Wendy Bisaro

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, colleagues. Mr. Speaker, my Member’s statement spoke to multi-year funding for NGOs and the need for this government to go in that direction and to enter into multi-year funding agreements with our NGO partners. I mentioned that I had discovered that some organizations are funded for five-year agreements. I’d like to ask the Minister responsible for the Executive why we can do that for some organizations but we can’t do that for our NGO partners. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I also rise in support of this motion. As the first whereas indicates, alcohol abuse, and I believe drug abuse as well, place a really heavy toll on our communities and on our people. I think that we don’t have enough infrastructures at this point to help our people deal with that problem.

We do have one treatment centre in Hay River and we’ve heard very often from Ministers of Health and Social Services that we have a treatment centre that people should be able to just go there and get the treatment that they need. That requires them to go out away from their community...

Thanks to the Minister. I would encourage the department and the Minister to get as broad representation from users and potential users of this kind of a program as possible.

I’d like to know from the Minister, if they’re going to a contractor to do this review and analysis, would the Minister and the department be open to a non-government organization putting in a proposal to do this review and analysis? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister for Health and Social Services, and I want to follow up on my statement about the cancellation of the Midwifery Program.

I recognize that cancellation may not be the correct word. The program was suspended, and it was suspended at the request of the Yellowknife Health and Social Services Authority, but that authority has never, ever been funded adequately for the Midwifery Program, and it has actually put them into a deficit, from what I understand. To my way of thinking, the Minister’s acceptance of Yellowknife Health and...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just have a couple of comments here that I would like to make. In discussion at committee in consideration of this bill, I know one of the things that was a concern for me, and I think for a couple of other committee members, was that although this act is dealing with protections for electronic transactions and so on, it leaves a hole in terms of protection for our residents in terms of consumer protection. It’s something which I think other jurisdictions have dealt with through amendments to their consumer protection legislation, their consumer protection acts. One...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister. I would hope that when the Minister and the department evaluate these proposals that they look at the time frame that is being proposed at the time that they do that evaluation.

Can the Minister advise me and the House when we can expect the results of this review and analysis? Thank you.

Thanks to the Minister, I think, for that answer. I appreciate that we have excellent facilities here for birthing, and it’s not so much that we have facilities we should cancel one program because we have another program that allows for a certain kind of birthing. There are also the advantages to be considered of a secondary birthing program, and one of them is financial. I think that certainly midwifery is a cheaper alternative to hospitals. I appreciate also that the Minister talks about areas that don’t have midwifery services or even birthing services. Absolutely, we should be expanding...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I want to express my great disappointment with the recent decision by the Minister of Health and Social Services to cancel the Midwifery Program in Yellowknife.

Two years ago at this time Members on this side of the House articulated concern for the long-term survival and sustainability of this program in Yellowknife, the NWT’s largest community. In the two years since, many Yellowknife families have been able to use the services of YK’s one and only midwife, but many have not. All reports have been positive. Mothers are very pleased both with the birthing options...

If the Minister doesn’t think interagency committees exist, he might perhaps ask some of the representatives within communities. In my travels to communities, I think I’ve met with two or three of them and they seem to be pretty permanent.

To the Minister’s statement that there will be continued participation on the Yellowknife Social Issues Committee, I’d like to ask the Minister if the Department of Health and Social Services is actively working with the Social Issues Committee to figure out what that participation can be, and when we might expect some sort of a revised indication of support...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Deputy Premier, who also happens to be the Minister of Health and Social Services. I want to reference the statement earlier by the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs when he spoke about the value of strong community governments and also stated responsible, responsive community governments are critical to support healthy, safe, and vibrant communities. I think that my Member’s statement referenced a strong and viable and responsive community, my own, which is attempting to provide better services for their residents.

I’ve...