Clearly, the point is being missed or, rather, it’s being avoided. The issue is about the person who the EPO is issued against. That person has been accused falsely in this circumstance. The Minister knows very well of this example. The issue is it’s not about the person who lied. The person who lied, the process is correct, as he’s highlighted. How does the person who has been accused, who has now become the victim of the circumstance, get the EPO removed? They have to take it to court and it costs $5,000 in this particular example. There is no relief mechanism built into the process when it’s recognized it’s been issued in error. That is the problem. Would the Minister be willing to ask the department to have a look to see what to do or what can be done to provide relief to those who have been falsely accused and issued an EPO against?
As I indicated earlier, there has been a review of this legislation done. It has made some recommendations with respect to EPOs. The department is currently reviewing those recommendations and will be following up on those recommendations.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister said they had reviewed. Now he says they’re reviewing. I’d like to be clear on the record. Are they reviewing it at this particular time and are they taking the example I provided to the House as consideration for this review?
A review of the legislation has been completed and some recommendations have gone forth to the Department of Justice which are being considered right now.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I indicated in my Member’s statement, Hay River does not currently have any permanent doctors. My question is for the Minister of Health. What is the territorial government doing to assist local health authorities to recruit permanent doctors?
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Department of Health is working with the Department of Human Resources to get a health human resource specialist involved in developing some sort of recruitment strategy for physicians that need to come to the Northwest Territories outside of Yellowknife to try to fill the vacancies. We have almost 100 percent vacancy across the territory, with the exception of Stanton and Tlicho.
Does the territorial government currently have any money in the budget to do this, or is this a future process?
Yes, the Department of Health has a process of recruiting. We have budgets that we work with the Department of Human Resources to recruit physicians across the North. As is the standard for recruiting anyone in the NWT, we have that money to recruit doctors.
Is the territorial government working with the federal government to get any additional dollars to alleviate this problem? I know it’s not just a territorial problem, that they’re having the same difficulties in the provinces.
The Member is right that this is an issue across a lot of jurisdictions who are unable to get physicians to go to a lot of their rural areas. However, our whole system in dealing with the federal government is not specific to recruiting doctors. We do have discussions with the federal government on the Health Accord and the federal government provides money through the Health Accord to the government, which portions of it can be used for recruiting. Thank you.
Is the government committed to spending additional dollars in this situation for many communities in the Northwest Territories that don’t have doctors in their communities? Thank you.
We are hoping that it doesn’t require a lot of additional dollars to recruit doctors, but the intention is to try to recruit doctors in all the authorities across the North, but we’re doing what we can. The difficulty has not been the money; the difficulty has actually been getting doctors to those locations. Many doctors that want to come to the Northwest Territories have a desire to work in Yellowknife. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is also for the Minister of Health and Social Services. Coming from Inuvik, over the past couple of years I’ve seen a backlog of surgeries, specifically joint replacement surgeries and the backlog has led to inactivity, sedentary lifestyles, which lead to people becoming overweight and can lead to obesity, which also leads to chronic conditions. With our ever growing senior populations, I’d like to ask the Minister of Health what is the reason for this backlog, specifically joint replacement surgeries.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. The honourable Minister of Health, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The reason that the Stanton Territorial Health Authority is not actively doing elective joint replacement surgeries at this time is due to ongoing renovations to the ventilation system. They have to achieve a super clean operating room in order to do joint replacements because there is high possibility of infection with that type of surgery.
With the new standard put in place, that’s probably been about the amount of time since the backlog started. It has taken awhile and I was just wondering what the plan in place was to address the backlog and what exactly is the plan that the Department of Health has come up with to address the backlog of these elective surgeries.
The Member is right; there has been a backlog as a result of not doing the elective joint replacement surgery. What we are doing is we are approaching Edmonton, the ones that are emergency situations. Some of the emergency situations are maybe what the Member is describing are possibilities. Although Edmonton, too, also has some on the waiting list. So that is our backup plan, but realistically our objective is to get the operating room back operational. Thank you.
I respect the answer that the department is doing as much as it can. Is there an expected timeline that these surgeries can be brought back on schedule so that the people in the communities that have been waiting of the last couple of years have confidence in this government that they are moving forward and have that interest in getting them back on their feet and healthy and becoming society again.
The project to turn the operating room into a super clean operating room is out to tender now. Our objective is to have the operating room operational, I guess, on April of 2012, this coming year. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. April of 2012 we can expect people of the communities of the Northwest Territories, the ones that have been waiting for the last few years, to start moving through the process and getting their surgeries taken care of by this 17th Legislative Assembly and the government. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. More of a comment. Moving on. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to follow up on my Member’s statement, and I would address these questions to the Minister responsible for Women and the Executive.
I would like to, again, commend all my male colleagues for wearing a white ribbon today, and I would hope that you don’t just wear the white ribbon today but that you will continue to wear the white ribbon throughout the year as an indication of your pledge to actively work against violence against women.
