Thank you. I would grade that question B or B plus.
---Laughter
We’re starting to grade everything here and I’ll work on improving mine for the next report card.
We’ll continue to work with the federal government. I mean, obviously there’s a lot at stake here. I mean, there are devolution talks, which you know would speed up the whole process because we’d have more authority over the lands in the Northwest Territories. But I mean, I can assure the Member and all Members that it is our intent to constantly work and put pressure on the federal government to realize that they have some responsibilities up here and they need to take those quite seriously, they need to become involved in discussions we have. We can have discussions between the Aboriginal governments and the territorial government, but we also need to make sure that we have discussions with the federal government and I can assure the Members that I will continue to push that issue quite strongly. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister responsible for HR. As far as HR plans go, Brilliant North 20/20 is a pretty good document, in my opinion. It goes a long way to increasing the representation of persons living with disabilities in the GNWT public service. But as outlined in my example earlier today, clearly not all department boards and agencies are supporting the government direction on hiring persons with disabilities; in particular, accommodating those individuals. So I’m wondering if the Minister could tell me what he and his department are doing to ensure that everybody who is participating in a staffing action understands the policies and procedures related to accommodating persons with disabilities and increasing the representation of persons with disabilities in the GNWT workforce. Minister of HR.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Minister responsible for Human Resources, Mr. Bob McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can assure the Member that all departments are committed to increasing the representation of persons with disabilities in the territorial public service. 20/20: A Brilliant North public service strategic plan, which government developed with all departments, makes it a priority to increase the representation of persons with disabilities in the territorial public service.
Now our GNWT employability working group, as the Member indicated, in 2009 we invited the Yukon workplace diversity office to come and talk to us about best practices and we learned a lot from that and it is our objective to become something similar.
Now HR is working with all departments to establish human resource plans so that we can begin to work to increase our percentages. Right now it’s 0.5 percent of persons with disabilities working in our government and we’re going to start working to increase it to 0.8 percent, which will get us to having a representative public service. Thank you.
Thank you, and I appreciate that. I’ve read all that in the Brilliant North 20/20, which, like I said, I think is a good document. What I’m more interested in right now is already we’re including the reference on job ads to indicate that persons with disabilities should identify their disability and indicate that they need to be accommodated. We’ve also got this great diversity officer that this young man in question actually contacted and got information on how to apply, what to do, what to indicate in his cover letter, and he applied on the job at Stanton. At the end of the day, after he passed the interview, after he screened in, passed the interview, had good references, he was told by Stanton that you’re not getting the job because we won’t accommodate your need.
This is a job pushing a cart in a hospital, Mr. Speaker. So I’m curious what is HR going to do so that in the future this type of thing doesn’t happen again. What we want to make sure is that departments are abiding by our rules. So how do we as a department... How does HR enforce the rules? How are we going to make sure that people understand and implement them as intended? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
We are working with all departments to establish the disability framework so that all departments will be able to follow this framework to increase our representation. Right now our focus is on employability, increasing the education and awareness of all departments with regard to dealing with persons with disabilities in the workplace with the sensitivity training. We expect that we will go a long ways to increasing the numbers of persons with disabilities in the workforce. Thank you.
Thank you. Once again, I appreciate the Minister’s response, but I come back to this example. The person was told that they weren’t getting the job after they passed and the references were good and they were told that Stanton would not accommodate this person’s disability. So we know it’s happening. Does the department have any recourse where a department clearly isn’t abiding by the rules? Does the department have any recourse or ability to make sure that departments do adhere to the policies and procedures of this government? Thank you.
Thank you. We have established a GNWT Advisory Committee on Employability that’s making its recommendations to the government so that we can increase the representation of persons with disabilities. What we’re trying to do is strengthen our relationship with not only our government, but with non-government organizations, and the Union of Northern Workers and other unions so that we can increase our percentage of persons with disabilities in the workforce. Right now we’re working on developing a communications strategy that will go out to all people in the Northwest Territories and advance to a disability survey that was developed by what we call GACE, the GNWT Advisory Committee on Employability. We have developed a disability awareness training module that we’ll be sending out an RFP very soon to finalize that so we can start awareness training in the near future, and we are also dealing with the recommendation to revise the definition of disabilities in our Affirmative Action Policy. So that will give us greater awareness and will give us more ability to deal with different departments when it comes to employability. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and once again I appreciate the Minister’s response. I know a lot of good work is done, but we’ve still got this situation where it seems to me that a department could ignore all the good work that the Department of Human Resources is doing in this respect if they choose not to accommodate, they just choose not to accommodate and they don’t hire, but we have a policy that says we’re going to accommodate. So what action are we going to take to make sure the departments actually live up to the policies and procedures that we have? What is the department going to do when those departments choose to ignore HR? HR is the gatekeeper, Mr. Speaker. What’s HR going to do to make sure that these departments who are choosing to ignore, choose to ignore? Also, what mechanism exists for a person who applies on a job like this when there is no appeal process because nobody filled the job? Ultimately, this job wasn’t filled by anybody. There’s no appeal mechanism for the person to say hey, I was discriminated against, what’s my recourse? To the Minister, thank you.
