Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It gives me great pleasure to recognize a couple of people quickly. First off, I’d like to recognize a constituent of mine, Ms. Karen Wright-Fraser. I’ve know her for a very long time. We all know Karen is a wonderful woman who is a timeless talent of the ages in the art of Gwich’in traditional arts and crafts, so she is certainly a hero to her community and women alike in her amazing talents. To that, I give a great nod.

The other person I’d like to quickly recognize is Denise McKee. She is up in the gallery here today and I suspect she is here for the motion that will...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The detailed plan, the NWT Action Plan for Disabilities, has certainly come forward in 2008 and it’s a shame that it wasn’t received with better enthusiasm. During the day, of course, it probably was. It got its own nudge, but of course, like many great reports, they find themselves on the way quickly to that shelf or certainly holding that table up from wobbling.

Seniors and disabilities are my two favourite areas I’m working on and I certainly dedicate myself, any time I’m ever asked, to these particular issues and I’m always looking for ways to see what I can do more...

As my colleague had said, this is a multi-disciplinary issue. So, in other words, what that really is, is government jargon that’s spread across multiple departments and it’s difficult to nail one person as responsible.

The initial action plan identified five key areas. I won’t go through them again, but maybe the Minister can talk about how the department has helped facilitate better housing for people with disabilities and found ways to help them work through poverty to ensure we can get them back into the workforce to do better things, because they want to be in a meaningful role in society...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My first question will be to the Minister responsible for disabilities. In 2012 the NWT Disabilities Council asked for an update on the NWT Action Plan for Disabilities. Part of their launch of the action plan originally identified a hundred concerns and they were further refined down to five particular themes. Of course, things like education, employment, income, and disability supportive housing were the themes that they had refined them down to.

The question to the Minister is: When will there be a progress report on the success of that action plan and when will we...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In May of 2001, the Premier of the day then tasked a steering committee to develop a partnership that would work on the issue of disabilities to promote inclusion of persons throughout the Northwest Territories through their disabilities. With that task force, they devolved through their Disability Steering Committee, they developed a partnership that identified five key areas, and I suspect my good colleague to my left, Ms. Bisaro, will be referring to them as well.

Under education: ensuring the…(inaudible)…free lifelong learning opportunities that maximize the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It was on the tip of my tongue on the last question, but I was trying to find out if the Minister of Health and Social Services was tasked with the lead role on the Disability Steering Committee for these initiatives. So, he is somewhat responsible for all the areas.

My last question is really focused around employment, and some people say the best poverty plan is jobs, an action plan, creating employment for people. I did talk earlier in my statement about stabilizing income and helping people so they can have a meaningful quality role in society that they so truly...

I certainly appreciate that answer. In 2014 the NWT Disabilities Council decided on their own initiative to conduct their own territory-wide survey. So, they reached out to clients, caregivers and certainly professionals obviously connected to disabilities. Their survey reached out to more than 320 people in all communities but one.

My question for the Minister of Health and Social Services is: What is the Department of Health doing with that valuable survey information gathered by the NWT Disabilities Council, and are they able to put it into some type of use and action, because it is...

I hear the Minister but I worry he’s not hearing me. The issue is it’s not about Avens and if the government decides to contract directly with Avens for services for the extended care level 5 beds. Albeit it’s not as if it’s a competitive market in the city where we’ve got 50 seniors’ agencies scrambling at the door saying we want a chance. We really have one. Sorry; two. I should say it this way. You have Avens and you have the Government of the Northwest Territories. You have one or the other who wants to take on the challenge.

That isn’t the issue, and I want to be very clear, but the...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’m not going to belabour this section very long. I just need to clarify a particular thing under the extended care 18-bed facility being anticipated to be here in Yellowknife. One of the particular issues that has arisen is the competitiveness of these opportunities.

Can I get the Minister’s commitment to this House that it will be a competitive tender process whether is it developed through a partnership with Avens or it’s developed as a government project or some other way? The point is, I want to ensure that this extended care facility is an open and competitive...

It was reported on CBC North, and I thought it was an interesting comment, and not just a plug for CBC North on at six o’clock with Randy Henderson – Randy can thank me later; I’m waiting for his Tweet – that said, in all seriousness, the Ontario Auditor General had pointed out performance problems with the contractor as basically the lead of this initiative. I mean, in essence it really talked about probably cost creep, although I haven’t had a chance to read the report, I certainly will be looking towards it later on. In essence, the performance of these two hospitals that were built in...