Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As outlined in my Member’s statement, as a government we must place greater focus and attention on small, sustainable and local economies. The NWT film industry would support employment, cultural promotion, highlight the NWT as a potential place to work, visit and live, yet there’s little or no GNWT support for this industry. Clearly ITI doesn’t recognize the value of this industry. Filmmakers in the NWT would like an opportunity to demonstrate the value that this industry does have to the NWT.
As such, they would like the GNWT to facilitate an independent review of the film industry to highlight the potential advantages here in the Northwest Territories. Would the Minister commit to facilitating such an independent review? I believe that if he did, the Minister will be very surprised at how many benefits this industry will bring to the Northwest Territories.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bob McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member will be pleased to know that I have already committed to do an independent review of providing support to the NWT film industry. Your fellow colleagues have already indicated the need for that and we’re very pleased to be able to undertake an independent review.
That is very good news. Building upon this review, some of the NWT-based filmmakers would also like an opportunity to meet with the Minister himself to help him understand the impact this industry could have on the Northwest Territories. Would the Minister also commit to meeting with a small delegation of these NWT-based filmmakers, myself and my colleague Mr. Bromley, to discuss the industry in hopes of helping the Minister better understand the industry as a whole?
Recognizing that most Members don’t like us to use consultants, we’ll be doing this review in house. We’ll be pleased to meet with the independent filmmakers and MLAs Bromley and Abernethy. I’d also like to inform the Member that, and of course your colleague MLA Hawkins, we are having NWT Film Week at Northern House I believe next week.
I’m sorry, I forgot to include my colleague Mr. Hawkins. Obviously he should be there as well. Lastly, I’m glad you’re going to be doing the review, but I think it’s very important that we get outside-of-the-government input as well, not just the filmmakers, but other industries and people that would benefit from the industry. I was hoping I could get the Minister to commit to going well beyond just the filmmakers themselves.
I’ll be pleased to accept any suggestions that the Member may have. We were intending to look at what other jurisdictions were doing, as well, to see what we could incorporate.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I just wanted to follow up on the demands of my constituents in Nahendeh and my Member’s statement with regard to the residents coming up with a petition and public showing of the need by the constituents of Nahendeh to establish a dentist office or a dentist in the community of Fort Simpson to serve the region. I’d like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services how my constituents and myself can work towards establishing such an office in Fort Simpson.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I understand the concerns of the people from Nahendeh as I have heard a lot of that when I did a regional tour with the Member. The fact is that dental service is not a service provided by the GNWT. It is one that is administered by the non-insured health benefits. Our health authority there does provide assistance in this regard, but we have had very difficult times attracting dentists. Whenever we put out interests in contracts, we just are not getting enough interest. None of the northern dentists have applied to practice there. I believe Deh Cho Health was able to get a contractor from Quebec. With the contractor in place, with a dentist in place I’m hoping that they can catch up and do more visits into the Nahendeh.
That’s exactly the issue that the constituents have shared with me, is that there are just lengthy delays in travel to and fro to get their needs met and often they have to wait several days. Especially when someone has a toothache, it’s not a very good situation. However, in terms of medical travel to get to Yellowknife or Hay River in the case of Fort Simpson, who covers that cost?
Dental services are the responsibility of the federal government under NIHB Program, as it is the federal responsibility to provide dental care to our aboriginal residents all across Canada, including the NWT. Where there are medical emergencies, if it’s medical it could come under GNWT responsibility. We do respond to medical emergencies and we do cover for medical travel. I think part of it is billed to NIHB and part of it is covered by GNWT.
I think, if anything, the cost of the medical travel... I don’t know if there can be some research done. Perhaps the Minister can work with the office of the federal Minister with regard to health and social services and NIHB. Will the cost of the medical travel balance off with establishing a full-time dentist in the community of Fort Simpson?
I believe this issue is not just about cost, it’s about shortage of dentists. Their services are at a high premium. They mostly work in the private sector. They choose where they’re going to work. Having said that, I am willing to undertake this issue and see what we can do. I’d be happy to discuss it with my federal counterpart to at least stress the point of the importance of dental services that NIHB provides in our small communities and what room there is for us to see if they can step it up a bit.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I’m pleased that our Minister is willing to raise that the next time she meets with the federal Minister. Also, as they work towards it there must be some creative solutions, like providing incentives of getting a private dentist into the region. Often when that is the case, they are able to take up the workload of NIHB. I’m glad the Minister is willing to do that. Will she raise the issue the next time she meets with the federal Minister?
Yes, I will undertake to do that.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of Health and Social Services. I want to ask her questions on the Extended Health Benefits Program. I want to ask the Minister what the total costs are of the existing Extended Health Benefits Program.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We spend about $8 million for non-aboriginal residents of the Northwest Territories. We spend a couple of million dollars for Metis health. The aboriginal residents of the Territories receive their extended health benefits through NIHB, which is a federal program.
I want to ask the Minister a technical question. How much does it cost the government to top up payments for people who already have 80 percent coverage of their drugs and earn large incomes?
I don’t believe we have our stats broken down into that detail, but it is true under our current system that those with employer insurance, whether they work for the government or whatever third-party insurance they have, if they are over 60 they get a top-up. Nobody else would get the top-up. Same for those with chronic conditions. If they have private insurance they will get a top-up. But because our system basically covers 100 percent of it all, they come straight to us.
