Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Monfwi, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’d like to recognize two of the hardest-working Pages among the other Pages, as well, from Whati: Janita Bishop and Tracella Romie, and their chaperone Theresa Romie, for coming down here and working for us. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Michael McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it’s good to see the visitors in the gallery all wearing green. Today I wanted to recognize my sister-in-law Melody, and my little bundle of joy up there that can’t sit still and I don’t think is really interested in what we’re saying, Cooper McLeod. Welcome.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Thebacha, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize two of the Pages here today from Fort Smith: Crystal Andersen and Kiana MacDonald, who’s just coming in with a glass of water, and Ms. Charlotte Andersen, the mother of Crystal, who has been here all week with her two charges. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My first question to the Minister of ITI is related to my Member’s statement earlier today. Mr. Abbott reports that Fisheries and Oceans Canada has told him he cannot get a licence to export fish out of the NWT until he can prove that the NWT market is saturated and there is excess for export. Obviously, this is an overly onerous request for a single provider that would require considerable time and expense. It’s difficult to understand how the market saturation could be realistically demonstrated. Here’s an instance where the Industry, Tourism and Investment department could go to bat for Mr. Abbott and all fishers to eliminate an unrealistic, almost silly barrier to prosperity. Will the Minister commit to having this investigated and including the results in their promised report to committee on the FFMC and fisheries file? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bob McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are investigating that and we are supporting the fishermen who have voted to withdraw from the FFMC. So we are doing all of the legal work. We will be undertaking consultation so that we can begin to move forthwith to proceed with withdrawing from the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation. Thank you.
Thank you. I appreciate that commitment to assist Mr. Abbott in demonstrating that the local market has been saturated so he can export fish.
My second question is about the implications of opting out of the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation. What are the liabilities and what’s the process in getting this done? What are the implications we should know about? Thank you.
Essentially, the process is we have to consult with other aboriginal governments and also make opportunity for interested public to have input into the process. We would have to advise the federal government or the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation of our intention to withdraw. We would have to enter into a negotiations process, because there are liabilities, financial and otherwise, that we have to deal with. We have to come back to this Legislative Assembly to withdraw or eliminate the applicable legislation. My understanding is the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation has deficiencies somewhere in the neighbourhood of $11 million. They have working capital deficiencies and so on, so we would have to negotiate our withdrawal from that process. Thank you.
I appreciate that. The Minister is obviously on top of this and working on it. Sort of related is: would the Minister consider starting our own fish marketing corporation or some formalized program to assist in the export of fish as well as the local sale of fish from Great Slave Lake and other sources? Thank you.
I guess our immediate intention, assuming our budgets are approved, is we were going to work on developing a domestic fishery so that we could have Northwest Territories fish processed and sold in the Northwest Territories. Until such time as we are officially withdrawn from FFMC, we are faced with restrictions, as Mr. Abbott is presently facing for export. As far as setting up something similar as FFMC or so on of FFMC provided for the by GNWT, I think that’s a discussion we would have to have with the fishermen. They just voted to remove themselves from FFMC, so one would wonder if they would want to enter into a similar arrangement so soon. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Your final supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Of course, I suspect they would be interested into entering quite a different relationship than the one that they are opting out of.
My final question is: what support is available to the unique and commendable and environmentally responsible business development that’s exemplified by Mr. Abbott so that small fisheries operations can get the support they need to realize their full potential? Thank you.
Presently we have all of our tool kit of business programs that are available to a business like Mr. Abbott’s. For the other fishermen that have voted to have the Northwest Territories withdraw from FFMC, this government is committed to working with all of the fishermen to develop the fisheries and to develop and find further potential opportunities for fishermen of the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are addressed to the Minister for Health and Social Services. I would like to follow up on some of the concerns that I stated in my statement earlier. One of the real difficulties that I see with the proposed plan and the discussion paper that’s out there is the timeline for implementation of these proposed changes. I’d like to ask the Minister, the time that is out there is September 1, 2010, I’d like to know what that date is based on. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The way the policy is right now, the implementation is to be on September 1, 2010. Thank you.
I don’t believe I heard in there that the timeline is based on anything, so I’ll have to assume it’s based on nothing.
I have a question with regard to some of the things that are missing in the discussion paper that is out there on proposed supplementary health benefit changes. I specifically feel that Members and the general public need to know how much these proposed changes will cost and I have not seen that anywhere to date. I agree with the need to provide coverage for NWT residents that don’t have supplementary health benefit coverage, but I have to ask the Minister for an estimate of what the cost of covering those who don’t already have it will be to this government. Thank you.
