Norman Yakeleya

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the area I want to focus on is on the recruitment and retention programs. As we know, it’s been noted that the issue of doctors in the Northwest Territories into our regions is very tough right now in terms of having good doctors coming to our regions and there are vacancies in the health care system. I want to ask in terms of have we seen a slight increase in terms of securing some doctors in our communities and some of the nurses in our health boards. I’m not just speaking for my own region but for the North in general. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I seek unanimous consent to go back to orders of the day item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery.

---Unanimous consent granted.

Mr. Speaker, in terms of the consultation framework and the various departments that interpret, I’m trying to think if this is what the Minister is saying, that each department interprets their own process of consultation. Can the Minister then provide to this House in terms of how does the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs monitor and evaluate if this is the process that we’re going to use in terms of lessons to be learned through this exercise.

A difference of opinions for the elders; Mr. Miltenberger has used the status of 50 years and over as an elder. If you have that number, then I think you have a few elders sitting around this table here. He also indicated to respect the animals. I guess I wanted to ask what the Minister has heard from the elders. I’ve heard the elders saying they put collars onto our caribou, and the elders don’t like that. They say to take the collars off. What collars are on the animals? That’s showing a real disrespect to the caribou. I want to ask the Minister if he has heard this from the elders, of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask the Minister of ENR regarding the traditional knowledge policy this government is leading in terms of this very important issue of caribou survival. I want to ask the Minister in terms of the type of involvement. Can he indicate to me the traditional knowledge information from the elders? Is there any indication of records and meetings? The elders have spoken about this issue here and what could be done with the survival of the herd. What have the elders told him?

I certainly appreciate the efforts going into this issue.

Mr. Chair, the last issue I want to look into is regarding program delivery support. You can correct me, Mr. Chair, in terms of when there are issues of complaints filed towards our health profession, usually it’s the staff member in the health office that does the investigation, that handles the complaints. Sometimes it can be perceived as a biased report or reporting on the issues. I would like to see some consideration going into a formal complaint process where an independent person outside the system can take an objective look into...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I want to ask the Minister in terms of the home care duties. I know Colville Lake has been after the regional health board to see if they would work on arrangements between the band and the health board authorities. I know the Minister is also responsible for this, to see if the band would take over the work, the contract, to do home care services in the community of Colville Lake. I know this is important and Colville Lake has been active for a long, long time. It’s one of the issues they have been asking me to see if we can get results. It seems very simple...

Under the directive on 8-12, it talks about facility planning and you also made reference to another section I could look at is the elders facility, I guess. I’m asking the Minister in terms of planning for a facility in our region, so you know this region here, the Sahtu is the only region that doesn’t have any type of regional facility like a wellness centre or emergency centre or even an elders centre for the region. So that’s the focus that I am looking at in terms of this department looking at planning for facilities. I know there is a need for other facilities to be upgraded as I heard...

Thank you for that information, Madam Minister. Mr. Chair, the TeleSpeech implementation, I look forward to the rollout of the implementation when you’re saying that the Sahtu communities are on the list as possibly one of the first projects that are going to be used. So I look forward to that. I do thank the Minister for that information.

Would this be similar to our experience with the telehealth? It’s not being used today and that’s a shame that this is not being used to its full utilization because that would sure help a lot of people. Now, I could be corrected on this here, however, this...

Thank you. Under the infrastructure investment, the item information technology projects, $2.4 million, Mr. Chair, can I just ask for a brief explanation in terms of that line item?