Julie Green

Thank you, I appreciate the committee taking up this recommendation. It was a piece of unfinished business from the Special Committee to Increase Representation of Women in the Legislative Assembly, which was in the 18th Assembly. The idea is that this rebate would apply equally to men and women. It would lower the barrier of financial cost, the cost of being in an election, as a reason not to run and widen the pool of candidates who would be able to run. The total cost is very affordable, it's just over $55,000 based on the 2019 election, and yet, it would open the doors to additional people...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's my understanding that this is a genuine engagement. We do want to verify the numbers with residents of Hay River, and we plan to meet with the town council, the seniors' society, and with the Indigenous organizations. We want to make sure that we haven't overlooked or missed anything that is important to the calculation of these numbers, so I'm going to say this is a genuine way of getting community input into this. I don't know what the end result is, but I also ask the Member to keep an open mind that, in fact, 48 institutional beds may not be the best outcome...

It is my understanding that, in doing that report, the Bureau of Statistics looked at issues such as the age of people going into long-term care; what their health status was going into long-term care; how much time they spent in long-term care; which community they were from and which community they want into long-term care in, which are sometimes different. They looked, certainly, at the comorbidities, as we say, more than one chronic disease, that drive people into the requirement for higher-level nursing care and thus into long-term care. I feel confident that the health of the population...

I'm happy to report that this work is on track. We've had a total of 14 marketing and advertising campaigns for the hard-to-fill Health and Social Services positions in the last three months, including nine of these campaigns that are specific to nurses. We've expanded the Health and Social Services professions career guide, which provides information for potential candidates about careers in Health and Social Services in the Northwest Territories. We have education, continuing education initiatives for licenced practical nurses and RNs through the targeted academic support program. We also...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Exit surveys are not consistently used, so I am unable to answer that question. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Member for that question. Yes, Emerging Wisely is still the guiding document produced in May of last year. We know that there were a number of exemptions requested where items that were supposed to be loosened in phase 3 were loosened in phase 2, the phase that we are in now. What we're talking about is when we get into phase 3, and that is the work that will go on in April. Thank you.

I am happy to repeat this point. The first restrictions that will be loosened will be those within our border. Those will concern greater capacity within your home, within your community gatherings, and at business locations. Once that happens, and the other data is in place about vaccine uptake, transmissibility, children being vaccinated, and so on, then the Chief Public Health Officer will look at how to modify and when to modify self-isolation requirements.

The issues we're talking about here go beyond budgets and money. Aging in place is what most seniors want for themselves. They want to stay in their home. They want to have services that come to them from the community, whether it's a nurse or a personal support worker or a family member, and they want these people to assist them to remain independent for as long as possible. That's really the future for elders in the Northwest Territories and in the country as a whole. Long-term care has turned out to be a disaster in southern Canada. It has turned out to be a place where way too many people...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am happy to repeat these answers for the Member for Great Slave. What I want to say is that I don't expect the kind of information that she is asking for because the situation with COVID-19, with the vaccine rate, with the rate of variants, and so on, it is so quickly changing that it would soon be obsolete to do the flow chart that she is asking for and then to be able to make sure that it was implemented in exactly that way. It is just too fluid a situation. We do, however, appreciate the need for that kind of information. We are more than happy to work with...

According to my information, nine of 23 clients at Woodland Manor have dementia, and I certainly do recognize that residents with dementia need additional care. We don't want them to roam or leave or hurt themselves or be lost. It's my understanding that all of the new builds for long-term care centres take into account dementia as a diagnosis and they are constructed to keep dementia patients safe, so that is a consideration in all of the long-term care builds. As things stand now, we only have a long-term care facility here in Yellowknife. We recognize that, going forward, people want their...