Julie Green

Yes, thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, what we've been what we did was create the health system sustainability office and the plan that goes with it, and their task is to find ways in which we can contain or reduce costs for the services that we provide to the population. And that has produced some initial results. We are not looking at how we can pay this deficit back. That is not part of this budget, and it's hard to imagine when it will be. What we're trying to do is to ensure that the deficit slows in its growth so that the overall deficit doesn't get any worse. Thank you.

Yes, thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, there are three health and social services authorities in the NWT. There is the NT Health and Social Services authority, the Hay River Health and Social Services Authority, and the Tlicho Community Services Agency. Each of those entities has its own administration, its own budgeting function, its own finance. And so I believe that the Regional Wellness Council, which exists in each of the regions, would have information specific to the region that they could obtain through their local their local management. But this is not something that is in this...

Thank you, Madam Chair. And thank you for the question. The territorial health investment fund has not yet been renewed for the 20232024 fiscal year. So it's not included in this budget. But in the previous fiscal year, we allocated $5 million of that fund towards the cost of travel, medical travel.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is a real health success story. The NWT Family Medical Residency Program was launched in connection with the University of Alberta in July of 2020 as a way to train and retain potential candidates for family doctor positions within the NWT. So the first two residents started the program in 2020. Then two more were added in 2021 for a total of four. In 2022, two more were added and two graduated. And this year two more will be added, and two will graduate. So it's a twoyear program with two residents in each year.

So I also want to say that this same...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I don't have a breakdown in front of me, but I can say that there are about 1200 children in the Northwest Territories receiving some kind of service from social services. Thank you.

Yes, we do cover those costs.

Yes, thank you. I think it really depends on what the person needs. So some people need a personal support worker maybe to help them go shopping, sweep their floor, and do that kind of thing. And other people need nursing care. So they need dressings changed and medication dispensed and so on. So I think it depends on what the needs of the client are. And we have had the paid family caregiver program running for a couple of years, and it I think it's running again next year. And it's running in Tuktoyaktuk. So that would give you an idea of what kind of services are available in that...

We provide the financial management board with semiannual reports about the work of the sustainability office, and we are available to come and brief committee confidentially on that work on request.

Yes, thank you. This budget is the budget for the Department of Health and Social Services. It's not the budget for NTHSSA. They develop their own budget and report it in their annual report. So we don't have line items in here that are specific to a region such as Fort Smith. Thank you.

Yes, thank you. The money is offered to the GNWT as the public health provider. That is to say the public supplier of health care in the Northwest Territories. There has been some discussion about a health equity fund for Indigenous people, but the parameters of that have not been set. And I'm not sure if they would apply to the case that the Member is asking about. Thank you.