Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my statement I talked about the effects of fracking. The consequences of fracking as a development process are becoming more and more evident within Canada and throughout North America. We are starting to become more and more aware of some of the consequences.
My questions are addressed to the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. I would like to ask the Minister what the GNWT is doing to educate itself, its residents and other orders of NWT governments about the effects of fracking. I have to say again that we need the facts on fracks. I would like to know whether or not we are engaging in any research. What are we doing to find out about fracking and the effects it will have on us? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Member for the question. Obviously this is an issue that we are paying close attention to. Fracking is a practice that has been utilized in Canada since 1990. I think the Member referenced it being banned in some provinces and territories in this country. To my knowledge, that hasn’t happened. It is currently suspended in the province of Quebec, pending environmental review, but to my knowledge it hasn’t been banned in any other province or territory in this country.
I would agree with the Member; I think we have to separate fact from fiction when it comes to fracking and its future utilization in our territory, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.
We need to separate frack from fiction, do we? Thank you to the Minister for the comment, but I would like to know what we are doing as a government. Are we engaging in any research? Are we looking into the effect that fracking will have on our northern environment because it is different from other environments? I would like to know whether there are any plans on the part of this government to do some serious research, and once that’s done, to then educate other governments and our residents about it. Thank you.
There’s certainly a lot of potential in the Northwest Territories, both in oil and gas development. In the Sahtu region, certainly across the river from Norman Wells there’s a lot of potential there for oil where fracking could be utilized to extract that oil.
We need to work with the regulators, the NEB. We need to work with AANDC, the federal government and ourselves to come up with a plan. Currently – I know my colleague Minister Miltenberger spoke of this the other day – there is a plan in place to coordinate efforts, to reach out to communities, and it will start in the Sahtu to let people know what fracking is, how it works and what the potential pros and cons of such activity are on the environment. Also, there are economic benefits too.
So I think the balance and weighing those things out will be something that communities across the Northwest Territories will have an opportunity at some point in the near future to have the opportunity to comment on. I can see that type of program reaching out to other communities across the Northwest Territories, but for the immediate future it’s going to start in the Sahtu in the new year. Thank you.
Thanks to the Minister. I didn’t hear much about research. I heard we’re going to look into it; we’re starting in the Sahtu. I think it’s important that we consider that it’s not just the Sahtu; it’s undoubtedly going to end up in the southwestern corner of our territory. So I would urge the Minister, with the Minister of ENR, to go well beyond just the Sahtu.
One of the things that I mentioned in my statement is that I believe it’s a responsibility of government to protect residents, and one of the things that I think we can do as a government, if we feel that there are implications for a particular development, is to act as an intervener in an environmental assessment process. So I would like to know from the Minister whether or not this government will take that role and act as an intervener in an assessment process, should that development come to that. Thank you.
That’s common business practice for us to act as an intervener in environmental assessment. So, going forward, that would be the case. Certainly the more information we have on fracking, the research… I know the department is following it close as are the folks at ENR. We need to know exactly what we’re dealing with and we’re fully intent on finding out what fracking is and, again, weighing the pros against the cons, the economic benefits versus protecting the environment. I think at the end of the day we’ve got a regulatory process in place here in the Northwest Territories that’s going to allow us to do just that.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister. I was pleased to hear the Minister earlier say that there will be an opportunity for residents to provide some input, and that’s, I think, a large concern for me and also for many constituents. What avenues will there be in sort of a specific sense for residents to direct their concerns to the government so the government will know what individual residents and/or community governments feel about the process of hydraulic fracturing? Thank you.
Thank you. I would envision the type of outreach and educational program that’s going to be looked at for communities is going to be something people can understand. It’s going to be at a level where people can get a better understanding of what fracking is. As far as residents in the Northwest Territories wanting to provide input, that opportunity, if the meetings get to communities across the territory, people will have that opportunity to provide their input. Again, I think we need to get all the facts on the table and chart a course justly. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have two questions today for the Minister of Health. Earlier today I indicated in my Member’s statement the need to create a better fast-track policy with extended health benefits as it pertains to newly diagnosed cancer patients. Can the Minister of Health please share with this House if there is a policy in place or a draft that deals with a better system for fast tracking cancer drug coverage?
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. NWT health insurance pays and approves the cost of cancer therapies provided to the clients, and the department works closely in partnership with Alberta Health Services, in particular the Cross Cancer Institute, to provide the services to residents of the NWT at this time. Thank you.
Obviously at a later time I’ll be talking to the Minister, probably in closed quarters, to get more information on that.
The second part of my question has to do with what we’ve heard earlier today by my esteemed colleague from the Sahtu regarding his people having increased incidents of colorectal cancer and their concerns, but all of our citizens are worried about the increase of cancer cases in the NWT. Current information is not readily available to the public. The last report from the Health and Social Services, called “Cancer in the Northwest Territories 1990-2000: A Descriptive Report” is over 10 years old and very out of date. We are informed the Department of Health and Social Services has a new report covering 2000-2010 but has yet to be released.
