Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am not familiar with the details of what the Member is suggesting. I would have to assume that was something that a physician might have done, but I will have to get more information from the Member and get back to him.
I appreciate that and I look forward to that commitment. I’d like now to consider the recent instances of outpatients who have gone missing, resulting in the major searches of the community that we have all sadly heard so much about. I realize the judgments for release are difficult and complicated and there can be no certainty in every case, but since we’ve seen two cases in less than five months of massive community searches -- one still underway -- has there been an examination of the wisdom of the practices for release currently being used? Mahsi.
I believe the health authority and the hospital and the unit there do review incidents as the ones that the Member is referring to and I will undertake to get the relevant information for the Member.
I appreciate the Minister’s commitment there. Obviously this is not something you want to see continue.
Mr. Speaker, this leads us to the issue of outpatient readmission, recognizing again the complexity. I know patients who are released, only to immediately go to a return of their drug and alcohol abuse, which are core elements of their mental health illness. Then when requests are made for readmission it’s refused, because substance abuse is deemed to be a behavioural problem requiring referral of the patient to alcohol and drug counselling and treatment. If patients were sufficiently ill in the first place to have been admitted for care, their relapse through drug and alcohol abuse is evidence of continuing serious mental health issues. Could the Minister provide a response either now or again later if an investigation is needed on the logic of this approach?
I do appreciate the Member’s questions and I do appreciate that these are of concern to us. I am a little concerned that what we are talking about here may go into clinical decisions that our health care professionals make by whatever knowledge they have or the legislation or policy, so this is a very complex issue. I think the better thing for me to do is just to undertake to get the information for the Members and provide them with the information.
I do want to say that they are governed by legislation, so we need to get to those. I do share the Member’s concerns about improving what we are doing. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. A short supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
In summary to those questions, the bottom line here is that I, and certainly the public, want to be assured that there is a safety net in practice, and as we know from the child and family services review, there’s quite a difference between policy and implementation or practice.
My last question, Mr. Speaker, very briefly, back to the Centre for Northern Families, which, equipped or not, is delivering mental health services. It is now almost a year since the Minister promised to complete the audit of the Centre for Northern Families, take action on a secondment and devise a financial recovery plan for this important institution. Can the Minister tell me the status of those efforts?
The audit was conducted by Education, Culture and Employment. I have been working with the Minister on that. I do not have the recent updated information on it. I’m sorry. I will undertake to get back to him on it. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve got questions for the Minister of Justice again today following up on some of my questions and my statement from yesterday. Again, getting back to sentences that are handed out to individuals who have repeatedly committed offences of a violent nature, you know, yesterday the Minister was talking about the programs and services that are available to people who are incarcerated in our corrections system. Mr. Speaker, I’d like the Minister, perhaps he can explain to me and to this House and to the public in the Northwest Territories how the system that we have in place could fail this individual 19 times. Nineteen, Mr. Speaker. How is that explainable to the public in the Northwest Territories that the system has failed this individual and others, Mr. Speaker?
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister responsible for Justice, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Once inmates are in the institution there are various programs that are offered to them, whether it be treatment healing programs, substance abuse, sexual offender relapse, family violence, men who abuse program. There are all these different programs. There is also specific to healing. Those are the areas that the rehabilitation of those inmates that our staff is focused on. But there are certain circumstances where individuals who if they are very high risk then take different programs as well.
Mr. Speaker, we can’t control those individuals that are outside the institution. They have their own life once they leave the facility. But when they are in a facility, the department, the corrections staff, the counsellors are working closely with them until they leave the facility so they can be reintegrated back into the community. There is also an on-the-land program that we initiated a couple years back that has been very successful. Those are just some of the areas that we continue to focus on, Mr. Speaker. Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, this individual that has 19 prior offences of a violent nature, in fact, killed somebody, got five years. Mr. Speaker, according to some folks that work with sentencing, this individual could be walking the streets of the Northwest Territories in 22 months’ time. Mr. Speaker, 19 times the system has failed him. I’d like to again ask the Minister of Justice what safeguards are in place or what are we going to do differently with this individual that is going to ensure public safety when he gets released, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, these individuals that the Member is referring to, they are in a system where they may be released earlier than expected. It is at the discretion of the judge. They make the final decision.
The programs are in place within corrections and outside of corrections. It’s interdepartmental. It’s not just our Justice department. We work with the RCMP ‘G’ Division with respect to awareness programs, information being sent out that these individuals are out there. They do what they can. We work closely with the RCMP ‘G’ Division, the Justice department, and we will continue to do so. We work closely with the Department of Health and Social Services as well. Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, I hate to think that the next victim is part of the justice system here in the Northwest Territories and part of an individual’s rehabilitation plan. That’s hard to imagine, Mr. Speaker; the fact that someone can reoffend 19 times of a violent nature, in this case, and there are other instances.
