Julie Green

Thank you for that question. I am very interested in that follow-up, as well, and it's my understanding that the department will start surveying people who go out to facility-based treatment and check in with them, whether they stay for the full time or they leave early, and to check in with them more than once when they come back, to find out whether they've been able to retain their sobriety.

The answer is that the service now is not entirely seamless, but if residents normally receive service in an Indigenous language in the health clinic in their community, they will continue to receive those services. New patients, it then falls to interpreters who are available in the health clinic or the health centre to interpret for that individual who is the patient. There is every effort to accommodate people to speak their first language and to receive services that are culturally safe and appropriate. Having said that, the technological end of this about connectivity in every community...

Thank you to the Member for an opportunity to provide that clarification. Stanton Hospital has five southern service providers providing virtual care, and the family physician group has one southern service provider providing virtual care.

I have the opportunity to meet with the CPHO every week, and I will certainly make that point to her, that its urgent that there be an alternative to outdoor funerals so that people can grieve in a more comfortable, controlled environment. Thank you.

Just to be clear about what's happening here, the CPHO provides medical advice, and the Department of Health provides policy about how to implement that medical advice. As you know, people can apply to ProtectNWT or call 811 and ask for some kind of exception to the orders as they are written now, such as no long-term isolation, that they can go to work during the day, or that they can go to a community that is not a hub community, and exceptions of that kind. Those are given to her office, and she makes a choice on an item by item basis by assessing the risk. That's her primary measurement.

Thanks again to the Member for Monfwi. The budget for the on-the-land healing program is $1.8 million. The budget for the southern treatment is $2.3 million, so there is a difference there of $500,000. The on-the-land treatment program was last increased last year in the last main estimates. There is a robust amount of money available there. As I mentioned before, that fund has not been completely spent. On the contrary, only a couple of Indigenous government organizations have applied for it. I really encourage everyone who has connections with on-the-land healing to make applications to this...

Thank you to the Member for Monfwi for that question. The departmental budget for addictions treatment this year is $2.3 million. There has been a decrease in the number of spaces available, which is why the department added two more facilities so that there is appropriate distancing during the pandemic. We know that 45 people have attended in-patient treatment in the first six months of this year. Fifteen of them have completed their program. We're going to be low on numbers this year, there are more typically around 200. The last treatment centre we had open in the NWT was Nats'ejee Keh on...

Thank you very much. I don't have a ready answer to that. I know that it's only recently that this money has been increased to $1.8 million and, given the pandemic, I wonder if there will be a carry-over this year because, at this point, we've only spent about a third of it. I can, however, get you more specific information and provide that in a written response.

Thank you to the Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh for that question. The total budget for on-the-land funding is $1.095 million and the mobile treatment after-care funding, and these are often pooled together, is $729,000, so the total is $1.8 million. Of that, $482,631 has been spent, and the two IGOs with agreements in place are the Dehcho First Nations and the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation. Each IGO is allocated the same amount. The on-the-land funding available to each IGO is $125,000, and the mobile treatment after-care funding is $66,350. I can make a copy of this page, and I can make it...

The department right now is working on adapting the Alberta College of Physicians and Surgeons physician standards, and those standards include a telehealth standard. What the department is doing is adapting those to NWT circumstances, step one. Step two, engage the key stakeholders with the content such as the NWT Medical Association and the Health and Social Services Authority so that they can provide their input into that. Finally, there may be a need for a legislative change in the Medical Profession Act, and if that's the case, we would certainly expedite work on that.