Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. If we’ve missed anyone in the gallery today, welcome to the Chamber. We hope you’re enjoying the proceedings. It’s always nice to have an audience in here.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have questions today for the Minister of Health and Social Services, getting back to my Member’s statement where I talked about the status of the sterilization equipment located at Stanton Hospital. This equipment is used to sterilize surgical instruments for performance in the operating room. I’d like to ask the Minister, if I can begin by asking her what the current status of the sterilization equipment is that’s required to sterilize these instruments at that hospital.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to thank the Member for the question. Mr. Speaker, I can advise you that Stanton has identified three definite and two possible post-surgical site infections. In June a quality audit of all processes from the CSR to patient care units was conducted to ensure that Stanton was following best practices. Dr. Kandola, chief public health officer, reviewed the audit and has endorsed the practices Stanton has followed. Surgical site infections are a risk for all surgeries.
I can also advise the House that Stanton’s SSI rate has been within the national average of 3 percent over the last number of years. Mr. Speaker, the staff and the management of the authority are on top of this issue. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, June was eight months ago. I’m wondering, if I could, to the Minister: when did the hospital become aware of the deficiencies with that equipment and once the deficiencies were found, were operations still conducted, were surgeries still conducted at that hospital in light of the findings of that report in June? Thank you.
Infection control and the review of incidents of infections is a part of the regular business in running a hospital. Our hospital keeps up with all of the national standards and they are engaged in constant review. Mr. Speaker, the management are in touch with what is happening at the hospital and they take action as it becomes necessary. I can also advise the Member, following on his Member’s statement, there are restricted numbers of surgeries being conducted at the hospital because they are waiting for parts for their surgical sterilization equipment. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, if they’re waiting for parts, I’m just wondering how long has this been going on for. My understanding is it’s been three weeks that surgeries have been cancelled at that hospital and only emergency surgeries are being performed. I’d like to ask the Minister how long has this been going on. I will wait and ask another question after that. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, we should be aware that surgeons and the staff can organize and cancel surgeries at any time if they have any concern with the scheduling or the equipment or any of the procedures. I think it’s important for everybody to know that all the procedures followed are the ones that are accepted nationally. We don’t have any more infection incidents than any other parts of the country. We are, in fact, below the national standard. All instruments used in the OR meet current Canadian Standards Association standards for sterilization.
Mr. Speaker, the decisions they make about reorganizing schedules and cancelling surgeries as required, the staff make those decisions all the time. I need to make sure that the people are aware that the authority is aware of this, the surgeons are aware of this, management is aware of this. They’re taking all appropriate actions and while we are working to address this issue, we should not be causing undue alarm. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Your final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It sounds like surgeries are being cancelled because the hospital is waiting for parts. I’d like to think it has nothing to do with increased rates of post-operative infection, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask the Minister: have we seen an increase in post-operative infections at that hospital going back the last four months? Thank you.
As I stated earlier, we’ve had three definite infections and two possible other infections. Infection control in hospital settings is an increasing concern nationally. It is a discussion that all of the health care professionals are engaged in. This could break out at any time and the important thing is that we have the confidence in the staff that we have, that they are equipped and qualified and knowledgeable to address that. The public health officer has reviewed the process and we are meeting all national guidelines. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services a question on the proposal by Fort Good Hope in terms of the proposal that they put forward on a prevention and health promotion worker in Fort Good Hope. The Minister and I had a visit to Fort Good Hope. The proposal was drafted and given to her and the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. I want to ask the Minister what is the status in terms of that proposal.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Member’s question. As he stated, we did visit the community. We had a good discussion with the chief and we also met in my office as a follow-up visit.
Mr. Speaker, we have responded to Chief Arthur Tobac on his proposal. We are interested in discussing with the community his proposal. Our staff has been directed to engage in a dialogue. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, can the Minister inform the House as to when the position will be recruited and hired for Fort Good Hope?
