Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the public administrator is working full-time. They're travelling around throughout the territories. I'm not going to release publicly where he is at every given moment. I don't keep track of that. He's got a responsibility to work full-time and report back to me. And as long as the objectives are being met and I'm meeting with him regularly, weekly, myself, then, you know, I will ensure that the work is continuing and that there's changes that are happening. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned previously, that NIHB is done differently in every region and what I -- what I mean differently is that even in Nunatsiavut, they have drawn down -- with their Indigenous government has drawn down the -- to implement the NIHB -- administer the administration. So even in -- and I raised this even with Newfoundland health Minister that they don't even deal with it because it's dealt with their Indigenous government. So every jurisdiction is different. BC has a First Nation health, and that's who administers, and so if you're Inuit in BC, you...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I committed in standing committee -- in the public standing committee, we will -- as the public meetings of the public administrator, we will release those publicly. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have information up until June, and what I have until June is that the shifts are covered. So I don't have the other information. So I can get back to the Members with that information. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm just asking that -- I'm not saying that it's negative. I'm saying that it's the respect that we all in this House do with each other as titles. That is the respect that I'm asking. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is actually a lot of work going on at the national level, and so there is -- at the health Minister meetings, this was a hot topic of all Ministers, that we all raised this issue that there needed to be more -- the physicians to be able to move freely within the -- or within Canada so that way that they could assist in other areas when needed a lot more easily. And then -- but so where we are right now is, you know, with the new health Minister, I'm hoping that I'll be able -- as I said, we're planning meetings with the new Ministers. One session has concluded...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will get the full details of that, and I will be glad to share that with the Members. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, those town halls are internal meetings with staff. Those are considered staff meetings. We did highlight in the -- so that way that they could freely speak to leadership. We have highlighted in the letter, and we have shared with committee, you know, the highlights of these and we will continue to work with staff through the public administrator as this is the operation of this arm. And right now, some of the things that he's doing is -- you know, as soon as he got off the ground, he and the CEO have travelled into the Deh Cho and they are looking at...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as we did the town halls throughout the territory, one of the themes was safety. You know, the safety of the frontline staff in all of our regions, our small communities, you know, they're -- in the health centres, you know, they go and the nurses have to go in. Sometimes they're there; they have to call in an extra staff member to be with them at night. We've heard from Hay River the concerns from the Hay River region. We've heard from the Tlicho. We've heard from the Stanton. And I would like to let the Members know -- and I can follow up with further --...

Mr. Speaker, making health care accessible to every Northwest Territories resident is a core mandate priority of this government. People across the Northwest Territories access our medical travel program, whether they are travelling to access health services in a regional centre, in the capital, or in the south. This means that a reliable medical travel program is vital to the Northwest Territories residents and to achieving this mandate priority.

In every community I have visited, residents tell me how difficult it is to navigate medical travel. This process can be confusing and frustrating...