Julie Green

Madam Speaker, I'm so relieved to be able to say yes. Yes. The Hay River Health and Social Services Authority is applying for two medical social worker positions for exactly the reasons that the Member has outlined, the demand and the severity of need in the streetinvolved population is such that these positions need to be created and staffed fulltime. Thank you.

Yes, thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, some of the things that the medical social worker would do is to assist the person to get into housing, assist them to get into treatment, assist them to obtain income support, assist them to obtain referrals for medical care if such referrals are necessary, referrals to counselling, completing Jordan Principle applications, getting them set up with a proper ID whether that's a birth certificate, a general identity card, or whether it is a driver's licence. So this is a position that facilitates people's access to services that may be provided...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there's a meeting arranged for the end of November with the Tlicho government and the chief of Behchoko, to which the Member has been invited, to talk about addictions and aftercare. So I'm looking forward to having that conversation. In terms of a constituency tour, I will repeat again that if she invites me and organizes the constituency tour, I am happy to come. Thank you.

Yes, thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, one of the things that we committed to in the response to the OAG recommendations is to engage with Indigenous governments to identify barriers to people attending addiction services and take a look at our standards and policies for contracts to make sure that they are culturally safe. So this is work that we plan to do in response to the OAG.

But in the interim, I had a meeting with the NWT Council of Leaders, which included leadership from the Member's region, to talk about addictions and aftercare. That happened at the end of September, and...

Yes, thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I'm not planning to provide any more information than I have already provided about the contract with Poundmaker's Lodge. It ends at the end of this month.

We have five other treatment options that residents can go to. There are three in Alberta, one in BC, and one in Ontario, as well as they can stay home and use the community counselling service, the community on-the- land programs, and so on. So while we are not going to continue with Poundmaker's, we do have those other options. And recognizing that we don't have a specific Indigenous option...

Yes, thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, the cultural safety division of the department, which is called community, culture and innovation has a mandate to help with all programs and services to ensure that they are culturally safe and antiracist. So that would be in place in any initiatives that are put in place. At this point, the asks are, I'm going to say, primarily processoriented with a view to collecting better data so that we know and we have a better idea of what the outcomes are, and we're certainly committed to doing that work. We want to be able to show that what we're doing...

Yes, thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, the intention is to look at individual income at this point. But what I want to stress is that this is not a program at this point. It's a discussion. We have provided four months worth of public consultation, and that now extends until November the 23rd. There are many ways to participate, including a town hall that will take place in mid November with more information to come. So if people feel that there should be a different way of calculating income, that it should be household income or some other form, then certainly that input is welcome...

Thank you, Madam Speaker, and I appreciate the question. The data was arrived at using income figures supplied by the NWT Bureau of Statistics. The target group for this initiative is people who don't have any insurance of any kind, so the examples were geared towards a lower income threshold. However, there is now a tool on the site which people can enter their income into, and they will find out what level of copay they will be required, if any. Thank you.

Yes, thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, this is a very important role, and I appreciate the Member's efforts to do this work as well, for his constituents. I don't see reason that the medical social worker would not go and see people where they are, but I'm not familiar with their work flow, but it makes sense that it would be broader than just having people attend the health centre or the building that flooded downtown in order to obtain services. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker, and thank you for the question. NTHSSA offers adult services which is social work services for people who are not children or youth, often people who are street involved. That position does not exist at the Hay River Health and Social Services Authority right now. I think there are some of the staff in the authority who are assisting people who need these services off the side of their desk, so not a proper medical social worker position. Thank you.