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No, I appreciate that response. I would like to ask: Will the Minister look for opportunities to facilitate progress on the Detah road in association with the Giant bypass construction project? This has been something talked about in the past by the Minister of Transportation and there might be some opportunities. Will the Minister be looking for those?
As I mentioned in a previous reply, I think it’s important given our financial picture these days that we look at opportunities to partner with people to achieve our goals of supplying the transportation infrastructure that we need here in our territory. Certainly, I look forward to the discussions with the Member, and the committee and those proponents that are interested in doing work with the Government of the Northwest Territories. Working together, we’ll accomplish much more. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Your final, short supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, thanks for the response from the Minister. I think the work done to date certainly does epitomize that and I appreciate his ongoing interest in proceeding in that cooperative basis.
Is there a possibility for involvement of the Deton’Cho Corporation as an example of the Giant Mine bypass road and other associated projects in the riding? Mahsi.
As we move forward, I believe there will be partnerships evolve and opportunities that present themselves. Certainly, I think that opportunity does exist. I’d like to say that. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Premier and they relate to my statement about homelessness. I’m directing them to the Premier because the recommendations in the Falvo report reference more than one department and it is my belief that homelessness should be dealt with across many departments, not just one.
My first question to the Premier is: The Falvo report has five recommendations, four of them are to, well, not to the Executive, some are to Health and Social Services, there’s one to Housing Corp, there is certainly one to the government as a whole. I’d like to know from the Premier what plans he has. What plans does the government have to act on the recommendations in Nick Falvo’s report from May of 2011? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Honourable Premier, Bob McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Homelessness is becoming an issue that is starting to be pervasive almost throughout the Northwest Territories. We just recently received the Falvo report. I believe it was only released about two weeks ago. This is an issue that we plan to address. It’s not something that there’s a silver bullet that we can resolve the problem overnight. As the Member stated, it involves a number of departments. We also have to involve the NGOs. The efforts that have been undertaken here in Yellowknife have resulted in Yellowknife becoming almost a leading player in how to deal with homelessness. I guess the way I see it is we would try to resolve these problems closer to the communities where the homeless people come from.
For the most part, in looking at the five recommendations, we are supportive of the recommendations and we are going to move forward. We are looking at involving all the departments that are mentioned, to work together to deal with this issue. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I am really pleased to hear him say that this is a pervasive problem, that there’s no silver bullet that he’s going to involve NGOs. All of those things I agree with. I appreciate the commitment to taking some action. The report, I believe, was released in May of 2011 and maybe the Premier just got it, but it has been out for a little while and it was tabled in the House in August.
The first recommendation in the report is one that has been mentioned quite often by Members of this Assembly – by the previous Assembly, pardon me – and it will be mentioned many more times by this Assembly, I think. It urges the government to establish a homelessness secretariat. I would like to know from the Premier whether or not in their planning that they have done to date, whether the 17th Cabinet has considered consolidating homeless programs into one place and establishing a homelessness secretariat. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess I would like to express our appreciation for the work that has been done by Mr. Nick Falvo and the fact that his research is bringing attention to the issue.
As a government, we have been working on a Shelter Policy review. Our decision on whether to form a homelessness secretariat will be done in conjunction with the recommendations of the Shelter Policy review and our response to those recommendations. By all means, when we complete the Shelter Policy review and it recommends that we have a homelessness secretariat, we would certainly look at doing so. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Premier. Before we go on, colleagues, I would like to remind the Members on the sidebar chatter to give the Minister and the Members respect in their questioning and their response. Moving on, the honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank the Premier for his response. I do have to say, though, and I appreciate the work that is being done under the Shelter Policy review. I am eagerly anticipating their results, which I hope are forthcoming soon, but the Shelter Policy review really is only being done by the Housing Corporation, and homelessness, I think the Premier knows, cuts across other areas of our government and our programs and services. I would hope that we don’t base our decision on a secretariat, only, on the Shelter Policy review.
Another recommendation within the Falvo report was to develop shelter standards. Mr. Falvo specifically referenced the Salvation Army, who has men sleeping within five feet of each other and many of them with various and sundry health issues. I would like to know – and I realize this is perhaps better directed towards the Department of Health and Social Services – but, again, as the Premier have their Cabinet discussions, has there been consideration of developing standards for homelessness shelters across the Territories. Thank you.
I guess I look at the territorial facilities that have been established here in Yellowknife, facilities such as the Bailey House and so on, and also the Betty House that is in the planning stages, and our own homelessness policies that allow us to address the problem on a going forward basis.
As far as standards, I believe that all of those facilities meet those standards. I would be quite prepared to work to have our Health and Social Services and Housing Corporation look at the standards. I think the Salvation Army facility looks like a very fine facility. I guess they don’t want to leave anybody out in the cold, so I guess if having standards would mean we would leave people out in the cold, I don’t know if that is the intended purpose of having standards. But, certainly, we want to make sure that when we deal with addressing the homelessness situation, we don’t cut any corners. If we need standards, then, by all means, we will deal with that.