I think we should remember that the extended health benefits we have are very generous and there are no suggestions made about reducing the benefits. The big issue of consultation is who accesses these benefits that are available. This is the discussion we want to have with the groups of people in the Territories who are eligible for those programs right now. So in the next coming two or three months, I think the information we have put out in a discussion paper gives a good starting point with really good information about what the program does, what does it cover, who benefits now, who is excluded. I believe the department has done an excellent job, along with support from others like Finance and the Stats Bureau, to give people the information they need in this very important dialogue. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
To the Minister, I don’t disagree that the information that has been presented is good information. It is a clear explanation of the current program. But, you know, in order for people to make a decision or to make comment on the program and the suggestions that are out there, they need to know the cost of the program and we need to be able to consider what it’s going to cost us, what it’s going to save us. That information is not available. I am concerned about the timeline. I am concerned about the amount of consultation. Particularly I’d like to know from the Minister about the stakeholder working group and how they are going to be involved. I am very concerned that there won’t be meetings with that working group to discuss and debate the changes. I would like to ask the Minister to outline for the House how this working group will be involved in the consultation as it goes forward over the next several months or year. Thank you.
I believe I answered those questions in the Member’s previous questions. The stakeholder group, the public working group, will be involved in this process, so will all the other NGOs, health authorities, individuals. We are interested in talking to the public about what this program is.
The Member had a number of questions about how much it costs. That is all the information that will be answered at a town hall meeting. We have designed the discussion to be as open and widely conversational as possible. We are presenting the public with essential information for them to start their discussions on and we will have a facilitator. We will have key people who will be at every meeting so they can keep good track of what the people are saying. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I reiterate my need for two meetings; one to get the info and a second one for people to provide their input. To the working group and how they will be involved, I appreciate they will be involved. I would like to know from the Minister how they will be involved. Are there scheduled meetings with the department and/or the Minister with this working group or are they simply expected to provide their input as a member of the general public? Thank you.
The public working group met with the staff who have been working on this for the last number of months a number of times. As the Member indicated, they have had input into the discussion paper and all of the publications that have gone out. They like the information they got. They gave us feedback within 48 hours. What they suggested has been incorporated, and I expect that throughout this consultation process they will play an important role, as will the committee members, the Standing Committee on Social Programs, and any other NGOs that are interested in this process, as will the...(inaudible)...leadership council who I met with last Saturday who really support the information that we are putting out to the public, because they believe, and I believe the Members believe, that we need to make important decisions that speaks to the sustainability of a very important program to the Northwest Territories. I give a lot of credit to our people that they’re intelligent, they’re engaged, they understand the information and they’ll give us very good feedback. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today in my Member’s statement I talked about something that is not easy to talk about because it’s something that is in our communities, but it is a very insidious thing and it’s hard to get information about it. It’s hard to create awareness, because I personally have not heard of any public campaign to bring awareness of this issue of this Rohypnol or date rape drug. Mr. Speaker, I am going to direct my questions today to the Minister of Justice.
Mr. Speaker, the thing that makes this so difficult is the combination of factors that allow this crime to be perpetrated on innocent victims without much opportunity to respond to it. Mr. Speaker, a lot of people who may be the victim of such a thing aren’t aware of what they should do in order to protect evidence. Sometimes, Mr. Speaker, days go by, reducing the quality of the evidence if they did know what to do with it. Mr. Speaker, the other thing is, it’s extremely difficult for the victim to articulate what happened because the effect of the drug actually makes them unable to relate that to the authorities. Mr Speaker, of course, anytime something like this happens, it’s very difficult for the victim to talk about it, because quite often under the influence of this drug, the victims are assaulted in some way.
So, Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister of Justice does he have any way of finding out throughout law enforcement authorities exactly how prevalent this is, understanding that quite often these cases never come to the conclusion of people being successfully prosecuted in the courts. But just through the enforcement authorities in the Northwest Territories, would we be able to get a sense of how common this particular crime is committed? Thank you.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister of Justice, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I am glad the Member is raising this key point of interest. It is important to the Justice department working along with the RCMP “G” Division. We have a Victim Services Program in the communities. That’s just one step, Mr. Speaker. Also we are trying to create some awareness in the communities. We have various websites through Health and Social Services and our Department of Justice linking to various programming that is available throughout the Northwest Territories, but we continue to improve in our program. We have community justice programs, as well, that could be related. Not only that, Mr. Speaker, we need to start from a young age, as well, in schools. One good factor is those individuals are going to be involved in programs such as Going Miles, which builds self-esteem, and a new campaign called Not Us!, which is going to be happening at the end of March in Hay River. So those are the things that we need to be fully aware of and it is awareness that we continue to push in the communities. Mahsi.
A lot of the awareness that is out there right now is to try to make young people aware of the dangers of drugs, and they are drugs that people sell to them that these people take. But, Mr. Speaker, this date rape drug is something quite different in the fact that a person could just be innocently at a social function or at a public establishment and could have this put right into their drink. Mr. Speaker, so this is a little bit different; the awareness on this. The Minister mentions victims services. I would like to know are the victims services committees in the communities specifically aware of the signs, symptoms and affects of this particular problem? Thank you.
This particular area, whether it be date rape drugs or other drugs, I wouldn’t say most of the communities are aware of it, but some communities are aware. They are somewhat aware of this particular drug that’s out there and other Ecstasy drugs and other hardcore drugs out there. It is a common concern for our Department of Justice, so we continue to work closely with “G” Division. Mr. Speaker, we have a new commanding officer who is very dedicated to community involvement, community initiatives. He’s been in a small community as well, so he’s fully aware of what’s happening in the community. We need to have our hands on the drugs that are coming in. I think we’re doing that in the South Slave with the dog handler and in other areas. But we do have particular programs in place that are trying to assist with those victims as well.
