Tom Beaulieu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve given direction to the Department of Health and Social Services that we’re moving more into prevention. Prevention is a big part of addictions, mental health and addictions. We have already started moving in that direction. It’s the same resources that we have in other areas and we want to move them into programs that we think are successful. We want to fund the programs for a longer term and, hopefully, increase the amount of money we are putting towards the addictions in the communities right across the territory. Thank you.

The Member is right; during our meetings of the Beaufort-Delta leadership and the Gwich’in, we had indicated that we were going to work on reappointing the board. I was not totally up to speed on why the board was removed initially, but there seemed to be a strong desire to have a board in place and the department will work with the Beaufort-Delta Health and Social Services Authority to appoint a full board in the Beaufort-Delta as soon as possible. Thank you.

I don’t believe it does fit. It’s a very unfortunate circumstance. As we were reviewing all of the positions for the betterment of the smaller communities when the review was incomplete as of the date when this specific position’s term had expired, the term was allowed to expire and the review was not complete. The review is being done on the positions and the positions that should be in Tsiigehtchic for the betterment of the community will be put in place.

Although the review itself cost about $105,000, we do believe as a department, as do the other health and social services authorities, that there is a cost savings when a baby is born closer to home with a midwife. The exact savings I don’t have here but I can make that available to the Member without a problem. There is definitely a savings from having a hospital birth under a doctor’s care.

Although we only had midwifery services in Fort Smith and Yellowknife, this is an NWT midwifery review.

A part of that money that is being spent by the health and social services authorities is for addictions. That is for treatment. It is for detox. Yes, during the upcoming business plan we would be willing to talk to the MLAs and discuss the possibility of moving more money into detox. Thank you.

Detox is a program, not a building. What we are saying is that the health and social services authority is spending about $6 million across the board on mental health and addictions. Detox is a part of that and can be in any location. It is a program. It is available right across the North and certainly available in Yellowknife if needed. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t have the details of the Fort Smith program. I wasn’t aware that there was a program in Fort Smith. I heard about it for the first time today.

As I indicated earlier, we are looking at on-the-land treatment programs. We have recently reviewed Nats’ejee K’eh. I have recently been in contact with the chairman of the board, and in fact, he has written me a letter inviting me to a meeting to meet with the Nats’ejee K’eh board, and they have various items that they wish to talk about pertaining directly to treatment in that facility. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Member’s comments. I will talk to the deputy minister and we will do a call for boards before the end of the session. Thank you.