Sandy Lee

I do agree with the Member that if it’s at all possible we should try to keep our children in our communities and with extended families. This is information the department keeps close tabs on. Currently in the Territories there are about 620 children in care. The vast majority of them are with extended families. Back in 1999 there were only 100 children who were with the parents or guardians or extended families. This year, as of March 31, 264 children are with parents retaining guardianship, and 316 children are with extended families. Many of them are in their communities. I think we could...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Member’s question. The million dollar increase that the Member mentioned is part of our new initiative funding in the budget which increases the rates that the foster parents receive. I could also advise the Member that in his communities of Mackenzie Delta, Aklavik, Fort McPherson and Tsiigehtchic, there are currently, as of March ’08, 36 children in care. The vast majority of them are with either the families or with extended families under various arrangements that makes it possible, with agreement from the government and the parents and the children...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Disability Awareness Week is from June 1 to 7, 2008. This year’s theme is Disability Is Not a Choice…Your Attitude Is.

One of the priorities for the 16th Legislative Assembly is to improve support for children and adults with special needs and disabilities. The week is an opportunity for us all to recognize the contributions that persons with disabilities make in our communities and to consider how persons with disabilities can contribute or participate in the social, recreational and educational lives of communities across the Northwest Territories.

The July 2000 report...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to take this opportunity to recognize World No Tobacco Day tomorrow, May 31, 2008. This day provides us with an opportunity to acknowledge the many activities aimed at the prevention and cessation of tobacco use in which the Government of the Northwest Territories has invested. These actions will create long-term benefits for Northerners and will help them make healthy and productive lifestyle choices.

Since 2002 the GNWT has made tobacco reduction a priority, and we have invested significant resources into tobacco use reduction, focusing particularly on youth...

I don’t think it would be wise for me to reread what I’ve read, so let me just state again that the government considers this a very serious issue. We are looking at all options to see how we could reopen this agreement, so we can get the escalator at 2 per cent raised. I have discussed these…. We have to work with the Dene Nation leader, as well as all aboriginal leaders in the North. They have indicated their interest in working with us. This will be front and centre as we move forward to get a better agreement and reopen the agreement to start with, so we can change that escalator provision...

For the record, I should state that when the Member asked about this question, we were actively negotiating this situation, and I had indicated this to the Member. The Member was not clear about whether he was asking questions on DIAND’s funding gap, and I had three questions I had to clarify.

Mr. Speaker, I could advise you that the former Minister of Health and Social Services wrote to the DIAND Minister on June of 2007. We again wrote in October of 2007. In early November 2007, the Premier talked to Minister Strahl about this issue when he met, and I believe when the Prime Minister was in...

It is true the Stanton territorial authority has been under the oversight of public administrators, because there has not been a board since 2003. The law requires that, and we have had a series of public administrators.

What’s new about the new administrator is that he was given a very specific mandate, a very broad mandate, to go in and take advantage of his experience and knowledge of the operation as well as some of the studies we have done, such as the zero-base review, and to make recommendations to me about precise actions that need to be taken.

Mr. Speaker, we should remember that we do recognize — and I agree with the Member — that we do have a serious situation with the deficit situation, and we have to work to resolve those.

The authority has a budget of about $88 million. Each payroll is about $2 million. Money comes in; money comes out. They have receivables in their budget, and they are having to pay for lots of things. It’s a cash-flow issue.

The accumulated-deficit issue is something I’m working on with the public administrator and the management of the authority.

I can tell you that when I was on the other side, I was always looking for a silver-bullet solution. But when you are Minister of Health and Social Services, it would not be wise to stop providing health and hospital and medical services to Indian and Inuit people of the Northwest Territories. I’ve been saying this; I think Members should be very clear that this is not an account receivable with $96 million written on it that we can post to Ottawa and send a collection agency after them. If that were the case, we would have done that. I think it’s really important that all the people out there...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to advise the Member that I do agree with him in his Member’s statement.

Obviously, this is a big issue for us. They’re having progressive actions taken. As I indicated earlier in the session in answering Mr. Abernethy’s question on the same topic, the Premier has raised this issue repeatedly with the Prime Minister as well as the Minister of DIAND.

We, at the Department of Health, have communicated with the Minister of DIAND, asking for renegotiations. And we were actively negotiating right up to March 31, when we signed the most recent agreement. I’ve also...