Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, with any new process that rolls out, I think in any department, there are always some difficulties. The process right now currently and the concern is that there are slots available for booked appointments. There's a number of people that they can do as same-day appointments, and then what happens is is that if you arrive earlier enough on time they'll let you know that they've only got enough space for walk-ins and they don't want you to -- like, they'll tell you that. And so it's not that there isn't walk-ins. And so we're not going to review the program...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document: Tobacco and Vapour Products Control Act and Smoking Control and Reduction Act Three-Year Annual Report 2020-2023. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I said, the program is ongoing. There are small changes that are being implemented as we move along. You know, we'll continue to hear from the Members and the constituents but from the other side too is that people are grateful that they're able to have appointments, they can preschedule them, they're triaging those that are going in early in the morning that are fasting. You know, there's different things that are going on. They're working with their -- you know, within the authority to make sure that prioritizing blood work gets booked in. So there are...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned, you know, this is a new program, so we've gone out publicly saying this is a new program. What this program has done is over the past month that it's been rolled out, we have seen 200 more patients this last month than we normally do in the lab in Yellowknife and so because there's changes, because, you know, there's certain things -- before we were getting a lot more complaints that there wasn't some structure, there wasn't time to book appointments, there wasn't same-day appointments in the lab, so right now what they're working on is ensuring that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, you know, I can't speak to individual cases that are, you know, throughout the territory, and Inuvik being so small that I wouldn't want to speak to individually making a decision. Our medical travel policy is to assist patients from the Northwest Territories to travel. And I hear the Member that if the Member is away at college, then the travel is already there and I hear what the Member is saying, and, yes, I am a mother and I've traveled many times that I've paid my own way because of, you know, a lot of things. And I'm still covering some costs for some...

Yes, most definitely. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I've committed to reviewing the entire medical travel policy and looking at all the different things and those are -- I think that is important. But the other part of it is, you know, we hear the concerns, and this is not -- I was on the other side, and I raised many concerns on medical travel. But the understanding of the different programs that medical travel is, so if we're looking for an escort, if they are NIHB, then that doesn't fall -- the escort criteria doesn't fall upon GNWT to approve that exception if it doesn't fall exactly. If it's GNWT, then...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the timeline of the medical travel policy, because of the enormous amount of work that's going to take and collaboration and consultation in the Northwest Territories when we roll -- like, once we start may take -- you know, it could take the life of this government to get it right. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, what I can do is I can check with the department to see what type of outreach training that we do provide to NGOs, or if there's funding dollars available for NGOs to access. Within the communities, like I was saying before, mental health and addictions, there is pots of money for each community to access for the suicide prevention fund. They could be used to you know, for training within the community if that's what the community wishes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, currently, we have one transitional housing program for addiction recovery planned for Yellowknife. It will have the capacity of five individuals at a time. This is a new program. And so we will be monitoring it closely to better understand the need before we consider any possibly expansions. You know, we have one going in in Yellowknife, we have one going in in Inuvik, we have two in the queue that have put forward their proposals. So, you know, there are many other communities that are also requesting these types of facilities. So what we want to make...