Can the Minister of Health indicate to the House when this document will be available so the residents know what’s going on with cancer? Thank you.
The department will be publishing the report which covers 2001-2009, actually. The report is scheduled to be released in 2012, the earlier part of 2012 is my hope, and the information will cover such things as cancer incidents, mortality, cancer screening and also the stages of cancer diagnosis.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I spoke in my Member’s statement that in my meeting with the people in Fort Good Hope all of the speakers talked about the number of cancer-related diagnosed community members and the different sources that possibly cancer could be coming from. The most heartbreaking comments were from young people in the communities on the ones who are the surviving members of cancer. So I wanted to ask the Minister what type of support can be given to the people in Fort Good Hope or the family members who have to deal with the loss of their loved ones due to the number of recent cancer deaths in that community.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The Minister of Health, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Grieving families of individuals who have passed away from cancer can get client counselling from the community counsellors. Also the access through how they can obtain community counsel to deal with the grieving of loved ones through cancer can be arranged through the community health nurse. Thank you.
There’s an author that’s renowned for her work with death and cancer, Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, and she talks about dealing with grief, and the general normal grief process takes about two years for the person to go through the whole grief cycle. Of course, with our Aboriginal people we have our own cultural grief ceremonies.
I wanted to ask the Minister, because there are so many deaths in Fort Good Hope, is there any way that his department can find a dedicated person to come to Fort Good Hope, stay in Fort Good Hope, and deal with the hundreds of people that are affected by one cancer death or two cancer deaths or three cancer deaths rather than to go and seek counselling services in the community. I want a dedicated person to deal with the cancer deaths in the community and have someone there on a full-time basis.
At this time our intention was to have the chief medical officer go to Fort Good Hope to meet with the people there. I know I have talked to the chairman of the Sahtu Health and Social Services Board and she’s interested in myself, along with some departmental staff and the MLA to go to the Sahtu and travel to all the communities, including Fort Good Hope, and maybe from that type of discussion could evolve into something that is more focused on this particular issue.
I certainly look forward to that trip with the Minister. One of the speakers in my meeting said living in Fort Good Hope is stressful and scary. You don’t know if your number’s next and you’re going to be the one told that you have cancer. It’s very tragic and painful to listen to young people sit in front of you and cry and say my mom or my dad has cancer. I know they’re not going to live long and they’re going to die.
I’m asking the Minister if he will start plans or look at plans to have somebody come into Fort Good Hope and sit with the living members of someone who has died of cancer or people who have recently been diagnosed with cancer and work with them, just like the book I quoted earlier from Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, and talk about death and dying and help our people. Can the Minister look at some plans to look at that type of initiative? This is what the people are telling me and I don’t think I need the Minister to hear exactly what I’m already telling him. Can the Minister work on some earlier plans?
The cancer rates across the Northwest Territories have gone up. Between 1992 and 2009, cancer rates are 162 cases per 100,000 to an increase of 283 cases per 100,000. In Fort Good Hope it is a bit higher but it is not significantly higher than that particular NWT number. It’s 331 cases per 100,000. That doesn’t mean we don’t want to focus on the issue. As the Minister, I would be prepared to discuss some sort of strategy to address the issue of all of the people in the Northwest Territories that have loss through cancer and try to address that issue in a more across-the-board way.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The people in Fort Good Hope have asked me why they have to yell so loud for help. Recognizing there are a lot of cancer deaths in the Northwest Territories, my people in Fort Good Hope in the last month have three more who have been diagnosed with cancer. That’s three more families that are affected right now. They are asking for help. Why do they have to yell so loud to this government to say bring somebody in? Let them work with the families. Let them work with the young ones. Let them understand what death and dying is all about and how hard it’s going to be for them. Can the Minister work on some early plans, look at his department and say that we can dedicate some funds to help the people in Fort Good Hope to deal with cancer, especially on death and dying?
In Fort Good Hope between 2001 and 2009 there’s been 19 cases of diagnosis with cancer and there are 980 cases of cancer diagnosis across the NWT.
I’m not saying we don’t want to do this in Fort Good Hope; all I’m saying is it would be good for the department and it would be feasible for the department to develop a strategy that addresses the issue right across the Territories and not specific to one community.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Not to sound uncompassionate about the issue of families who suffer and grieve with members who have cancer and eventually succumb to cancer, so that Members don’t think that I’m uncaring, I was 27 years old when my mother died of cancer. She was 57 years old. Ten years ago, when I was the Minister of Health, our cancer rates in the Northwest Territories, believe it or not, were less than the national average. We know everybody, we come from small communities, so it seems like it’s higher sometimes. If we are going to put out new statistics on cancer rates in the Northwest Territories, surely we need to do that with a backdrop of how much we smoke, how much we drink, what our diets look like, how much we exercise, and hereditary factors are also huge in getting cancer. If we’re going to put out statistics, we have to be real as a government, as well, and include information on those statistics as a backdrop to our cancer rates. Does the Minister of Health and Social Services agree that that can be done?
