Wendy Bisaro

Only some staff should have full access to medical records, doctors and nurse practitioners for instance. There is a demonstrated need for legislation to address privacy protection around health records, yet there’s been no progress on this act since the 16th Assembly.

I have to ask the Health Minister: When will Members see a Health Information Act presented in the House? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To the Minister, that’s a great segue into my next question. I was going to ask about the recommendations in the Information and Privacy Commissioner's report, and the Minister has advised that these have been considered. But the Commissioner also advised committee when we met with her that the health authority has not accepted all of her recommendations and has not made the changes that she recommended. Can I ask the Minister why not? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There’s absolutely no question that devolution and its implementation is one of the most important political developments in the history of the NWT. I believe that all residents should be able to be a part of it. We have yet to see any consultation and public engagement plan, as mentioned by Mr. Bromley. As the expression goes, talk is cheap and that’s all we have at the moment. I find that it’s not a surprise and it’s no wonder that people are skeptical about their ability to have input into this Final Devolution Agreement and implementation.

As I said in my statement...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister. I understand that he doesn’t want to prejudge what may come from the department. I know the staff within the department do their best. I would like them to know that I am not criticizing when I ask these questions. I am looking for solutions to solve the problems. I do believe that there is a great deal of knowledge and experience within the staff of the department on the programs that they run and I’d like to know if the Minister, in looking at the Auditor General’s report, will tap into that knowledge and that experience and the valuable...

Thanks for your indulgence, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister, as well, for his answer. One of the things I have understood in my dealings with constituents who have come to me with difficulties and with concerns with income security programs, is that they feel that the staff of the department are handling way too much work. There is not enough staff to handle the work and they have difficulty keeping staff. I’d like to ask the Minister why, if he can advise why, if he has any understanding why the department is consistently short-staffed on both front-line and supervisory positions on a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is my pleasure to recognize a Page who has been working very hard for us all week. Ryan O’Brien is a Frame Lake resident. He goes to school here in Yellowknife at Sir John. Thank you to Ryan for his hard work and to all the Pages for the work that they’ve done for us.

On behalf of Mr. Bromley, I would like to recognize his constituency assistant who is a resident of Weledeh but he kind of forgot him. Mr. Craig Yeo, welcome.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I want to share my comments on the report of the Auditor General on the NWT income security programs, a report released last week.

Income support is supposed to help people who have no other way to pay for basics such as food, shelter and clothing. The core shelter benefit is for rent or mortgage, utilities, damage deposit, home insurance and so on. The core essential benefit is for food, clothing, personal needs, transportation, telephone and household supplies. This audit looked at four income security programs, the Income Assistance Program, the Student...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the seconder of the motion and deputy chair of the Standing Committee on Government Operations, I would like to speak briefly about committee’s reason for bringing this forward. As my colleague Mr. Nadli has mentioned, the need for a territorial ombudsman has been discussed in this House for many years and I have been pushing it over the last few years that I’ve been here.

I’m sure that all of us believe in commonly accepted principles of administrative fairness, and these include:

the right to be treated with respect and dignity;

the right to speak on your own behalf...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, rise in support of this motion. I would like to thank the mover and seconder of the motion for bringing it forward. I feel that we have long needed an improvement in the provisions across the NWT for emergency services on our highways. We have been making do and we’ve been doing things a bit piecemeal. We have provided a small amount of money but it’s not nearly enough, and it’s time we look seriously at what is required and put in place a system that is going to provide the services that are required.

I’ve advocated in this House many times since I’ve been here...

Another problem that I have encountered, my constituents have encountered and I hear about it by-the-by, is the issue of paperwork and files that are lost or misplaced or incomplete. It’s a huge issue. Clients regularly have all their paperwork in hand, they hand it in, and then they get a call a few days or a week later saying that their paperwork is not complete. I’d like to know from the Minister if he can advise whether or not this is a problem with the software that the department uses. Is it a technical issue, is it a lack of processes for the client service officers that they don’t...