Is the Minister aware, in his role as Minister of Education as well, of any campaign in the schools to warn children, young people, of the threat of being drugged by someone else? I understand that we talk to young people about the negative effect of taking drugs and what can happen to them, but how do we teach them to protect themselves from somebody who would drug them and subsequently hurt them and assault them in some way?
I’m glad the Member is raising that issue about the schools. It is a key factor in the schools. We have workshop facilitators who come out every now and then to highlight the use of drugs and the implications; what to look out for. Even myself as a parent, I have five kids in all schools and we talk to them about the use of drugs, to stay away from certain people, certain resources. I think this is an important factor that we continue to push in the schools, the public awareness. Especially with “G” Division, the committees that we have in place, Justice and so forth.
This is a top priority for us in the schools as both the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment and Minister of Justice. This is a priority for us.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Education if this government would be amenable or open to the idea of funding some kind of awareness campaign and, hand in hand with that, a support group. My fear is that these incidents happen in isolation and no one ever knows anybody else that it happened to. They have absolutely no support. The isolation from an event like this and the fallout throughout the rest of their life thinking about this is one of the most damaging things. Certainly the act of violence or assault is very, very difficult too, but the fact that they don’t have that support. Would this government be interested in instigating any kind of a support group for people who feel that they may have been affected or know they have been affected by being drugged by someone else?
This is a particular area of interest for us. We are open to what the Member can share with us and the public-at-large on how we can improve in our programming. We did commit up to $100,000 last budget to focus on the drug campaign. That’s why we’re driving this awareness in Hay River next month. That’s just one milestone that we’re doing. There are others that the Member is referring to that we can certainly look at. I think the input from the public is greater interest for us, as well, to initiate certain initiatives.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As indicated during my Member’s statement, I believe that as a system we must own some responsibility for patients missing their appointments, especially when they are for appointments which take place several months from the time when patients are originally notified of the requirement for a procedure.
I’ve talked with some residents who have indicated that they have been told by their physician that they are being recommended for colon cancer screening but they don’t hear anything from Stanton for months. Could the Minister of Health and Social Services please tell me how long it usually takes for Stanton to receive referrals for colon cancer screening from individual physicians and how long it takes to transition those into actual appointments for our residents?
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Once a referral for a colonoscopy is made to Stanton, that referral is received immediately. It’s taken into account immediately and Stanton staff works to prioritize the list of referrals. It’s really important to note that people who need this procedure on an emergency basis get them.
A wait list for this sort of procedure is an issue all across the country. Stanton is not an exception and they are working to find efficiencies within the system to make sure that the service is used as efficiently as possible.
Thank you to the Minister for that. I’m not sure that is always the case. I know there are a number of people who have emergency situations or blood has appeared in their samples to suggest that an appointment should happen within three months, as the department indicated in the newspaper several weeks ago. There are delays that are far longer than that. Given that there is such an extensive wait list for colon cancer screening, how does the system, and Stanton specifically, ensure that residents are regularly updated as to the status of their appointment? That is one of the problems that people are experiencing, is that, first off, they don’t hear anything for months that they have an appointment or anything from Stanton. Then they hear that they’ve got an appointment in 18 months. Then they hear nothing. What is the process that Stanton has put in to ensure that our residents are regularly updated so that they don’t miss these appointments which cost us, as a system, money in the long run?
I do agree with the Member, that missed appointments do cost the system. In fact, I had this discussion with the Beaufort-Delta leadership when I was there because that issue did come up. For lots of our procedures there are no-shows and obviously there is a cost to that. The system works to improve that.
With respect to the procedure that the Member is asking about, I have had personal situations in our family where we have had two or three procedures being done in the past six to eight years and I found the services okay. I have not talked or the Member has not brought to me any specific situations that I could look into. I don’t believe that Stanton could, nor do they have the resources to call people on the list every three months to just update on where the waiting list is. I think they are called when their procedure is booked. I can assure the Member that the system looks at the wait list because it is long. I am not denying that. It is as long as two years for colonoscopy right now. That’s the procedure; that’s the length of the wait list anywhere in Canada. They have to constantly look at the emergency situation and they are doing that.
Residents could die within two years. We need to make sure that people are getting these treatments as quickly as possible.
Just for the record, I think the individuals at Stanton performing the procedures are experts and are awesome at what they do and they deserve to be patted on the back. I’m not talking about the actual performance of the procedure; I’m talking about screening and getting the procedures to happen and scheduled on a regular basis.
I’m wondering if I could get the Minister to commit to having Stanton implement a monitoring and reminder process that ensures that residents are regularly updated on the status of their colon cancer screening; something more than reminding them the day or two in advance of the actual appointment. It could be really important and a good gesture of our government to actually put in a system where we can make sure that we remind people on a regular basis so they don’t miss appointments. Missed appointments cost the system money.