The Coalition on Family Violence Action Plan 2 has certainly done a lot of work. It has increased the awareness and the prevention of family violence and abuse throughout the NWT but, as I said in my statement, we need to continue the work that the coalition has been doing. They’ve done a good job and I feel that we need to continue to support them. I would like to ask the Minister what consideration has the Minister and/or his staff given to the 19 recommendations in the Phase 3 action plan. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We, too, are very grateful for the work that has been done by the Status of Women Council and also the Native Women’s Association. With regard to the 19 recommendations on the Coalition Against Family Violence, we are just starting the process of reviewing them as we begin getting ready for the business planning process.
Thanks to the Minister for that response. We are probably entering into a time where the staff and Ministers are developing business plans for the 2012-13 year now and probably in early January. There’s a specific request from the coalition for core funding in three areas: one, to stabilize existing shelters; two, enhance community services related to family violence; and three, establish a program for men who use violence and abuse. I’d like to know from the Minister, relative to these three specific requests for core funding to continue the work that’s already been done and accomplished and that we recognize, I’d like to ask the Minister how this government will respond to that particular request for core funding. Thank you.
We will be responding to each of those three requests. On the first one, on the shelters, I believe we have responded in the affirmative, that as a government we will be continuing funding for the continuation of the shelter program. On the two other requests, we’re still reviewing on the training for prevention of violence for men. We are reviewing the proposed program to see if it meets the requirements of both the government and that they will be successful. On the other one, we’re also reviewing that specific request as well.
Thanks to the Premier. I’m really pleased to hear that these recommendations are being reviewed and I would hope that they are being seriously reviewed. The Minister mentioned that they will continue funding particularly in regard to stabilizing existing shelters. I would hope that that would be core funding and not just one-time funding, because that is the specific request of the coalition.
I’d like to know from the Minister, as they review these recommendations and as they consider additions or deletions or whatever to the business plans upcoming, how will the Minister, how will the Minister’s staff involve the coalition and their partners in the consideration of their requests. Thank you.
I believe that the coalition has provided a valuable service to the government and we will continue to involve them as we go through in reviewing these 19 recommendations.
Thank you, Mr. Premier. Your final, short supplementary.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks for the answer. I guess I would like to get a little more specific, and I appreciate that you’re going to involve them, but can the Premier tell me specifically how you will involve them. Will you bring them in for department discussions or consultation, or will you simply send them e-mails? Can I get an indication of what kind of involvement you’re referencing? Thank you.
We will be reviewing them and we will be involving them where it will make the most sense and where we will get the best advice for the amount of money that we spend on it.
Thank you, Mr. Premier. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to follow up on my constituency need for a couple of schools in Nahanni Butte and Trout Lake. I would like to ask the Minister of Education a couple of questions. I have been raising this issue for several years.
First of all, perhaps I should ask about Trout Lake. I always made the case because the community has always made the case that it is not an actual school. It is a recreational centre where they are being educated. I would like to ask the Minister of Education, are they looking at Trout Lake of building their own stand-alone school? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister of Education, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The Trout Lake school has been, as the Member stated, he is quite correct that it has been raised in this House. They have been part of the capital planning process along with other pressing matters that are before us within the Department of Education, Culture and Employment.
When we do the capital planning process, we compile the important issues such as one from Trout Lake and one from Nahanni Butte and other regions. It trickles down to which is the most pressing issue in the Northwest Territories. Based on that, the selection criteria is selecting those individual projects and then it is the highlight of what we are here today. We will be discussing the projects as well. Based on that, that is the process.
I did commit to the Member that I will be visiting Trout Lake, the Nahendeh region, in the near future. Mahsi.
Certainly the community will welcome any visit by the Minister to show them their case, indeed. Would the Minister be able to confirm that at least these schools are on the long-term 20-year capital needs assessment? Thank you.
This particular school along with other schools, we continue to monitor them. It is based on the teachers in the community, the students, based on the population. If there is an increase in the student population, then we will definitely put that as a high pressing need for the Northwest Territories to be considered as part of the capital project. Yes, indeed, this is part of the process that we must continue to monitor. I understand the issues with the school capacity, so we will continue to monitor that as well. Mahsi.
I am certainly glad that the department is assessing the communities and monitoring them, but I would like to know, are these schools at least on the 20-year needs assessment capital plan. Thank you.
When we met in Detah we talked about the goals and objectives of this government. We talked about our capital infrastructures. At that time there was discussion on focussing on the small communities. That is definitely one of our goals as we move forward with this particular GNWT 17th Assembly and when it comes to capital projects. With the 20-year plan, I have to get that more detailed information. I don’t have the plan in front of me today, but I will gather the information. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will certainly look at getting that information on the 20-year needs assessment to see if it is indeed on the capital plan. In my Member’s statement I asked just that, is that we start planning. It is important for me to see that on the capital needs assessment. Just one more time if I can ask the Minister if he will commit to have that plan perhaps sent to my office so I can review it as well. Thank you.