Thank you, Mr. Premier. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Premier. I think that Mr. Falvo’s point was that there are no standards and that they need to be developed. He wasn’t just referencing how close men sleep together; he was referencing the fact that there is a security issue. There is one person on duty throughout the night for some 50 men that are sleeping there. There is an issue of a human right and safety in there as well.
I was really pleased to hear the Premier mention that they are looking at these five recommendations. I would like to formally ask the Premier if the government will be providing a formal response to those five recommendations to both me and to the House, and when might we see that. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, we will be working with my colleagues. I anticipate that we should be able to respond probably early in the new year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question today is dealing with my Member’s statement that I gave yesterday in dealing with mental health and addictions. We have had a lot of discussion here today on infrastructure and some new capital projects that are coming to the Northwest Territories. Alongside with that, unfortunately, we do get a lot of health and social issues that do come with these big capital projects.
My question is for the Minister of Health and Social Services and deals with mental health programs and infrastructure. What is the plan to fix the lack of services that we have in some of our communities, especially in our regions, and the lack of human resources to address these mental health concerns? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The intention of the department is to continue with the Community Counselling Program, trying to address some of the wellness services in the community, increase the wellness services in the community, and also reviewing the Mental Health Act. The department is waiting for the release of the national mental health report from the Canadian Mental Health Commission. I will be attending the National Mental Health Summit in Winnipeg in February as a part of the release of that commission report. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, with all due respect, I don’t think we need a Mental Health Act or see a report to know what is happening in the communities and the neglect that we are having on people who really need the services for these mental health issues. Once again, I would like to ask: Is the Department of Health and Social Services, not only them but there are other departments that are involved in this, how we can work together to address the issue right now?
It is Christmastime. It is a tough time for anybody that is not getting the services they need. I think it is something that needs to be addressed now rather than later, when we have to review some documents to tell us what we already know. I would like to ask the Minister again, is there a plan in place that can identify these situations or offset the lack of services in our communities right now. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Yes, the intention of the Department of Health and Social Services is to move to prevention. Right now the Department of Health has a small budget in promotion and prevention.
The intention and the direction that I have given the department has been to increase the amount of money we are spending on prevention, and specific to some of the communities where there is a high incidence of addictions and mental health. The plan is to go into the schools to start at the youngest age possible, to work with the kids and so on, and also working with the health professionals at the community level, and move more money into prevention and try to prevent working upstream so that we prevent addictions from affecting the health of the people and mental health people as well. Thank you.
I’m glad to hear that the department is taking a proactive approach in education for prevention and awareness. However, right now, as I mentioned earlier in my two questions, we do have a waiting list, especially in Inuvik. The waiting list for anyone to get counselling is about three months and it is something that needs to be done now to address those issues. We will be coming to a new fiscal year in 2012-13. I was wondering if there was anything on the horizon in the fiscal operations O and M budget within the Department of Health and Social Services to offset those issues of our workers right now that are being over-exhausted dealing with counselling. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The intention is to fill the vacancies of the mental health and addiction workers that are currently in place. Right now there are vacancies which are causing the backlog, and the intention is to move some of those people, if necessary, to out-of-territory options in order to get the counseling necessary for the individuals. But a key is to try to fill the vacancies, which we are having some difficulty doing at this time. Thank you.
That’s all great for the communities that do have vacancies, but like I said, for communities that don’t have vacancies and they are already fully staffed, they are getting overload from some of the communities, especially Inuvik. They get referrals into the region and they’re getting overworked. Long days and, as a result, like I said, we are getting people that are on the backlog for three months to receive the services.
What’s the plan for the communities that do have full staff but are overworked? That needs to be addressed because we’re neglecting the people that are needing those services. Thank you.
The intention is to continue to work with the health and social services authorities. If the Beaufort-Delta has a backlog, then our intention would be to support them from outside the Beaufort-Delta to try to get the backlog dealt with. Again, like I said, we would try to do some out-of-territory counseling, if necessary, and hopefully deal with the backlog. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just one last further question here. The Department of Health and Social Services, there are programs out there with other departments that make it so people have to go through the process, go through the counseling to get assistance; specifically, Housing, ECE and some Justice for rehabilitation. However, some of those people that are going through it don’t necessarily take it serious or are making the backlog for the people that really do need it. Is the Minister of Health and Social Services willing to come up with a plan to offset those issues so that the people in the Northwest Territories who really need these programs can get access to them, working with the departments of Housing, ECE and Justice? Is he willing to sit down with them to come up with a strategic plan, an action plan, should I say? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Yes, this department would be prepared to deal with Housing, Education and the Income Support Program, housing programs, public housing programs, so that we can prioritize the counseling needs at the community levels. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today I talked about concerns of addiction. Certainly, as we look at the beginning of this new Assembly, there are many people here that would like to see the addictions problems addressed. Although I know the Minister is new to the job, I would like to highlight a comment made in Wednesday’s Hansard on December 7th on page 5, in which the Premier says we need to find creative ways to address addictions, mental health, and promote wellness.
