Tom Beaulieu

Mr. Speaker, the Food Establishment Safety Regulations under the Public Health Act lay out what we can do legally when we provide traditional food into the long-term care centres or the hospitals. One way that we are thinking about getting around that specific issue is that because fish and game can be donated by individuals that have a general hunting licence or individuals that have the right to hunt and donate food. A lot of that has been done at the Vital Abel where they are serving traditional food, and the Member talks about how we would be able to work with the Vital Abel to provide...

Like I had indicated, we are now reaching out to the organizations. Immediately after my conversation with the Member, I had asked the department to talk to the two organizations that he is referring to. We have done that. All we need to do is find the various ways within our policies on traditional foods, the various ways we can legally provide traditional foods in that type of institution. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to recognize a couple of constituents of mine, Elizabeth Anne Mackay from Fort Resolution and her daughter Karen Lafferty from Hay River. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Great Slave, that Bill 21, An Act to Amend the Dental Profession Act, be read for the third time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, we are prepared to look at the requirements of handling uninspected wild fish and game. This is really the key issue, is how traditional food is brought into these residences for long-term care, hospital or any residential type of facility where there is a requirement to serve food. We have to discuss an effective and consistent way of getting uninspected wild fish and game into those places as part of the menu. Thank you.

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Our environmental health unit has, in the past, worked with the various institutions that are run by Health and Social Services or the authorities to try to get traditional foods into these homes. In addition to that, recently the Member has brought to our attention that perhaps we should start looking at institutions that are under our authority that already are providing traditional foods on a regular basis and start working with them to see if they can expand the traditional food by delivering it to other institutions in town where traditional foods are not usually...

Mr. Speaker, this Assembly is committed to a goal of healthy, educated people free from poverty. Improving the health status of the Aboriginal population in the Northwest Territories is one way the Department of Health and Social Services is accomplishing that goal.

Clearly, if we want to make meaningful change, we have to focus our efforts on the areas of greatest need. We must stop designing “one size fits all” solutions and start listening to communities about what will work.

Aboriginal people in the Northwest Territories are suffering from an increased burden of chronic diseases and the...

There should be. If the health professional is not able to communicate with the individual, then there should be somebody else there that can provide assistance to the individual and the health profession to ensure communication. I’m afraid what the Member is bringing up is correct. Sometimes elders will just get the information and then go down south. What we can do is, in cases where individuals are travelling to and from, we can alert Larga. For example, if they are in Inuvik, Vital Abel is available if they are here, to make sure that the people understand when they are going back home or...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Health and Social Services Professional Act is something that the Member is aware that we are going through 19 different acts, including the Dental Auxiliaries Act. That is something that we are looking at, so it’s a future possibility that we can develop regulations specific to dental hygienists. However, there is another factor and that is there are no dental hygienists school in Canada at this point. So what we are hoping to do is work with perhaps not even other jurisdictions, but right into other countries. We are thinking about working with Alaska on that.

So...

The dental services in itself for a Treaty Dene is not covered. It’s not an insured service, so that is covered by Non-Insured Health Benefits from the federal government, although it’s in the contract with us and we provide the same service to the Metis, and we also provide the same service to people over 60, through extended health. So that is something that we are looking at working on better ways on how dental hygienists can work with the dentists.

Right now we have to be under the supervision of the dentist, but we are trying to work on that. There is as much indirect supervision as...