Norman Yakeleya

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask the Minister, regarding my Member’s statement, if she would agree that the program that she is proposing could be better explained to the people. I understand that some people in my riding were approached in terms of signing a petition, but they didn’t know what they were signing for in terms of the supplementary health benefit. That’s the question I have for the department. Can this proposed program be better explained to the people in my riding or in Yellowknife?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask the Minister how the new program will affect young working mothers who make enough that they will be expected to cover their own extended health care and might have to decide to either buy food or buy medicine.

Will the program the Minister is proposing resolve the new costs for this government while you’re trying to manage the changes within the existing program budget?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to speak to the issue of the supplementary health care coverage. Tommy Douglas was voted the greatest Canadian of all time by the CBC contest back in 2004. Why? Because he is considered to be the father of medicare for all Canadians.

I might vote for my mother as being the greatest Canadian. Why? Because she told me something that broke my heart when I was a young man. She told me how as a mother with eight kids she once had to go without food for herself for two days so she could feed us and still buy the medical care she needed for one of my brothers. We...

I want to ask the Minister, for example, what are the implications or consequences of requirements for new funding for residents in small communities if we were to not go ahead with the proposed program?

Mr. Speaker, just a primary focus of my question is on the coverage of these 2,200 people who are not receiving it today as we talk right now in terms of the coverage that other members of the Northwest Territories do enjoy. Now I want to focus on the concerns I am hearing around the table in the House here and in Yellowknife here, that there is a huge number of local people that are saying that a number of issues that they are telling us to not go ahead with it or scrap it or delay it or consider it again. I want to ask the Minister in terms of this policy here in terms of the people that we...

Mr. Speaker, in the CBC report it’s reported that Privacy Commissioner Elaine Keenan-Bengts says what apparently happened within the Sahtu Health Centre wasn’t good enough in terms of them checking the information as to where the fax was going and confirming that it’s going to a location, it also confirmed that it’s been received at that location. That wasn’t done. This simple oversight hasn’t been looked at. So, again, that’s why I asked Minister about this issue. I know it’s going to take a while to get the report done. Can something like this, what the Privacy Commissioner is saying, can...

If it wasn’t reported in the CBC, we kept it quiet and CBC didn’t report this, I want to make sure that in the future, for the confidence of the people in the Sahtu, that our personal medical records will be handled with the utmost professionalism, confidentiality and respect in terms of our staff in the medical field that are distributing our records. I wanted to ask the Minister what type of assurance can she give to the people in the Sahtu and the people in the Northwest Territories that this will never, never, never, never happen again in terms of the way this was reported on CBC?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On behalf of all the Sahtu constituents, I want to wish one of our lovely elders, Ms. Mary Barnaby, congratulations on getting her honorary diploma from Aurora College this year.

Each year Aurora College in Inuvik gives out an honorary diploma to a well-deserving elder who makes a huge contribution to education, especially to aboriginal education. Ms. Barnaby is well deserving of this year’s award. She is a role model to us all. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Citizens of the Northwest Territories expect their government to handle private and confidential medical records with a high degree of responsibility and respect. Today, CBC North told the people of the Northwest Territories that maybe we should be afraid, afraid that this government does not understand that confidential medical records must, in all circumstances and at all times, be treated with a high degree of professionalism and confidentiality. Private and confidential records must be kept private and confidential. If employees aren’t able to understand that, then...