I should clarify, it appears the honourable Member misunderstood me when I said the report that I was referring to was based on What We Heard. We subsequently have developed a broad discussion paper. So there are two separate papers. Secondly, we are looking at an NWT-wide strategy and the advisory group on poverty that has been advising us has people from across the Territories that are advising us.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can be really short. I’d like to ask the Premier where is the discussion paper to which he refers.
The broad-based discussion paper is one of the documents, as well as What We Heard through community consultations, and as well as the priorities of this 17th Legislative Assembly; all are information that are being used to help draft a broad Anti-Poverty Strategy for all of the Northwest Territories.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think that we can all fairly say that living in poor conditions sometimes creates health problems. My questions today are addressed to the Minister of Health. Overcrowding invariably creates health issues related to chronic respiratory conditions. My question to the Minister is: What is the department doing to eliminate tuberculosis rates and rates of other chronic respiratory conditions related to poor living conditions?
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The department is working on the eradication of tuberculosis. The department works with Aboriginal community governments and our health authorities across the Northwest Territories to make a commitment to eliminate tuberculosis in the Northwest Territories.
I’d like to thank the Minister for that. Is there also an effort to maybe try to describe some of the trans-weather… I know there’s always the possibility of epidemics and I think we recently saw it in southern Canada. Whether the department is looking at, perhaps, trends or just some target areas, we have to be fairly concerned in terms of this new strain of tuberculosis and how it could probably affect the general health.
Yes, the rates of tuberculosis in the Northwest Territories are six times the national average. That’s a fact, but the numbers are still small. There are 26 cases per 100,000 people. This is the number and it’s less than four cases per 100,000 across the country. In cases where there was a bit of an outbreak of tuberculosis, the department has gone into the community; we’ve gone into the community, we’ve done screening. The last time that occurred we screened 95 percent of the community. We found 17 cases of positive tuberculosis and all of those cases have been eradicated.
I’d like to ask the Minister what are some of the preventative steps or preventative strategies that perhaps the Minister and the department would consider in trying to eliminate tuberculosis and other chronic respiratory conditions that are associated with overcrowding.
The situation is that the community health nurses in communities where tuberculosis has come into the community or the community has come into contact with tuberculosis, the health nurses are working with the communities where there is overcrowding that seems to be one of the factors. We work with the local housing organizations to ensure that if there’s overcrowding in public housing, that we try to address that issue. If there’s overcrowding in the homeownership situation, then we work with the Housing Corporation to try to address that issue.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final supplementary, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think my final question is just on the lifestyle that we all live. I think it’s fair to say that we have high rates of alcoholism and drug abuse, and also at the same time, smoking rates are high. What is the department doing to try to maybe perhaps focus on preventative steps so that our people here in the North are living a more healthy lifestyle?
From about 1995 to 2009, smoking for people over the age of 15 has gone down from about 52 percent to 38 percent, and that’s largely to do with the Don’t Be a Butthead campaign that was launched in the schools and so on.
The department is trying to come up now with an overall strategy of health problem prevention, and how we’re hoping to do that is to talk to our authorities, and the communities, and the professionals in the communities and try to package, along with the Aboriginal government, try to package the programs that are in the community so that we have a greater impact, that good programs are continued and that programs that are not effective can be dropped, and we will focus in on the good programs and hopefully prevent people from getting unhealthy as a result of lifestyle. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have to return to my questions to the Premier. I’d like to ask the Premier a few more questions related to some of his answers to my previous questions.
The Premier indicated that the draft strategy is being developed by a group of deputy ministers and that there is an advisory council that is assisting them. My recollection is that that advisory council is perhaps five or six members. I would like to suggest, without casting any aspersions on the abilities of the people on the advisory council, that we have a huge amount of expertise, some of which is displayed in the gallery, but the Anti-Poverty Coalition is some 26 or 29 member groups, and I feel that we are drafting in a vacuum if we don’t involve them. Is the Minister asking that all information be funneled through this advisory group to get to the people drafting the strategy?
To the discussion paper that is apparently being used as a basis for the development of an Anti-Poverty Strategy, the Minister stated that the paper is there. It hasn’t yet gone to standing committee. It hasn’t yet gone to the public. When will that happen, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The advisory committee that we’re referring to is made up of four people and it advised us in the early stages. The discussion paper that has been drafted looked at what is currently being done, what some of the findings are with regard to the discussion that we held with Northerners, and ways to improve the well-being and self-reliance of Northwest Territories residents and gaps and areas for improvement, amongst other things. We will review the progress on the draft strategy, and at some point in the very near future we’ll be going to standing committee to provide an update and at that time we’ll make a determination. Thank you.
Thank you to the Premier for that response. That’s all well and good, but I have to say there’s absolutely minimal opportunity for the public to have any input into the development of this strategy. I can’t stress strongly enough that we have to involve the members of the coalition and that’s not happening. I didn’t hear the Minister speak to the discussion paper. I would again ask the Minister, the Premier, when will the discussion paper be released to (a) the Standing Committee on Social Programs, and (b) the public. Thank you.
I already responded several times, that we’ve had a very wide period of consultation. In October 2010 there was an anti-poverty workshop held here in Yellowknife. From January to April 2011 we did community-wide consultations in every region. We had 30 focus group sessions in 13 communities. We talked to over 250 people. In addition, we held surveys that anybody in the Northwest Territories that had an interest or view on anti-poverty could submit. I think that we’ve covered the consultation piece quite widely. Thank you.