This is a process that will not happen overnight. As to what I’ve outlined, it will allow employees with disabilities to self-identify. We also have to work with all departments so that we can match people with jobs. We see this as a role of the diversity office and all of HR working in conjunction with the departments. As we go along we will identify jobs and people and do the matching so that we can increase our representation.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask the Minister of Transportation some questions regarding the Liard River ice crossing. In November I raised the issue that the department had plans to use their own forces to build an ice bridge. That’s certainly something I don’t support. I’d like to ask the Minister what the plans are for this coming year’s ice construction schedule.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. Michael McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m not aware of any changes at this point to how we’ve constructed ice bridges historically, so I’d have to look into the issue.
I’m sorry, Mr. Speaker. I did not realize the exchange was completed. I just want to raise the issue that the ice is being constructed by local companies employing local people. It’s been a source of income for seasonal workers for many, many years. I certainly support the continuation of contracting that ice crossing out. I’d like to ask the Minister, I’m not too sure if the contract is up this year, but it’s certainly something I’d like to see continue.
Our practice has been to utilize local contractors and generate local employment as much as we can. Construction of ice bridges and ice roads has always historically gone to private contractors. We have been looking at ways to save money or cut some of our costs and I’m not sure if this is one of the areas that may have been targeted. I will review the situation and reply to the Member directly as to what our findings are and what our plans are.
I certainly look forward to the Minister’s response and, as well, we’ll have another opportunity to discuss this during his departmental business plans in Committee of the Whole. I just wasn’t clear; did the Minister say that the contract was up this year or was that for the information that he requires to see?
We have quite a few contracts that are signed with communities and development corporations across the Northwest Territories. I can’t say with any certainty whether the specific contract referenced is up this year. I will find out, though, and provide that information.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve got some more questions today for the Minister of Health and Social Services getting back to my Member’s statement where I was talking about the sterilization of surgical equipment at Stanton Hospital. Again my main concern here is the public that are out there waiting for surgeries and residents who have gotten post-operative infections being upset and concerned over how this has all played itself out. I’d like to ask the Minister when exactly the decision was made to cancel elective surgeries at Stanton.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First of all I need to clarify some of the confusion that might be created as a result of our exchange here. There are incidents of infections that I had reported yesterday, but there is no connection between those infections and the sterilization equipment that we’re talking about.
Stanton is maintaining and upgrading the sterilization equipment. They are waiting for parts. For that reason they have had to cut down on surgeries. They are doing emergency surgeries as well as those that require medical travel when people travel here to have surgery. They are doing those. They are delaying elective surgeries. That is a separate process from incidents of infections that the hospital has identified, which they are following up on.
Based on that information that they need to be serviced and maintained -- and I’m speaking about the equipment -- can the Minister give me a date that would coincide with a decision being made to delay or cancel elective surgeries at that hospital? I’m looking for a date from the Minister.
I don’t have a specific date, but Stanton has delayed and lowered the number of elective surgeries in January and February.
The Minister talks about parts and we’re waiting for some parts. I know the CEO had mentioned that in a news report, as well, that they’re waiting for a part. I’d like to ask the Minister exactly what parts we’re waiting for and why it’s taking so long to get those parts to arrive at the hospital.
I’d like to reiterate what the CEO said in her interview, which is that all of our equipment meets national standards. They’ve decided to improve the steam quality of the sterilization equipment. They have recently installed a new reverse osmosis system and are in the process of installing a steam filtration system to improve steam quality. In doing so, they have had to have a new part and they are waiting for that. That is the situation with this.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It doesn’t get much more vague than they’re just waiting for a part. I’d asked the Minister a specific question: what part are they waiting for and why is it taking so long?