Mr. Speaker, I don’t have that information right now, but the position is vacant, as the Member is aware. The community has different ideas on how to address community wellness issues. I am open to that proposal. We have written to the chief that we would like to take it to the next level and work with the local leadership along with Sahtu Health Authority. I am very interested in seeing this through. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, can the Minister inform the House, inform the people in Fort Good Hope -- we have about eight months left in this government -- what does she mean by seeing it through? When are we going to have an actual person hired in the community rather than having a discussion? I think the people clearly know what they want. When can the government come up and support the community?
Mr. Speaker, as the Member knows, the chief has given us a proposal. They have very different ideas, not different ideas but a new idea of making this position work for them. He has asked us to work together jointly in rewriting the job description and hiring. Those are the ideas that I am interested in working with the chief. We also met with a gentleman who is very interested in taking on this work for the community, who is from the community and who lives there.
Mr. Speaker, the timeline is the spring. I would like to, I don’t know... What is spring in the Northwest Territories? March or April? I would like to work through this in March and in April. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask the Minister in terms of the timelines. It is usually about springtime, I guess, and hoping that by then can I get a commitment from this Minister that we would have a person in Fort Good Hope that is hired and working in the community to help with the youth on their issues and work with the families.
Mr. Speaker, we do have a set process on hiring and job description and such that is actually within the mandate of HR. For me, for now, what I want to indicate to the Member and the local leadership in Fort Good Hope is that I like the idea that they are proposing. I would like to see how we can work together to make that happen, because we need to agree on the proposal, agree on the sort of job description and what it is that we are expecting this new position to do. It is about doing things differently within the resources we have. But, so far, I am very interested in pursuing that proposal. I am afraid I can’t give you an exact timeline, because that is a different process. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I talked about the needs of daycare and preschool in Fort Resolution. I have questions for the Minister of Education.
Mr. Speaker, on an interim basis, can the Minister direct the Department of Education, Culture and Employment to provide some emergency funding for immediate repairs that are needed to the daycare and the preschool in Fort Resolution? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. There is funding allocated to the communities that have early childhood programs or daycares. There is funding such as funding for equipment and material purchases that the Member may have alluded to in that area, and also funding for other areas such as mortgage expense or rental expense on the premises that are not owned by the GNWT, but I need to work with the Member on the specifics on that particular situation in his community. We also need to work with the local DEA, as well, as we move forward on this particular matter. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, if additional space in the current daycare preschool can’t be obtained, whether it is an addition or some internal renovations, will the Minister work with the local district authority to find some temporary space for the community so that these kids can go to preschool prior to going to kindergarten in September? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, those are areas that we need to identify within a community. There are other reviews that have been undertaken as well. They could capture that. It may have captured it in the past or not, but child daycare standards regulations does come early this year or next year. Also, the Member is referring to a temporary placement. Those are the areas that my department, ECE, needs to work with the DEA and also the Member identifying those matters at hand. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, will the Minister consider directing his department to try to provide some O and M funding to the community, whether it be through the DEA or through the band, to provide funding for the preschool to hire a half-time student to accommodate the additional that have to go through preschool prior to kindergarten? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I will commit to working with the Member and also the DEA. At the same time, there is the Early Childhood Program for start-up and also contribution funding that is available to those individual organizations. We need to deal with the matter, the detailed information that the Member is referring to. If I can get that information, I am willing to work with that and also with the DEA through my department. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final supplementary, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am not sure if I said a half-time student but I think I meant a half-time teacher.
Mr. Speaker, earlier he talked about buildings that don’t belong to the GNWT. Would the Minister look at Education, Culture and Employment’s infrastructure plan to add funding to build a new building to house daycare and preschool in Fort Resolution? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, through this early childhood programming, we provide funding for programming. Not only that, but a portion of mortgage and also rental expenses for providers that operate on the premises and also Early Childhood Program that consists of start-up and operation costs. Those are the funds that we provide currently through the ECE department. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. I want to follow up on my Member’s statement.