Will the Minister implement a program which supports low-income earners without coverage so that these people and their families can get assistance with the cost of their drugs, visits to the dentist and costs of eyeglasses?
The consultation that we are doing right now on the basis of the public discussion paper we have out there is geared toward having a discussion about that, explaining what our extended health benefits are doing right now. Right now anybody who is over 60 or with a specified condition that is on the list gets 100 percent coverage no questions asked, as long as they have NWT health care. What the program does not provide is for those who are not 60 or who are not eligible for the specified medical condition and they do not have insurance coverage. Even if they don’t have any insurance coverage, they can’t access any top-up or anything like that.
What the public discussion paper states is why don’t we roll this all into one program where the benefits will stay the same. We do want to still offer extended health benefits, but we need to look at who should access this fund. We’re not talking about eliminating anybody from the program, but those with the ability to pay, perhaps could help us with that. That’s part of the discussion. Everybody will get a fair chance to have access to benefits, but their ability to pay should be a factor, as well as other factors. The information we give out here says that in fact the ability to pay, an income level does not discriminate by age. There are high-income earners and low-income earners of all ages. We want to have that thorough discussion with the public.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Interesting response in terms of the health benefits. In my Member’s statement I talked about the various programs the federal government has for aboriginal people, the GNWT has for the Metis people, and now we’re talking about the non-aboriginal health benefits here. I would like to ask the Minister, if we don’t do anything, would these benefits that are extended exceed the other benefits that people have such as the ones that we’re talking about, the ones who do have the ability to pay. That’s what I’m looking at in this program here. Will that exceed what the aboriginal and Metis people are going to be getting if we do allow this program to be wide open?
I think it’s important for people to know that the NIHB Program is completely separate from extended health benefits. That is a federal program and what happens there would not have a bearing on what happens with extended health benefits. This is our GNWT program. This is extra health benefits that we provide to our residents above and beyond what’s normally considered under the Canada Health Act. We have some of the most generous programs. We cover prescriptions, vision care and dental care for our seniors. We cover 100 percent of specified conditions.
We are not talking about reducing benefits, but what we are saying is we need to recognize that income level in quite similar in all age groups. There are people who are young and who are making low income and there are people who are older with high income, and we are saying let us look at income as one of the threshold questions and see how we can make the system more fair and equitable. We are wanting to listen to the people about what they have to say about this, but it is something that we need to have discussion on. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member’s statement I spoke about the need for capital projects in the community of Lutselk'e and the inflexible policies of MACA that has not allowed Lutselk'e to access this funding for several years. Can the Minister tell me what the department can do to rectify this situation to ensure capital projects are delivered in Lutselk'e soon? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Robert McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it’s actually a federal act that prohibits the community from owning real property under the federal Indian Act. We have been working with the community and other communities to try and find solutions so the communities would be able to deliver their capital plan, and we would continue to try to work with the community of Lutselk'e to come up with some options for accessing the capital money. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, since this can’t continue or shouldn’t continue that the community is unable to access, can the Minister outline some of the options that are available or some of the options that they spoke to the community about? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, one of the options is the community can seek hamlet status or they can incorporate an interim corporation that would be able to hold real property on behalf of the community until the land claims are resolved. We have seven of the eight band communities that are already in that process, some have formed their interim corporations and some are just in the process. If you go to hamlet status, that process could take several months to get completed. If you were to form an interim corporation, that whole process could take as little as a month. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, should the community of Lutselk'e not wish to seek hamlet status at this time or have their infrastructure held by an interim corporation, would MACA consider delivering Lutselk'e capital plan directly before another construction season is lost? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, since the introduction of the New Deal we really don’t have the capacity to deliver capital projects on behalf of the communities. The department has been restructured to support the communities that want to deliver their own capital plan and if we were to do that in this particular case, I would see that as a step backwards in not being able to develop community capacity. But, like I said before, we continue to want to work with the community so they can set up an interim corporation so that they would have all the authority to make the decisions that affect their communities and not have those decisions made by the government, which is what the whole idea of the New Deal was and we’re trying to get away from doing that. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Your final supplementary, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister discuss with Cabinet to see what can be done within the provisions of the acts, like within provision of the Indian Act, within the provisions of the NWT Act, to allow the community to receive interim appropriations for capital projects for this coming construction season? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can commit to having that discussion with my Cabinet colleagues; however, I will encourage the community to take the responsibility, take the first step in forming an interim corporation, then the money would be able to be flowed to this interim corporation and they would look after the projects on behalf of the community until land claims are settled. But this would give the community the authority, so I would encourage them to do that. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of MACA and it gets back to my Member’s statement where I was lending my support to my colleague Ms. Bisaro, who yesterday raised the issue of Northland Trailer Park. I’d like to ask the Minister of MACA, potentially, we have close to 1,000 people that could be left homeless. We have safety issues, health issues and a variety of social issues that could present themselves to this government in a real way. I’d like to ask the Minister of MACA if the situation in Northland in the city of Yellowknife has ever been brought up at the Cabinet table by himself or any other Cabinet Minister. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Robert McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my time as Minister of MACA, which has been about a year and a half now, I have not had this discussion with Cabinet. I’ve had some conversations, are we able to do this, but MACA is not mandated to fund corporations or private landlords for the provision of water and sewer infrastructure. Thank you.
