Tom Beaulieu

Thank you. We would look at a planned overnight. If a doctor is going into the communities, they can look at the historical appointments in certain communities and if this has become an issue where patients are being turned away from the health centre, but the doctor still leaves on schedule even though they haven’t seen all the patients and that’s the history of that community, then in the future, when doctors go into small communities, they would plan to stay overnight.

We will have the department work to see those various health authorities and ensure that if doctors are needed overnight, if they have more than just one day worth of appointments when they go into a place like Nahanni Butte, Trout Lake or any of those small communities that have too many appointments for one day. I’m not expecting that the doctor would leave a community – I’m sure the community can accommodate the doctor overnight – and will ensure that doctors that go into the community are prepared to stay overnight. Thank you.

No, it is not a dedicated individual in those communities where we don’t offer the program, but rather, we would work with home care workers that are in the communities to provide that service based on requests and based on demand. When we will expand the program would be once we are able to make a business case back through the business planning process to expand the Respite Program. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the department recognizes that there is a need already. We have respite programs in Yellowknife, Detah, Fort Good Hope, Colville Lake, Fort McPherson, Simpson, Inuvik, Aklavik, Behchoko, Fort Smith and Hay River. Those are the communities, and for other communities which I have not mentioned, respite services can be made available through home care. Each of the communities that have home care, we can arrange for respite services if the need was there and we work with the authorities to provide that need through home care. Thank you.

Georgina was very active in the promotion of her language through her work. Until recently, Georgina worked as the Akaitcho Chipewyan regional language coordinator with the Akaitcho Territorial Government and prior to that she worked as a Chipewyan language coordinator for the Deninu Ku’e First Nation. Minister Jackson Lafferty acknowledges her work in the languages area.

Georgina is survived by her mother, Therese; her sisters, Anne, Sabet, Julie, Violet and Gloria; her daughter, Lacey; granddaughter, Chase; and numerous nieces and nephews, cousins, and many, many friends. My sincerest...

Mr. Speaker, in 2001 people from around the NWT gathered on the Hay River Reserve to develop a social agenda for the Northwest Territories. Addressing social issues was a priority for the Government of the Northwest Territories at that time, as it is for the 17th Legislative Assembly today.

Every day we hear concerns about addictions, early childhood development, school success and family violence, among other issues. We all know that meaningful change happens when communities take control. The solutions to these issues come not from government headquarters, but from communities themselves.

One...

The expansion of a program beyond what the approved program would be, would be considered a new initiative. Even though we have midwifery currently operating in one community, should we expand the Midwifery Program and the plan to expand the Midwifery Program to a territorial midwifery program, and also some midwives in Hay River and so on, Beaufort-Delta, that would also fall under new initiatives. Yes, they would be considered new initiatives if they’re expanding upon what is approved.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The plan will be rolled out once we are able to get our business case to the business planning process.

I agree with that. As I indicated, we will contact the authorities and if doctors need to stay overnight in the small communities, they should. They’ve signed up to work in the small authorities, like the Deh Cho Health and Social Services Authority, they should expect to overnight in the small communities as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I would be willing to have the authorities review that. The reason that we have the system that we do where the health authorities are at the regional level and work closely with the communities, so that they understand the communities, the culture of the communities and so on. If this is happening, it shouldn’t be happening. Individuals will not be turned away from seeing the doctor if there are appointments available. Of course, when you have more than one individual showing up at the same time slot, it would be difficult, but we will do our best to allocate the...