Julie Green

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to share the progress we have made in strengthening our mental health support services. Our focus is on the pressing issue of suicide prevention as well as our ongoing efforts to enhance the mental wellness and addictions recovery system.

Each suicide and suicide attempt has a profound impact on friends, families, and communities. The distressing surge in suicide rates during 2022 has underscored the urgent need for a renewed approach. In June, I had the privilege of travelling to Iqaluit with key staff from of the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thanks to the Member for that question. No one who turns up at the emergency department in Yellowknife is denied treatment, and people from anywhere in the Northwest Territories are welcomed to make appointments in Yellowknife when they think they're going to be here. So I'm not really clear what the barriers are that the Member is talking about. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to tell the Member that the way medical travel works is that the patient needs to see a care provider in the Northwest Territories who refers them for services in the south that are not available here. And then in that case, medical travel pays for the travel, the hotel, the ground transportation, and so on. If people go and book travel on their own to see their own practitioners, the expense is theirs. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following two documents: Child, Youth and Family Services Strategic Direction and Action Plan 20232028; and NWT Department of Health and Social Services 20222023 Annual Report. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the Government of the Northwest Territories remains committed to transforming the child and family services system to better serve children, families, and communities. Our primary concern is addressing the overrepresentation of Indigenous children and youth within the child and family services system. We have made progress on this issue through quality improvement plans starting in 2019, but there is still more to do to ensure the child and family services system is culturally safe, that it supports children and youth in a meaningful way, and helps more families stay together.

Late...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, that Bill 77, Nursing Profession Act, be read for a third time and, Mr. Speaker, I request a recorded vote. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can't make that commitment for the time that I have left in my term. But I will say that there have been some favourable changes since this issue was last discussed. So the projected cost of bringing Hay River Health and social services into the public service when it was last calculated in 2015 was $20 million and that was based on the functional costs of amalgamation but also on the pension liability. My understanding is that the pension is now in a much more positive position. So it's likely that that number has gone down. But as I said, I think the...

Yes, thank you. Just to reiterate what I said earlier. Functionally, there is already amalgamation in service delivery. But, specifically, the work that needs to be done involves the public service. So there would need to be some work done with regulators, pension providers, and the Hay River Health and Social Services Authority to complete a detailed cost analysis of the cost of bringing that health authority in. There would need to be negotiations with the Union of Northern Workers because they hold the collective agreement with the health authority staff. And then there would probably need...

Welcome, and Ms. Terry Hawkins, the chair of the advocacy committee and a board Member for the Yellowknife Seniors' Society. And my constituent, a very avid advocate for seniors, Margaret Marshall. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following two documents: Government of the Northwest Territories NWT Seniors Strategic Framework; and, 202324 Health and Social Services Authority Budgets. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.