I’m not suggesting that consultation was not done, but when a strategy is being drafted, I suspect that there are one or two organizations within this territory who might like to have some input onto the development of that strategy. The Premier calls this paper a discussion paper. It’s for the benefit of who? Who’s doing the discussing? From what I hear it’s only deputy ministers. So to the Premier: Who is this paper intended for and is there any opportunity for the public to take part in discussing this paper? Thank you.
I think we’re following normal procedure in developing an Anti-Poverty Strategy. We will be developing a draft Anti-Poverty Strategy and will be coming forward to committee. Also, as I indicated earlier, we are meeting with the Anti-Poverty Coalition on January 19th. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Your final, short supplementary. Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Premier. I guess I don’t understand the reticence of this government to release papers that they’re using to base a strategy on. I simply want to make a statement to anybody who happens to be listening: Find a person on the advisory committee. Present your points to them; they’re the only ones that have input. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. More of a comment, but would you like to respond? The honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.
There will be opportunities to comment on it. We will be briefing committee. We will be providing the discussion paper and a draft strategy to committee. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question today is for the Minister of Justice. The rate of mental health issues in the Northwest Territories is the highest in Canada. Health and Social Services is in the process of reorganizing our mental health services. A motion in the 16th Assembly calling for a mental health court was overwhelmingly endorsed by front-line, non-government organizations, and Bill C-10, obviously, elevates dramatically the need for prevention and diversion programs to keep people, especially those with mental health issues, out of the costly justice process. What is the Minister doing to get a mental health court in place and resolve this need? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Minister of Justice, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the 16th Legislative Assembly I believe my colleague Mr. Bromley put forward a motion that was seconded by the Member from Frame Lake, which asked us to begin research and examine options for potential benefits of the introduction of a mental health court. Since we’ve come back as the 17th Assembly, I’ve had conversations with my colleague Mr. Bromley, but also my colleague Mr. Beaulieu about this particular opportunity.
The Minister of Health has indicated that they wish to be moving forward with more prevention and treatment options within the Department of Health and Social Services, and we’ve agreed to work together to come up with a response on whether a mental health court would be the appropriate tool to use here in the Northwest Territories. But in addition, we also want to talk about integrated case management, having the departments of Justice and Health and Social Services work together more closely. We want to talk about front-end diversion to community programs and supports that could be done by the RCMP and other organizations before people are even charged, and we want to talk a lot about specialized courts.
Will a mental health court be the exact one that is laid out in the end if it is deemed to be appropriate? I can’t say. There are other options like a wellness court used in the Yukon, but it is certainly something that we’re exploring at this point in time.
We need to look at the social indicators of crime in the Northwest Territories and we need to all work together. I’m excited to say that the Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Social Services are going to be working on this and will, hopefully, come to committee and Members with some options which may indeed include a diversion-type court yet to be determined. Thank you.
I appreciate that all those discussions are being had and are ongoing but, obviously, the need is only growing, so we really want on-the-ground actions. I guess my next question will be when can we see recommendations coming forward that we can actually get going on the ground. Thank you.
I can’t say exactly when we’ll actually see the recommendations come forward, but I have committed to work with the Department of Health and Social Services to come up with a working group that’s going to come up with these recommendations. I hope to have that to the Member shortly after Christmas, as far as when the actual recommendations come out. We might need a bit more time. I will continue to work on that.
Building on this is the conversation I had with the federal Minister on Monday. The federal Minister did indicate that they would be willing to work with us on options to help keep individuals out of the court system and that mental health courts or divergent court of some sort might be one of those options. We are getting support from other areas as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Again, I appreciate the response from the Minister. Obviously the motion and the discussions – I think this was brought up in our motion on Bill C-10 as well – was specifically to deal with the mental health issues. Can the Minister assure me that there will be a focus of the… Obviously I am hoping for broader and other areas of prevention and diversion, but in this particular case I am hoping we can focus on the mental health issues that the Northwest Territories is challenged with. Thank you.
I commit that in the research that the working group does that they will include those types of discussions and they will certainly include all of the research and analysis that my colleague Mr. Bromley had prepared as part of the motion in the 16th Assembly. We are looking to collect as much information as we can and to include all of that. I commit that that information will certainly be included.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess, just briefly, I would be interested to learn what possibilities there are for support from the federal government to deal with these issues based on the Minister’s visit. Thank you.
During my conversation with the federal Minister of Justice in Ottawa, we talked about options to keep people out of the court system and we have agreed that our department, and the federal department and the territorial department are going to work together to come up with some options in this area. Diversions is certainly one of those areas. The departments will continue to have that conversation. As more information comes down, I am absolutely happy to share that with committee and with the Regular Members. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Time for oral questions is now complete. But before we move on, colleagues, I would like to have recognition of visitors in the gallery. Annemieke Mulders, NWT Status of Women; Dawn Tremblay, Ecology North; Lois Little; Ron McLean, United Church; Sandra Lockhart, PSAC North; and Ben McDonald, Alternatives North. Welcome to the House.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to present a petition dealing with the matter of creating an Anti-Poverty Strategy for the Northwest Territories.
The petition contains 309 signatures of Northwest Territories residents. The petitioners request that the Government of the Northwest Territories get to work immediately on creating an Anti-Poverty Strategy for the Northwest Territories and that the government work collaboratively with community groups, labour, business and others who want to eliminate poverty in the Northwest Territories. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document, entitled “NWT Geoscience Office Strategic Plan 2011-2016.” Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister of ENR, Mr. Miltenberger.
