion, unfortunate. But I don’t speak for the health board or the physicians or however that decision was arrived at, and I don’t want to second guess their reasons. I’m sure they had their reasons. Right now, under the assistance that is provided to expectant mothers, unless you’re staying in the boarding home, I believe the rate that they can receive for their accommodation and meals and so on here in Yellowknife is $50 a day, which, obviously, isn...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we are a relatively small territory with a small population. As I related in my Member’s statement today, so many of us have had people who have been close to us who have been touched with cancer. One of the questions that I often get as an MLA is whether or not the rates of cancer are actually higher in the Northwest Territories than they are in the rest of this country. My understanding has been that they are not. Perhaps it is just that the closeness with which our small community here operates that we just tend to hear about it more often.

For the...