Michael Miltenberger

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The issue of autism, as the Member indicates, is one where there is a concern. There are a significant number of individuals affected. As we plan for our transition into the 17th Assembly, each department, including Health, will be pulling together the list of issues to be considered and priorities to be addressed, and this will be on that list as decisions are made to look at what’s possible with the resources that are available.

There have been studies on this issue over the years that I’m aware of and I’m sure the Member is as well. The challenge of NGOs to offer competitive wages and some of the other benefits like pensions and sick leave. The issue of parity has not been resolved. There is a huge price tag to that.

The issue that the Member is specifically referring to, I’m familiar with that position. There is the whole issue, as well, of the positions that are run through a contribution agreement and what happens with the job descriptions, as opposed to those where they’re formally put in place as indeterminate...

There is a range of training that’s available. Of course, the more detailed the training as you move up the ladder in terms of those qualifications with degrees, psychologists, psychiatrists, those type of things where you’re going to specialize in addictions all require additional work. Depending on the job and the job qualifications, that range will apply, and some are entry level and some are more advanced. They cover that whole range of experience that the Member is referring to.

There has been work on this issue. I’ve as well had some questions. This leads into an area if there’s going to be emergency search and rescue, is that the expectation that nurses or whoever is in the community will leave and fly into other communities. Are they going to be trained to do that kind of extraction? Is it a case of calling in search and rescue from the military?

There are very few places, I think, other than Yellowknife, that have, I think, the benefit of highly skilled folks in this regard. This is an issue that has some considerable perplexity. It’s not just a case of saying, yes...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is, in the government, Health and Social Services has a Mental Health and Addictions Program that we’re looking at that’s been developed over the years, that has evolved. There is another report that’s following up on the state of emergency, and state, of course, the reviews that were done of the Addictions and Mental Health Program. At the same time, most of the other practitioners, social workers, nurses all have some training to deal with the issue of trauma. The issue of trauma is a very wide one. There could be physical trauma; there could be very specific...

Mr. Speaker, I note that in jurisdictions other than the Northwest Territories, cost for being outside the communities, if there is an emergency call-out on the land for whatever reason, are 100 percent recoverable from the folks that are involved in the incident. In our case, the policy we have is for communities and service within communities. The Member is right; it’s not an insured service, and we do not have the money or resources in our budget to close that gap at this time.

The education component focuses a lot on the personal choices of what’s available, what choices to make if you have a choice between healthy foods, vegetables, versus pop and chips. This is a program that has its flaws. It is a program that is of concern in all northern communities, and I will commit to the Member that they will have an opportunity here probably next week to pass on concerns when I get a chance to have a conversation with the Minister. Minister Aglukkaq knows this very well since she is from Nunavut, that there are challenges to meet with this program.

The good news is, is that while this Legislature may be dissolved in the next few weeks, a lot of the good, all the good programs and all the good work that has been done by government and by this Assembly will continue on until the Assembly is elected, and that Assembly will decide if they are going to continue those initiatives or change them or supplement them.

I agree with the Member. We can always do more. Mr. Bromley has made many, many statements about the need for self-sufficiency. We all agree with that. That’s why we have invested so much money in alternate energy. We are looking at...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are a number of ways that monitoring is done, some not specifically related to the Food Mail Program, as we look at our consumer price index to the food basket issue. We’ve committed, as well, to track the cost of food and the cost of living in the small communities tied into the electrical rate review.

Our role in the Food Mail Program is very modest. We were given about 390-some-thousand dollars through Health Canada to do nutrition education. Those are some of the areas where we’re involved and some of the monitoring that is done. Thank you.

We could track, and we do track, the statistics in jails where the majority of the crimes are alcohol related, and the occupancies of our family violence shelters, of our group homes, of the number of children in care that indicate that most of those issues which have alcohol related somewhere in that process. In terms of those that actually go through the door of a treatment centre or make use of community services, there is some tracking done, but that’s more on an individual basis. Thank you.