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The cancer rates across the Territories of the various cancers, like colorectal cancer is at 24 percent, breast cancer is at 17 percent, prostate is at 14 percent and lung cancer is at 10 percent. Some of those cancers obviously are tied to lifestyle; some are tied to other factors. It could be water, as Mr. Yakeleya indicated. The intention is that when we do put a report out, it will cover all of the cancers across the territory and if smoking is a big factor in the cancer rates across the Territories, then, yes, it will be indicated in the report.
When we do put out statistics as a government on this, I’m saying is it is a standard practice to also include in those statistics the kinds of indicators as I have listed in my previous question, or does that information, as Mr. Beaulieu listed the different types of cancer in the Northwest Territories and so on, come out as a package so that people get the picture or is this something that is just listed without, absent of those other indicators?
The entire department is trying to get more into prevention and when we put out reports and it’s necessary to indicate that the cause of this cancer is this or the human behaviour here is causing this type of cancer, then that can be something that we are working on. Whether or not the causes of each of the types of cancer are going to be specifically indicated in the cancer report that we’re going to be bringing out in 2012, I haven’t seen the report so I don’t know if that information will be there. But, yes, we are trying to get the message out. That’s the idea, is to get the message out to people that smoking does cause cancer. I think that’s very clear and our intention is to point out those factors each time we’re dealing with the issue of cancer or other sicknesses like diabetes.
Some people are going to get sick regardless of how hard they try to be healthy and how good their habits are, but there is also a huge element for personal responsibility and a lot of people out there in the public don’t like it when we as a government talk about personal responsibility. They don’t want to hear about it. When I was Health Minister I went to a community that sat there, gathered, told me about their water source, how it was no good, and I think every single person in the meeting drank three cans of Coke while we were in this meeting. They talked to me about diabetes and water source and how horrible it was. We have got to get clear messages so that people know we have choices to make. I’m not saying I’m perfect and I’m not saying any of us are perfect, but is there a way that we can spend more money to enhance the message about personal choices?
There is a way and we are working with the various health authorities across the Territories. We’re going to work with the boards, the public administrators, the CEOs of all of the health and social services across the territory to get that message out. To get the message out that says these are some of the causes of the sicknesses that are occurring across the territory. That’s why when we say we’re moving into prevention, with prevention is promotion and communication with people in the Northwest Territories.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment following up on his Minister’s statement this morning on Student Financial Assistance review. I just want to start by confirming that this review will indeed include some additional support for upgrading as per the Minister’s commitment in earlier discussions in the House.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. When it comes to Student Financial Assistance it is a subsidy for post-secondary institutions, so college and university. In cases where upgrading has been brought to our attention on numerous occasions but there are other programs and funding, whether it be from local organizations or federal, there is also federal funding that individuals can access. I’m sure this particular area will be brought to our attention through the SFA review. Any concerns or issues that will be brought forward will be considered through the review process.
I appreciate the Minister’s response there. The previous Minister of ECE did indeed commit to including the upgrading in this review, so I’m assuming that it will be done.
The second one I would like to confirm is happening is there’s a well-known deficit and need for veterinarians in the Northwest Territories. The Sahtu has a particularly unique and fortunate agreement, I think with the support of Environment and Natural Resources, if I recall, with the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon to occasionally bring up veterinarians. Most of the NWT suffers from a great lack and there are a few outstanding individuals who are expressing a desire to go out for that training. This has been brought up again with regard to this review. I’d like to again confirm that this review will include consideration of the provision of a seat for a veterinary student from the Northwest Territories. That’s beyond a vet assistant. It’s specifically for a full-fledged veterinarian so that we can build our veterinarian staff in the NWT from the one or two that there currently is.
When it comes to this particular program, it has been in the works for a number of years now. I believe there has only been uptake of one or two over the last several years. We did have a guaranteed seat within the GNWT for this particular veterinarian training through the college. It is upwards of $25,000 for the one particular program. It is somewhat expensive. At the same time there has been little uptake on this particular program.
Again, if this is an interest from the general public as a whole, then we can certainly consider it through our review process as we move forward.
Thank you for that response. My understanding is that, indeed, we have not had that opportunity the last few years and, thus, it is not surprising that there have not been updates, but I’d love to stand to be corrected on that.
My third question is: Looking at the composition of the steering committee working on this review, I don’t see any representation from user groups. I think that’s something we always want to include when we have a steering committee. Why is there not representation from user groups, a student association or something like that on this steering committee for the Student Financial Assistance review? Mahsi.
This particular review has been undertaken for the last couple of months now and we will be going through until next year. We’re at the preliminary stages, so those are options that I can certainly take into consideration. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Your final supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
