Julie Green

Thank you, Madam Chair. I am here to present Bill 40, An Act to Amend the Medical Profession Act. The purpose of this bill is to allow for regulation of physicians providing virtual care to NWT residents. The use of virtual care has greatly increased, in large part due to the limit of inperson contact and medical travel during the COVID19 pandemic.

We engaged with physicians throughout the development of this bill and have committed to undertake a collaborative approach to physician regulation. We know that this work needs to be informed and supported by these professionals.

I appreciate the...

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, medical treatment, as the Member knows, is an insured service under the NWT Health Plan. So anyone with appear at any of the health centres, or at Stanton, and expect to receive a diagnosis and treatment for the condition that they are presenting with. That said, we do not cover drugs on a universal basis. There is no universal PharmaCare here or anywhere else in the country at this point.

There is an understanding at our level, and at the federal level, that there is a need to develop a strategy around specified not specified diseases but...

In favour.

Mr. Speaker, June is Senior Citizens Month, a time for us to acknowledge and celebrate the important role seniors have in our families and communities.

Seniors teach us about culture, tradition, and history. Their wisdom is integral to making wise decisions that will impact the future of generations of Northerners.

This Legislative Assembly has made a commitment to enable seniors to age in place, with dignity. The Department of Health and Social Services is working with Housing NWT and the Departments of Municipal and Community Affairs, along with Education, Culture and Employment, to ensure...

Yes, thank you. Mr. Speaker, it's my understanding that there is a nurse on call, and so I would suggest that the first call be to the health centre. 911 is available throughout the NWT as an emergency service that can provide links to other emergency services. I think the RCMP are 24/7 as well.

So I think, if I understand the Member correctly, the services that he's referencing are available 24/7, and I would suggest that Members call their local service first, service providers before, trying 911. Thank you.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I'm going to need to get back to the Member with details of when those visits happened by the COO of the Yellowknife region to the community of Fort Resolution. I know they happened in May, but I can't be more specific than that.

And I would also like to say that with respect to meeting Arthur Beck and Chief Balsillie, I haven't met Chief Balsillie. I have met Arthur Beck at various bilaterals that we've had. Thank you.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I've heard the comments of the Member, and I will take them into account. Thank you.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I certainly welcome the Member for Kam Lake to share specific cases with me to follow up. In terms of selfharm and suicidal ideation, information provided to the Member previously reveals that the number of selfharm or suicidal ideation incidents has, in fact, been developing over the years since 20162017, which is the first year in this fiveyear chart. Likewise, the number of people seeking counselling because of suicidal ideation, that is youth seeking counselling, has gone down as well.

That doesn't mean that there isn't a problem. There clearly is a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is a situation where the health centre simply isn't big enough to hold all the staff. I said two social workers. There's actually three social workers, a social work supervisor, and two and a half healthy family workers as well as one family preservation worker. So that's a total of 6.5 fulltime equivalent positions providing social services in Fort Providence, and there simply isn't enough room in the health centre. And so they are going to move that staff group into another location. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned, this act has been in force for 25 years. And so child protection workers, social workers, have been using this legislation for 25 years. So it's not new.

In the time that I've been Minister and we've started this review of the Child and Family Services Act, I've been in frequent contact with Indigenous governments to ask for their feedback on what they would want to change in this act since we have an opportunity to make changes in this Assembly.

So I'm not sure what the Member has in mind by "making parents aware." If he has a specific case...