The good management of any issues requires the balanced input of all stakeholders. With wildlife, this is at least, if not more, critical than in most areas, because it is a very limited resource that is vulnerable, as we know, to overexploitation. Those with Aboriginal and treaty rights are squarely at the management table, with representatives comprising half of management board members while those without these rights have only representatives that represent both rights holders and non-rights holders. What can the Minister do to provide mechanisms to resolve this critical gap? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Minister responsible for Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’ve heard the concern. There are some options that are out there in terms of ex-officio members, observers; as well, the GNWT will have two to three seats available, of which in any given time we can bring stakeholders to the table, depending on the issue being discussed. Thank you.
Thank you. I’m assuming that the Minister means by any of those issues and what’s appropriate here that when we’re talking about the use and enjoyment of wildlife, there would be everybody at the table. Their recent wildlife management controversies and failures demonstrate a lack of early and critical input to the process.
Debate, even when perhaps overly enthusiastic and a bit rancorous and extreme, provides an important role in society’s ability to arrive at good decisions that recognize and respond to the rights of all. This is particularly true when the legislation is abundant and complex. How will the Minister ensure that mechanisms are both identified in the legislation and funded to ensure this key debate helps form the backbone of the management process?
Thank you. As Minister of Finance I caught the keyword of “funded.” The issue is going to be to address, through the management, the conference process to see and make sure that everybody is represented. As a public government, the Government of the Northwest Territories, we are charged with representing the interests of Northerners at that table as well. There are options to make sure we have representation from non-Aboriginal harvesters and, we believe, mechanisms to do that. Thank you.
Thank you. I appreciate the openness and commitments of the Minister here and I guess I would ask him that he commit to even further discussions on this outside the House. But what will the Minister do to ensure that the interpretation of the legislation goes the distance to consider and meet government responsibility to provide for all citizens the opportunity to use and enjoy wildlife? I’m thinking here of, for example, the interpretation of priority access to mean exclusive access. Case law clearly has indicated that’s not the case and we’re talking interpretation of the legislation. Thank you.
Thank you. The bill, when it comes forward for first and second reading, will be as complete as possible. It will have been amended numerous times. We’ve fully briefed committee on this. We laid out all the very many changes that have been made based on a lot of the feedback that we have received from groups and individuals from across the North, outside of the North, from business, from industry, from the airlines. So we’re going to bring forward a bill that will be there to be further viewed by committee through a consultation process. We’ll look to advice that comes back from that process to see if there are any final amendments that need to be made before it comes into the House, hopefully by no later than August, for third reading.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Your final supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Minister for those remarks. Certainly the caribou population, and with what we’ve been through recently and are going through, are a big and tough challenge. Will the Minister be providing an analysis of how our systems broke down and led to such failure, including the failure to a reliable measure harvest, a basic management parameter for wildlife management, and how this will be addressed in the Wildlife Act? Mahsi.
Thank you. I don’t know if I would agree with the assessment that there was a breakdown of our systems. We definitely know that there was a decline in the various caribou herds.
We will address some of that through the Wildlife Act. The vehicle that will probably provide a better form for that is going to be the Barren Ground Management Strategy that’s coming forward and the need in this part of the country to look at a multiparty board or arrangement to look after the number of herds that are in this part of the country. Go from east to west with the Beverly Qamanirjuaq, the Ahiak, the Bathurst and the Bluenose East, which as well extends north all the way up to Inuvialuit area. So it is a very complex undertaking, be it one of the big issues, of course, is to make sure we have sufficient funds to do the constant survey work that is required and that we can’t afford to wait for decades to do this. We need to, as we have been doing for the last many years now, come up with a plan and funding to do all the herds so that we have a very good baseline information that will allow us to better track what’s happening in terms of the health of the herds. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
