Debates of March 10, 2009 (day 26)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have some questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services. It gets back to my Member’s statement where I was talking about some research that has been conducted. It appeared in the Canadian Journal of Public Health in regards to chronic diseases and indicators that would suggest that the trend in northern Canada is not a good one, Mr. Speaker. We need to be doing more in the area of prevention. It is not too late to look at prevention. I would like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services if her department is aware of the research that has been undertaken. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank the Member for the question as well as providing me with a copy of the research. Mr. Speaker, I can advise the Member that this is an issue that is on top of the minds of everyone who is involved with Health and Social Services system. There is a lot of research done on that and the need for work that we are all aware, Mr. Speaker. In fact, one of the writers, Dr. Kue Young was in my office last month because he is very involved with the research in the North, especially aboriginal health. He is pursuing a multi-year, multi-million dollar grant program to do further research. He asked me and the department for support. I was glad to do that. The research is important. There is a lot of research in the books already. All of the previous Health Ministers have been talking about how, and including myself, we need to make a lot more advances on this. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am glad to hear that the Minister has been in contact with one of the researchers. Getting back again to my Member’s statement, the government spends millions and millions of dollars on prevention but the numbers just don’t seem to be corresponding to the investment that we are making there. How do the Minister and the department suggest that we get Northerners more physically active? What is the game plan going forward to try to get people who live in northern Canada more physically active? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I think the Member should be aware that this is part of our everyday work. There is staff in the department. We spend about $2 million. We could use more, but we spend about $2 million within the department to promote active living and healthy living. That is what our front-line staff work on. We work with other departments like MACA and Education that work on that. I think the article that I read in Hill Times talked about the importance of investing in prevention.

In my meetings with the federal Minister of Health, we need federal Health to do a health prevention strategy and make some investment in this area because, ideally, you would want to spend at least 3 percent of your health budget on health promotion. We don’t have as much funding, but we do a lot of work with the money that we are spending. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I have been here for five years. I know we do a lot of work each and every day on prevention. I know that work happens. What I am suggesting is that I don’t think things are getting much better. What I would suggest to the Minister and the government is we need to take more of a policy look at what we are doing. And I agree with something that the Minister said: it starts early. I think we have done a disservice to our youth by allowing curriculum to be taken out where it pertains to physical activity. Children today in the classroom or in a school in the Northwest Territories don’t get the physical activity that I had when I was in school. I know that. They get a half hour. They get 45 minutes a week. It is not enough, Mr. Speaker. Kids need to be more physically active. How is the Minister going to get children more physically active in this territory? Thank you.

More sporting events in schools, I know that the Minister of Education works on that area, but I think that the Member would agree with me that we need our people to eat healthier, exercise more, drink and smoke less. Our people drink more, and more heavily. We know the prevention strategy does work and the government has spent money on a non-smoking campaign that has worked. I think it is important to note that there are people in our community clinics who work on prenatal, on children, on healthy families, on Diabetes Strategy, even FSC is a preventive disease. That work is being done. I could update the Member on exactly what we do in that area. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The numbers that I suggested are made in my Member’s statement. They don’t lie. The numbers are there. The thing I like about this research is that it is done over a five-year period. It is not just a snapshot; it is the whole nine yards, Mr. Speaker. Again, in terms of policy, what is the government going to do in terms of policy to get people more physically active in the Northwest Territories? Thank you.

I realize this is a longitudinal study over five years. I can tell the Member that I just talked to someone with Healthy Food North who is actively engaged. We have groups in the North, health care professionals, who are involved in communities who are talking to the people, doing a study actually as things happen, not five years ago, an academic study, but working with the communities to see what their eating patterns are, what their exercise patterns are and what they can do in their everyday life with the traditional food and things they can do around their communities that could help them. There is work being done. I think the Member could benefit from some of the profiles. I think I should provide that. I would like to really thank the Member for raising this issue, because we all understand that it is an important issue. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for the Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.