Sandy Lee

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First of all I need to clarify some of the confusion that might be created as a result of our exchange here. There are incidents of infections that I had reported yesterday, but there is no connection between those infections and the sterilization equipment that we’re talking about.

Stanton is maintaining and upgrading the sterilization equipment. They are waiting for parts. For that reason they have had to cut down on surgeries. They are doing emergency surgeries as well as those that require medical travel when people travel here to have surgery. They are doing those...

Yes, the department and the CPHO and other people involved with the department use the website for lots of information dissemination, so I’d be happy to undertake to do that. Thank you.

As I indicated earlier, she’s responsible for setting the procedures and setting the maximum standards. I’m sure there is information on our publication material, but I will confirm with the Member as to what information is available on fluoride. Thank you.

The CEO has indicated in the media, and I have indicated to the Member, that the reason for the cancellation of elective surgeries is because of the fact that they are waiting for this equipment, so I will get back to the Member as to what is the best information they have on the date by which they expect to have this equipment in. I don’t know if the Member knows the exact type of equipment, but I don’t think it’s really beyond one’s imagination to accept that there is some highly sophisticated equipment that is being used at the hospital that sometimes takes time to have their parts...

As I said, we have had cancellation of elective surgeries. Other surgeries are going on. We have had cancellation of elective surgeries in January and February. If the Member wants me to get back to him on the exact date, I would be happy to do that. I believe that’s the same question and I’m answering it for the second time. Thank you.

The amount of fluoride that I indicated is the maximum amount and, as I indicated, the chief public health officer has set the standard procedure. It’s the municipalities that administer them and it is up to the municipalities to fluoridate the water.

Communities that fluoridate their drinking water must regulate fluoride levels regularly to ensure that they remain within the regulations set by the Federal/Provincial/Territorial Committee on Drinking Water, which is currently set at a maximum of 1.5 milligrams per litre. The chief public health officer is in charge of approving the standard operating procedures for the sampling, testing, treatment and quality of water of municipalities, but it is the municipality’s responsibility to administer fluoride into drinking water and testing levels of fluoride to ensure that they meet the standards...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Minister responsible for Seniors, the issues that MLAs and our residents bring forward to my office pertain to various government departments and programs. I work with the relevant departments and their Minister to resolve some of the issues. I’m not familiar with the particular case that the Member brought up, but I’d be happy to look into the situation and see what we can do and what has been done. Thank you.

I don’t know if there is an administration fee. I know that Stanton provides this service for Sahtu, so I could undertake to do that, but I am thinking that his meaning is does Sahtu have to pay more to get it through Stanton, and clearly that is not the case. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’m assuming that the Member is referring to the Midwifery Program, and the Foundation for Change speaks to coming up with a territorial-wide strategy by the end of next fiscal year. It will take some work and, as I said in committee, we will bring stakeholders and we will review this program. I was just talking about the importance of expanding this, talking about that I personally believe and that is the direction that I am giving to the department, is that we need to look at not just what’s going on right now, which is very heavily medical-based midwifery...