I spoke of an individual that has 18 prior convictions. He got five months for assaulting his partner. This speaks to some serious flaws in the way that we are rehabilitating offenders of violent crime here in the Northwest Territories.
Again, I’d like to ask the Minister -- I asked him yesterday -- can we have some type of wholesale review of the services and programs that we provide to inmates that are incarcerated in our correctional system for violent crimes? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I believe we have. Within our programming there’s been a review undertaken to have an overall look at the whole programming that we offer at corrections. There have been some changes reflected on that, Mr. Speaker. We’ve heard from inmates, from the people in the public to say these are particular programs that should be offered, whether it be the on-the-land program, that we’ve heard over and over. Definitely, this is an area that we continue to monitor, Mr. Speaker. If there are going to be changes required, then we’ll make those changes. But again, it is federal legislation, federal law that we have to follow and the decisions lie with the judge, the final decision, Mr. Speaker. It is at their discretion. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Your final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If individuals are recommitting offences 15, 16, 18, 19 times, Mr. Speaker, doesn’t the Minister want to state to this House and state to the public that, yes, we have a problem with the way we are rehabilitating individuals that are incarcerated in our corrections system, Mr. Speaker? That’s obvious. I’d like to again ask the Minister to commit to a review of services and programs provided to individuals who are incarcerated in the Northwest Territories today for violent crimes. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, again, these are the programs that we offer. We made some changes and we will make some changes again if the need arises, dealing with reintegration back to the community or rehabilitation. This is the main focus that we have in the system. We’re also, within the community of justice and also the RCMP ‘G’ Division, the focus is on preventative measures as well. Those are the areas that we continue to work with within our department and other partners that are involved. Yes, those are the areas that we need to closer monitor, Mr. Speaker, and change is always in the system with the programming. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Time for question period has expired. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to return to item 7 on orders of the day.
---Unanimous consent granted
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Health and Social Services and are in follow-up to the questions my colleague Mr. Ramsay asked earlier. Mr. Speaker, the Grad Nurse Placement Program was intended to offer all northern graduates an offer of employment in the Northwest Territories. It did not guarantee that those nurse graduates would be offered a job at Stanton. I think when the original promise was made by the Premier of the day, the intent was that we would be able to fill some of our community positions where the need truly lies. Unfortunately, you will notice that most of the placements occur in Fort Smith, Hay River, Yellowknife and Inuvik. What are we doing to actually facilitate grad placements into communities where a real need lies? Our real staffing difficulties, Mr. Speaker, are getting nurses into small communities in the Northwest Territories. What are we doing to help facilitate grad placement in those communities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Graduate Placement Program is being delivered by HR on our behalf and we work with HR to address the issues that the Member is speaking about. When the nurses graduate from the college program, they need additional on-the-job training and often they work in Stanton because they do want to have some emergency and hospital setting so they become more comprehensively trained and be ready to go out to communities, because a community health nurse needs a different set of skills that they might learn; well, additional skills than what they learn in the school setting and the hospital setting.
The short answer to that is the Department of Health and the health authorities work with HR and the potential graduates to finish their training and make them employable to jobs available. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I know that HR delivers the programs on behalf of Health and Social Services, who actually administers or actually holds the budget for health recruitment and retention. My question was pretty specific. I want to know what the Department of Health is doing, even if they are doing it through the Department of HR, but what is the Department of Health and Social Services doing to facilitate the placement of northern nurse graduates into community health centres throughout the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, we work through the Graduate Employment Program to look at their training needs, and if there are any out of the graduating program, match them with jobs available.
Mr. Speaker, I was wondering if the Minister could give me a sense of over the last two or three years, how many northern graduates have actually gone into community health centres through grad placement. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I have to admit I am unclear about exactly what he is getting at. Mr. Speaker, I said earlier that we placed 11 nurses out of the Nursing Grad Program last year. Nine of them are in Stanton and two in Hay River. I think the Member is aware because his background is in HR, and especially in Health that different nurses have different requirements and where it is necessary, we work as an employer to match training and employment situations. Mr. Speaker, I think I need more information on exactly what he is getting at. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will tell the Minister where I am going and then I will ask a question. Mr. Speaker, the department has money for and runs a program called Community Health Nurse Development Program which is designed to help northern nurse graduates transition from school into community health centres. We have used it in the past. In fact, I know that we have placed at least three northern nurse graduates into community health centres in the Northwest Territories in the last five to seven years, but I haven’t seen it working lately. I haven’t seen northern nurse graduates entering this program and transitioning into the communities. It is a program that works. It is a program that is valuable. We have so many grads coming, we need to be proactive. We need to make sure that we are doing things to help them transition to communities. At what point is the Minister going to place great priority on a program that we know works and will get nurses from the North into our northern communities? When, Mr. Speaker?