That’s a highly specific and technical question and I’d be happy to undertake to get the information on exactly what equipment, exactly what part, and exactly from where that Stanton is waiting for this.
I should note here, though, that our biomed department at Stanton is second to none. They have a very good staff and well-trained staff who maintain and look after our medical health equipment from all over the Territories. In my entire time of 12 years here, I don’t remember something like this happening. I have full confidence in the authority to do the job and this is an extraordinary situation, but I’m sure it’s a normal situation too. The hospital is in need of equipment and they are ordering a part to be able to do that.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As many people in this Assembly know, water management is a municipal issue but water quality, I believe, falls under a public health point of view. My questions will be directed to the Minister of Health and Social Services from a public health point of view.
With recent awareness regarding the concerns of fluoridation treatment in water, there have been a lot of pros and cons on this particular issue. I’d like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services what public health is doing to review the quantity of fluoridation in the water that is being provided to our residents in the Northwest Territories and do they have an opinion on the quality and quantity that’s being put into the system.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to let the Member know that the decision to add fluoride rests with the municipal governments. The department is responsible for setting maximum limits and monitoring fluoride levels in water. The chief medical health officer supports the addition of fluoride to drinking water as a measure to prevent tooth decay. At this time in the NWT, there are only three communities that fluoridate their drinking water: Inuvik, Fort Smith and Yellowknife. Wrigley has natural fluoride in their water. It is the municipalities that can make the decisions on fluoridization. The department just sets the maximum standards.
The Minister is correct that it’s a municipal issue that they actually manage, but from a public health point of view it falls under the chief medical officer quite rightly, as she put the issue. So then follows with the particular matter of how often the levels are monitored and what type of public education is provided by the chief medical health officer out there that people realize that fluoridation is added to their particular water and they understand the full gamut of what it means, whether it fixes teeth or helps defer decay from teeth or, as other people have talked about, it’s created some type of medical issues that people have to struggle with. It’s a publication point of view from a public health concern that I’m trying to raise.
Communities that fluoridate their drinking water must regulate fluoride levels regularly to ensure that they remain within the regulations set by the Federal/Provincial/Territorial Committee on Drinking Water, which is currently set at a maximum of 1.5 milligrams per litre. The chief public health officer is in charge of approving the standard operating procedures for the sampling, testing, treatment and quality of water of municipalities, but it is the municipality’s responsibility to administer fluoride into drinking water and testing levels of fluoride to ensure that they meet the standards.
I’m not sure that the average person knows that there’s fluoridation in the particular water. I think it’s sort of an old-school approach that you either assume, or it is or it isn’t in water. How often does the chief medical officer review the results of the particular pros and cons of the value of fluoridation that is out there? Again, I’m not talking about the municipality managing or putting it into their system. I’m talking about the quality and public safety.
As I stated, it’s up to the municipalities to do this. The CPHO sets the standards and they do that. There is the appropriate jurisdiction. I can also add that the many governments and health organizations, including Health Canada, the Canadian Public Health Association, the Canadian Dental Association, the Canadian Medical Association and the World Health Organization endorse the fluoridation of drinking water as a safe and effective way to prevent tooth decay, which is actually quite a serious issue in the North. Community water fluoridation has been identified by the U.S. Centre for Disease Control as one of the 10 great public health achievements in the 20th Century.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m glad the Minister mentioned the WHO, because the WHO in 1994 recommended levels half of what the Minister had prescribed up to the level of what the Minister prescribed.
As we all know, toothpaste comes with fluoride and there are many other products out there that do pick up the shortfall where there is a gap. Again, I’m not talking about the management of an actual municipality from the injection system at the water treatment plant. I’m not talking about the governance of the council about them flipping a coin on whether they should put it in or not. What type of public education does the chief medical health officer provide the public to let them know that this is in their water and the potential risks abound by that process? It’s only a public awareness campaign. Does the Minister provide any information and if not, will she instruct the CMO to do this type of work?
The amount of fluoride that I indicated is the maximum amount and, as I indicated, the chief public health officer has set the standard procedure. It’s the municipalities that administer them and it is up to the municipalities to fluoridate the water.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wanted to continue to question the Minister of Health and Social Services on some of the answers or non-answers that she provided to me earlier. I guess I’ll try it again.
I have mentioned the fact that I initially thought it was three weeks, but some of the other numbers I’ve heard are this goes back to the beginning of January. I was asking the Minister to provide me a date when elective surgeries were beginning to be delayed or cancelled. Can the Minister confirm or deny it was the first week of January? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
