Julie Green

Yes, thank you. We did a comprehensive addictions survey about a year and a half ago, and that collected a lot of valuable feedback about what people experienced in treatment and what they wanted for aftercare. One of the requests there was to have treatment closer to home, and that's something that we are having conversations with the Indigenous governments about. I want to note that when it was time to set the priorities for this Legislative Assembly, nobody asked for a treatment centre. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, with us today we have Avery Parle, who is the vicepresident of the Northern Territories Federation of Labour, and my old friend David Wasylciw, who doesn't live in my riding. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I wish to table the following four documents: Tlicho Community Services Agency Health and Social Services Agency Annual Report 20212022; the 20222023 Health and Social Services Authority Budgets; Hay River Health and Social Services Authority Annual Report 20212022; and, the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority 20212022 Annual Report. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Yes, thank you. So this is a threetier process. We are currently in tier one, which looks at internal controls and cost containment initiatives. Some of the things that we've done relate to the supplementary health benefits that I mentioned yesterday, so that's offering generics instead of biologic drugs, changing the dispensing fee regimen so that meds are dispensed 100 days at a time rather than every 30 days. And those are some specific examples of things that we're trying to do to contain costs. But at the end of the day, we are underfunded and the demand for additional services is...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I welcome the opportunity to answer this question.

In this House this week, I've been asked for nursing student bursaries, fertility treatments, suicide prevention money. I've also been asked for HIV PREP, which is a preventative medication, and free contraception. That's the problem, Madam Speaker. The expectations of the health system are not commensurate with the amount of money that is provided to it.

What I want to say about the deficit is that it is top of mind for NTHSSA and for me as the Minister. We created the NWT health and social services...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, the department has developed an RFP that will go out before the end of the year asking Indigenousfocused treatment centres to submit proposals for serving NWT residents. And our hope is that that contract will be in place for the new fiscal year, April 1st. And if the Member has any particular recommendations or contacts in Indigenous treatment circles that we should pursue, we would be happy to hear about them. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, we have a territorial specialist of chronic disease management who has been in the position since May of 2019. It's that person's job to research and provide recommendations on patient care standards related to chronic disease management services. The focus is on providing culturally appropriate and standardized diabetes programming by working with all of the communitybased dieticians to ensure that that's the case. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I also would like to congratulate the Arctic Energy Alliance for 25 years of service to the NWT in saving energy and introduce four members of the staff who are residents of Yellowknife Centre Faye MacDonald, Dharshan Maheswaran, Taylor Arsenault, and Mark Heyck. Thank you very much for coming.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, the bursary program is for Indigenous and northern students. It's not for the southern students who apply to go to school in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, it's my understanding that there are enough funds to cover 25 bursaries. Thank you.