Mr. Speaker, now I see where he is getting at. Okay. Mr. Speaker, we have a lot of success in HR training for health care professionals. We graduated 11 nurses last year. We are expecting 19. We are expecting way more over the next couple of years. CHNs, as the Member stated, we have trained them and we have placed them in communities. I would be happy to undertake to get that information for the Member. I think actually now we have embarrassment of riches for nurses because we have been so successful with the Nursing Program.
As we go forward, what we see now is we need more community support workers and home care workers. I think part of the review that our department has to do is to work with HR and see what our HR health care training needs are and we will continue to work on that. Mr. Speaker, the point being is our department works very closely with HR and Education to make sure that people we train are in line with the demands that our system will require. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to go back and see if I could get some specific answers to some of the questions I asked earlier. I would like to address these questions to the Minister of Health and Social Services. I am not talking about a specific case. I would like the Minister to try and think globally and think a bit beyond any specific individual or group of individuals. Firstly, I would like to ask the Minister if she can give me the name of the policy that addresses the provision of housing for NWT residents who require assisted living. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will get back to the Member on that specific point, but the Member knows already because we have had many communications between the two of us that we have programs available and we do provide assistance to those residents in the Territories who need support in living situations due to their disabilities. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, thanks to the Minister for telling me what I already know. Yes, the department has programs. Those programs, however, are absolutely full. I don’t believe there is any more than maybe one vacancy within the whole of the NWT for somebody who needs to be placed in assisted living. I am trying to get the Minister to think beyond what we know and to go into the future.
We know there are many people coming forward who are going to require independent living, assisted living as adults and we want them to stay in our community. I would like to know from the Minister if she can tell me why they would not go to the NWT Housing Corporation and ask to work in conjunction with our housing provider, which is NWT Housing Corporation, to build houses to house the people who need independent or assisted living. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I don’t think there is any disagreement between the Member and myself that there are more demands than resources available. I am thinking that the Member is thinking that I should just go and build some more or something like that.
The way the programs are being delivered, we have lots of providers. We have NGOs who have group homes. We don’t build housing. It is really about resources. It is not about lack of policy or programs or intent. We have more demands and supply and on a case-by-case basis, we work on our residents and we assess them. We place them where we can and we try to support them as much as possible. I don’t think it is lack of policy, program or will. It is always about resources. Thank you.
Thank you. If it is about resources, I’d like to ask the Minister is she planning for the future, and I would hope that she would say yes. If she says yes, I’d like to know how the Minister intends to accommodate the 20 or 30 individuals in Yellowknife alone who will need accommodation in independent or assisted living in the next five to 10 years. Thank you.
The Member has been here for three and a half years. She knows how we get resources. It’s through the business plan process. All the departments and programs make business cases. There are unmet needs, yes, in Yellowknife, but there are unmet needs in every community. We have lots of people in our communities who could benefit from having supported living that are being taken care of by families and friends and communities. I have met them in every community in the Territory. So one of the ways we are doing that under Foundation for Change is including home care programming. Respite care is one of them.
Giving them housing is just only one option, Mr. Speaker, and the solution to that is not the Department of Health and Social Services getting into the business of housing, because we have organizations like the YWCA and YACL and private homes who could take care of them. It’s about priority decisions, Mr. Speaker, and it’s not lack of intent or desire or the will on the part of the current Health Minister. It is about the Department of Health and Social Services with $30 million in deficit, with huge demands, and the entire government under fiscal pressure which is a responsibility for every Member in this House, not just me. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Your final supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thanks, Mr. Speaker, and thanks to the Minister for that passionate response. I was not suggesting that there was not will to accommodate these people. I’m asking the Minister to look to the future and to try to envision a different method of accommodating people who need assisted living, and that means supervision for some of those. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, no question.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to use this opportunity to pose a couple of questions to the Minister of Human Resources. As he knows very well, I believe strongly in a diverse and representative government and certainly our government’s efforts to reach out to all communities, the Aboriginal community, the disabled community ensuring that we’re an equal opportunity employer for everyone. Mr. Speaker, some of the questions that I’d like to ask are specific to hiring policies and how we encourage a culturally diverse workforce. I’d like to ask the Minister what does his department do to encourage a culture of both awareness and harmony to ensure that we’re hiring people with diverse backgrounds, whether they’re Aboriginal or disabled, but through an environment that they enjoy, they like working for and they feel respected. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister responsible for Human Resources, Mr. Bob McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When we first got elected as the 16th Assembly, this was identified as a priority for our government and we recognize that we wanted to develop a representative public service and we had been flat-lined for about the last 10 years where we had about 31 percent Aboriginal employment, recognizing that in the Northwest Territories the population represents about 50 percent Aboriginal people. So we’ve been working very hard. We’ve developed a Human Resource Strategy -- 20/20: A Brilliant North, Public Service Strategic Plan. We developed an Aboriginal Employees Advisory Committee as well an Advisory Committee on Unemployability. We’ve been working with those committees to identify ways to move forward, increase employment of Aboriginal people and also have a more diverse workforce with our people with disabilities and so on. Thank you.