That now brings me to the question to the Minister of Health and Social Services. Is the new leader of that department, who will be setting the course for Health and Social Services, what’s his intention on addressing the addictions issue in the context of the much needed problems to address detox, whether you’re treating alcohol or other drugs such as crack or meth? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister of Health, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is where I had indicated earlier of working upstream. We’re trying to work in the intervention, to try to ensure that addictions that people are facing, and mental health issues that people are facing, that they do not face those issues by us trying to prevent that from happening. Our intention, again, is to look at increasing our budgets in the area of prevention, hopefully working with children and so on at a young age and also dealing with youth. We think that that type of approach of making the youth and the children aware of the issues and so on, and then as they get older they would be able to avoid the addictions that are apparent now at the community levels and also right across the North. Thank you.
Thank you. I appreciate the answer from the Minister on prevention and I wholeheartedly agree from the approach of upstream. It’s better than being downstream without the paddles. On this particular problem, though, it almost sounds like they’ve abandoned the people with this particular issue. It’s great to provide prevention for those to keep them away from drugs such as crack or meth, and hopefully it will keep them away from alcohol abuse, but the territory really needs a detox centre to focus in on how to address these issues, and in the past they’ve used Stanton, which is not an appropriate facility. So, my question is more focused on what is the Minister willing to do on today’s problem for people suffering from addictions problems? Thank you.
The department is spending about $6 million on mental health and addictions. In the city of Yellowknife the department is supporting programs and the Tree of Peace for addictions programs at the Sally Ann, at the John Howard Society. As far as straight detox goes, at this time we have a ward at the hospital, which is not specific to addictions, but does include addictions. Then there’s also the Nats’ejee K’eh Centre in Hay River that’s there for the treatment of people with addictions. Right now that unit is running at about 50 percent capacity each time they have an intake. Thank you.
I appreciate the facilities or the locations the Minister has highlighted, but in fact those are areas that help people to carry the burden of their addictions, but yet it’s not a detox or a treatment centre by typical design.
Although the Minister doesn’t need to be educated on this particular issue, we know we had an addictions centre downtown that was used for many years, then was closing and then given away. Then they built one on the Detah road and that was closed and now is being used as a training centre. I mean, how many more addictions centres do we have to open and close and still not address the problems?
So, back to the question. We need a detox centre here in the Northwest Territories. Where that is located doesn’t really matter to me. Treating the people of the North is the priority, not the location of this particular facility. How will the Minister tackle this particular issue? Thank you.
Right now the department has some programs in place to address some of the problems. We are enhancing the Aftercare Program for addictions, and the closure of the addictions and detox centre, the closure of some of the treatment centres was something that happened in the past due to capacity, not the capacity of the department but the capacity of the treatment centres. All of the treatment centres at that time were operating with very few clients. The decision was made to roll it up into one centre and try to keep that centre full and operating as efficiently as possible.
At this time, even though we only have one treatment centre in the North, again that treatment centre only operates under 50 percent capacity for intake of clients. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I take exception with the last comment provided by the Minister. We only have one treatment centre, but the problem where I take exception with that is it’s not focused on detox or multi-problems when it comes to alcohol or drugs such as crack and meth. My fear, and the fear of many people, is has this government given up on people with addictions. Will this government finally take a clear stance, draw up a plan and build or even lease a detox centre to treat the people of the Northwest Territories who suffer from addictions? Thank you.
Some of the organizations that I spoke of do deal with the fact that individuals, prior to attending treatment, have to essentially be alcohol or drug free for several weeks prior to attending. There’s also a program in the Sally Ann where there’s a withdrawal management system. There’s a unit there that individuals go, to go through withdrawal. With those programs, the intention is to use individuals that are serious about coming to treatment to deal with their issues, they go there, they remain essentially drug free or alcohol free for a certain period of time before they go for treatment. As far as pure detoxification, yes, there is a centre or a unit in the hospital that can help with that, if individuals need to go for detoxification, that can help. They can also go to the withdrawal management systems at the Sally Ann.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have questions for the Minister responsible for Seniors. In our Aboriginal culture and beliefs it is a well-known fact that we take care of elders. Elders take care of the community, kind of watch over the community so that the community stays within the respect of the land, and the water and the animals. Over the years that role of elders has diminished somewhat. The basic fact is that elders are still being respected; they still need to be looked after. Over the years the policies of the GNWT have removed our elders and now they are in need of help.
I want to ask the Minister responsible for Seniors if he would work with his other colleagues to look at a comprehensive approach or strategy to how we take care of elders and their basic needs in the communities. Would the Minister come back with a plan to look at how our elders should be taken care of in our communities?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister responsible for Seniors, Mr. Tom Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Recently, I met with the NWT Seniors’ Society. We had a similar discussion. The seniors wished to be more involved with not just their own communities but to be involved with the whole territory. Representatives were there from all the communities. I indicated to them that this government was prepared to work. We are doing some intergovernmental work with the seniors and we are planning on trying to utilize the seniors and get their input as to what services they need at the community level.
