Julie Green

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today in the Great Hall, volunteers with St. John Ambulance in Yellowknife were recognized for their volunteer contributions with first aid training and the therapy dog program. In the gallery today, we have Phillip Clarke from Nova Scotia, the past chancellor of St. John Ambulance Canada; Brent Fowler, the CEO of St. John Ambulance NWT and Nunavut; and Teresa Toutant, the Director of Community Services for St. John Ambulance NWT and Nunavut. I would like to welcome them all to the House. Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to offer my thanks to the Minister of Health and Social Services and his staff for completing the long-awaited mental health and addictions action plan. The plan's strengths include flexibility for clients seeking services and an ambitious timeline for implementation.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud of the work I did with my colleagues on the Standing Committee on Social Development to report on the treatment centres we toured 18 months ago and to make recommendations for this action plan. For example, we recommended that the department provide more information about...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Great Slave, that, notwithstanding Rule 4, when this House adjourns on June 6, 2019, it shall be adjourned until Monday, August 12, 2019;

AND FURTHER, that any time prior to August 12, 2019, if the Speaker is satisfied, after consultation with the Executive Council and Members of the Legislative Assembly, that the public interest requires that the House should meet at an earlier time during the adjournment, the Speaker may give notice and thereupon the House shall meet at the time stated in such notice and shall transact its...

I appreciate that response from the Minister. My information is that, while a number of families have entered into leases with their landlords in a market setting, there are 14 families who can't get leases because of their income or arrears. My question is: are the solutions to this problem going to kick in in time to help these 14 families?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I note that the Minister's plan is going to measure a suite of outputs such as wait times, staff training, and hospitalizations, but I do not see anything on the measure of outcomes, such as how many people completed treatment, accessed aftercare, or maintained their sobriety over a period of time. Can the Minister assure me that outcomes will be measured, as well?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I appreciate the recognition from the Minister in his answer to my question, so this is an area that will be revisited. My next question is about housing. Having a place to live after leaving treatment is a basic need, as the report acknowledges, but the report has no specific actions about how to address this need. Can the Minister confirm that this issue needs to be a priority not just for study but for action and say how he intends to work with his colleague, the housing Minister, to address this need?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for recognizing me a second time. I neglected to introduce Mark Heyck, former mayor of Yellowknife Centre, and Ms. Amy Lee. They are residents of Yellowknife Centre, and they are here to support their sons, Alex and Sam Heyck, who have been Pages in this House. Thank you.

Thank you. I will begin the quote again. "Pursue basic solutions for basic needs such as safe housing for individuals returning from addictions treatment programs." Mr. Speaker, this is just not good enough.

That leaves how many of the 181 people who completed treatment last year without safe housing? My answer is, even if it's one, that's too many. I will have questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise to congratulate a resident of Yellowknife Centre, Gayle Strikes With A Gun, for her induction into the Education Hall of Fame, and to introduce her son Darrell and her father Mark, who have joined her here today. I would also like to introduce two Pages from Yellowknife Centre who are working for us this week, Sam and Alex Heyck, and I'd like to thank them and all the Pages for their service. Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to acknowledge the induction of a Yellowknife Centre constituent into the NWT Education Hall of Fame. Gayle Strikes With A Gun's remarkable career has taken her from Fort Good Hope as a teacher, to Norman Wells as Sahtu District Education Superintendent, the Beaufort Delta as Assistant Superintendent, and on to the position that she now holds as Indigenous Language and Culture Coordinator. Throughout, she has charted a path of inclusion and student motivation across the realms of culture, academics, and physical education, in the classroom and through afterschool...