Julie Green

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think that when the human resources people go to the career fairs, they talk about the NWT as a whole, and then people when they apply can potentially be directed if they don't have a particular preference about where to live to areas of greatest need. As I said, I know that there are relationships that develop between locums, and they continue returning to the same communities over and over again. That is certainly the best outcome. But there isn't a specific Hay River doctor recruitment campaign. It is done for the NWT as a whole. And, of course, the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think I missed a word in the Member's question, but I think she wants to know what's going to happen after the evaluation of the program is finished.

We can't know that at this point. We need to collect more information from the people who use the program, teachers, parents, students, community members, and we need to hear what the strengths are in the program, what the issues are, and what ideas, hopefully, they have to address those issues. So once that work is complete, we'll have a better idea of the future of it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the CYCCs are available to talk about a broad range of issues that youth encounter, whether that is drug use and abuse, family violence, negative social interactions, and so on. They are there to support the students and talk to them about the issues that are of concern to them, and that would include drug use. So we have various media campaigns that dissuade or attempt to dissuade people from using drugs, and those would be available to the people in the Tlicho region as they are every other part of the NWT. Thank you.

Yes, thank you. Mr. Speaker, I don't have a firm idea of what the deficit will be. I know that we're paying more for travel; we're paying more for freight; we're paying more for drugs; we're paying more for staff, especially because we have so much temporary staff and they are expensive to acquire and work here. So I am very concerned about all those things that are driving costs up. And on the other side, there is uncertainty about the revenue that we're going to get from Canada through the CHT and the tailored bilaterals, whether they're going to renew the Territorial Health Investment Fund...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yesterday during the mains examination of the department, I committed to a confidential briefing to the committee on accountability and oversight of the NTHSSA finances, what savings have been realized, what pressures are driving costs up, and so I'm going to repeat that here again today. At a very high level, it can be included in the annual report. But my caution about that is that the annual report won't be out until the fall, and it won't cover anything that happens after the end of this month. So the timeliness of that document is not great. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this evaluation is not at that point and this is not the forum for HR. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the CYCC program was developed with feedback from a wide variety of people, including students, parents, health authorities, and others. And so we're going back to that group and asking them what they think the strengths and weaknesses of this program is, and particularly the extent to which it is achieving its goal of improving access to mental wellness supports for youth. So the evaluation there was a portion of it that began last year with staff who were leaving in the last school year and continuing on now with the public engagement period. And rather...

Mr. Speaker, March is National Social Work Month, and I am taking this opportunity to recognize the valuable contributions made by social workers in improving the health and wellbeing of individuals, families, and communities in the Northwest Territories.

This year's theme is Social Work Breaks Barriers. It is important to acknowledge that social work helps break down the barriers that prevent people and communities from thriving. This theme showcases how social workers support the empowerment of individuals, families, and communities to overcome difficulties that may prevent them from reaching...

Okay, first of all, this program is being evaluated because it was first introduced in 2018 and the rollout finished last year so it's time now to revisit its strengths and areas that require improvement. That's the reason that it's being evaluated.

What we committed to doing was changing things leading into the next school year as we found issues and ways to address them. So, for example, there's long been discussion about the threshold of education for the CYCCs being too high and excluding people who may have good cultural connections but not the same level of education required. So a second...

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned, the CYCC program has a steering committee that includes all of the health authorities, including the Tlicho Community Services Agency. So I certainly think that there would be a possibility for the Tlicho Community Services Agency to raise issues in that forum. There's also a board of the TCSA who could be involved in this area of advocating for services for its students. So I think there are a number of ways.

There are big ways too, like the bilaterals, which I attend and answer questions directly to the Tlicho government. There's the...