Norman Yakeleya

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...

Mr. Speaker, can the Minister answer me in terms of answering the question here in terms of this supplementary health benefit? It is not like the one that they have given to the aboriginal people or the Metis. That is the question that we are faced with. Can she then explain to me and residents in my riding, some of us in the Sahtu receive medical services under the federal government and some of the Metis constituents receive services under the GNWT and now we are talking about this issue here where we are talking about a co-payment plan for non-aboriginal people. I want to ask the Minister...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are to the Minister of Health and Social Services. It has to do with the supplementary health benefits. I want to ask in terms of this policy going forward. I want to ask the Minister about her decision along with her Cabinet in terms of her sense of this policy. Is this a good, effective policy? My concern is for the 2,200-some-odd people who are not receiving health coverage. Certainly there has to be a give and take in terms of how we make sure that this covers for these 2,200 families or people who are not receiving. Is this policy the most effective or...

The Minister has indicated that she’s going to follow up on this incident and she’s going to have a discussion with her department and certainly the Sahtu Health Board in terms of what happened. In this discussion, I want to ask the Minister, when you look at this issue and examine what happened, are there policies that you need to implement right away within the Sahtu Health Board in terms of our health centres and handling our medical records when they’re being asked to be sent to another health centre or community for medical reasons, that there’s strong policies in place, relook at the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. I wanted to ask the Minister about the issue we heard on CBC this morning in regard to a breach of confidentiality of records that were sent to CBC by mistake from a health centre in Norman Wells. I wanted to ask the Minister to tell the people in this House and the people in the North and the Sahtu exactly what happened in regard to this matter of a breach of confidentiality of a person’s medical records.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I, too, will be supporting the bill because I think we were faced with a challenge that certainly none of us wanted to be in, because when we first had some discussions with the Deh Cho Bridge it looked like it was good plan to go with and plans that probably would have worked out very well for the Deh Cho Corporation that involved the community of Fort Providence, members in Fort Providence, the Metis and the First Nation, the band.

Mr. Speaker, when things have gone astray or offside there, we had to step in in terms of how do we keep this megaproject on...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member’s statement I talked about the elders and the care for the elders. I want to ask the Minister for the NWT Housing Corporation, in terms of a policy review or consideration, would it be possible that if a child or grandchild or an adult exchange a promise of assistance to support the elders in their homes in terms of a cost of rent increase, is that something that can be looked at? Thank you.

Certainly I’ve considered that also, Mr. Speaker, in terms of the use of the program there is for seniors is for free rent and people, when they do move in, take advantage of this in terms of the free rent. What we’re asking in terms of looking at a policy and maybe with the Health and Social Services or some kind of a program where there would be a subsidy or some payment for provisions for elderly care, maybe a reduced rent but not to look at where the elders would have a huge increase in the rent due to this initiative. This, again, looks at caring for the elders, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to speak about the importance of our younger generation caring for the elders. I’ve heard from a number of constituents on this subject. One man gave an example of a young person who could not stay with his grandparents or they would have to start paying rent. As well, he said that he had to quit his job to care for his mother when she was on her deathbed and because when he moved into her home her rent increased based on his income. He asked the departments to work together, rather than work against each other, to develop policies that accommodate more...