Kevin A. Menicoche

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. In the winter semester of 2014, the Thomas Simpson Secondary School became the first in the Northwest Territories to have its high school students access to the Martin Aboriginal Youth Entrepreneurship Program and still is the only school in the NWT to offer this program.

A big and special commendation and thanks to Enbridge Pipelines Inc. and the Department of Education for being the primary sponsors with the Martin Aboriginal Education Initiative. This foundation is created by none other than our former Prime Minister of Canada, Paul Martin himself.

Since the program...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Certainly, I was just trying to get around if there is a standard design plan that would offer Fort Simpson, like, I think there was a standard design for Fort Providence, and I think in, oh, I forget. I think it was Lutselk'e. I don’t know if there’s another specific design that’s being offered there, or is it all the same design? What I’m getting at is that many years ago I went to Alaska and I saw their Aboriginal-built hospital. It was very welcoming. It had lots of Aboriginal culture attached to it visually as you go through.

I would just like to know what...

Thank you very much. I guess I was mistaken, because there was an initial visit to Fort Simpson by Public Works and Services staff. So maybe the Minister can indicate exactly what that initial visit was about. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I am pleased that the planning study for replacement of the Fort Simpson Health Centre is underway. This is a facility that needs to be replaced due to age and maintenance costs. A new building will improve the quality of health care service delivery in Fort Simpson and the five outlying communities which depend on this as a regional centre.

As we continue to improve and expand our health care services, we need quality medical workspace and offices. This session we are debating the operations and maintenance budget of the GNWT. While this project I’m speaking...

The community is certainly interested in exactly what type of building is being planned. I think there were several types. I think there is a B/C that is currently being built in the community of Fort Providence. I’d just like to try and get a handle from the Minister what guidelines or parameters or design plans does he have from the Minister of Health and Social Services to develop the replacement health centre for Fort Simpson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier in the day I spoke about the planning study for the replacement of the Fort Simpson Health Centre. I’d like to ask the Minister of Public Works and Services what is the current stage of the planning study. I am aware that they’ve done an initial visit to Fort Simpson I think at the end of November. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I too would like to recognize Ms. Joanne Deneron from Fort Liard, along with Charlie Furlong. Welcome to the gallery. If your grandchildren check Hansard, you’re going to see that your names are mentioned about five or six times in the House on February 4, 2015. Thank you.

I think the incident in Fort Liard was the issue of whether at that time they were able to get somebody to state the weather conditions. I think the CARS at that time was also unattended. So I think there was a recommendation by the coroner’s office to install automated observation systems for circumstances like that, because I think the medevac plane actually got there – oh God – in excess of six hours in the wee hours of the morning, but there was a fatality there.

But given that – I know that they’re trying to address that – what provisions for weather and weather reporting are there in this...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services some questions from the statement I gave earlier.

How exactly did this new medevac contract benefit our small and remote communities, given those two circumstances that I spoke about in my Member’s statement? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The Minister of Health and Social Services announced a new medevac contract in January of this year. The new eight-year contract combines the medevac and clinical services as well as provides for newer aircraft and new equipment to serve all of our communities in the Northwest Territories. This is designed to improve the quality of service and response times.

In my constituency in recent years, there have been two instances where people felt that our medevac system failed them. Firstly, in May of 2013, the medevac took six hours to reach the community of Trout Lake, a mere...