Thank you, Mr. Bell. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Braden.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My colleague Sandy Lee has already recognized a number of the seniors here. I welcome them all, especially my mother, Esther.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to make a special welcome to a young lady who is visiting us from France by way of Concordia University, Ms. Elsa Biais-Sauvetre.
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Elsa is visiting the family of Sue and Norm Glowach in connection from several years ago when her sister was here in Yellowknife as an international exchange student, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.
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Thank you, Mr. Braden. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Thebacha, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize two key people of the Yellowknife Seniors' Society; the president, Ms. Sandra Taylor and, of course, Ms. Vivian Squires, the new executive director, who are with us today in the audience. Thank you.
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Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Villeneuve.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize my sister Anita Villeneuve in the gallery from the Housing Corporation.
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Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Pokiak.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize the one and only person that I really love in the House up here today is my wife, Lucille Pokiak. Beside her is Barry Jacobson, my nephew. Thank you very much.
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Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize the Nahendeh Fiddlers. They will be out in the Great Hall. I have Mr. Lewis Beck, Gerda Hazenberg, Stella Pellisey, and all the youngsters from Wrigley and Fort Simpson. Mahsi cho.
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Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the early '70s, not too many people knew where the Northwest Territories was. A group of skiers started travelling all over the world and people, after that, realized where the Northwest Territories was. We owe them a great deal of thanks. I believe they put the Northwest Territories on the map. With that, I would like to recognize a recent recipient of the Aboriginal Achievement Award and former resident of Inuvik, Ms. Shirley Firth-Larson. Welcome.
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Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize a former Speaker of the House, the Commissioner of the Northwest Territories and former Member for the constituency of Kam Lake, Mr. Tony Whitford.
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As well, Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize Ms. Amanda Mallon, president of the Northwest Territories Teachers' Association. Thank you.
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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I stated earlier today in my Member’s statement, the Stanton Territorial Hospital has been without a board for the last three and a half years. The Minister had established a Joint Leadership Council using the chairs under his leadership and authority since 2003. They have been treating it in an operation governance since. My question to the Minister of Health and Social Services is, today, will he agree to give out his control and formalize the existing Joint Leadership Council and appoint them as the new board for the Stanton Territorial Hospital? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.
Return To Question 1-15(5): Stanton Territorial Hospital Governance Board
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As Minister, I always maintain in this portfolio the ultimate responsibility and I can’t give that up, but I am working very closely with the Joint Leadership Council. In fact, we spent most of the day last week meeting with the folks at Stanton to talk about our relationship and how we’re going to better move forward collectively and provide the governance oversight that’s required to do that job effectively when you consider the size of Stanton and that it’s a territorial resource with an $80 million budget and 500 staff. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Supplementary To Question 1-15(5): Stanton Territorial Hospital Governance Board
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, seeing how the Minister didn’t answer the question, maybe I’ll ask it this way. Mr. Speaker, if the Minister is hearing me now, when will he consider establishing a new board and would he consider using the existing governance board, called the Joint Leadership Council, and establishing them as the board for Stanton Territorial Hospital in an efficient and in a timely way? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Miltenberger.
Further Return To Question 1-15(5): Stanton Territorial Hospital Governance Board
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Joint Leadership Council already has that responsibility and we are moving, as I just indicated, to formalize that relationship and to work even more closely and effectively, meeting, I think, with the Stanton hospital. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Supplementary To Question 1-15(5): Stanton Territorial Hospital Governance Board
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, I’m not allowed to say I’ve been mislead, but I certainly personally feel as if we’re missing the whole story on this, because the Minister had given me sort of an outline on what the Joint Leadership Council did and it does not govern and it does not have that responsibility. It gets to play a little friendly role where they get to come along and talk about the Stanton Territorial Hospital. So I’m asking today, would the Minister take that strident leap of leadership and appoint this Joint Leadership Council as the new board for Stanton Territorial Hospital? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Miltenberger.
Further Return To Question 1-15(5): Stanton Territorial Hospital Governance Board
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Joint Leadership Council already has that within their mandate. In the terms of reference we agreed to, as I just indicated in the last two responses, to formalize that process and that’s how we intend to move forward, that it’s comprised of all the board chairs and they are at the table and doing an effective job, in my opinion. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Your final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Supplementary To Question 1-15(5): Stanton Territorial Hospital Governance Board
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, it sounds like we’re finally making some headway. So I appreciate that because if they actually have that responsibility his last answer wouldn’t have said working to and working to formalize. That being said, that the Minister has underscored that they are not established with that responsibility, can the Minister point out the time frame of when they will have the ultimate authority and will he appoint the Joint Leadership Council, that he had the vision to establish, as the board for Stanton Territorial Hospital? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Miltenberger.
Further Return To Question 1-15(5): Stanton Territorial Hospital Governance Board
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Back in 2002 when the Joint Leadership Council was formed we had an agreement from the board chairs, myself and the deputy, as to the terms of reference and the mandate that was signed off and agreed to by all the parties. That is what is the underpinning document that’s driving us. We are working to see if we can better formalize that process and work a little more closely with Stanton hospital and we are doing that. So the JLC is good on the books and will continue to be on the books in terms of providing that kind of oversight from all the authorities, along with myself and the deputy. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions this afternoon are for Mr. Miltenberger, the Minister for Health and Social Services, concerning the continuing saga of the potential, alleged kind of relocation of the TTC. Mr. Speaker, over the past number of years the GNWT has had a dismal record of residential programs for those suffering from addictions and mental disorders. In part this is because we have not been establishing the services where they are most needed, let alone, Mr. Speaker, because so many of them have failed to keep their doors open. The Minister himself has said in this Assembly that it is our duty to provide our services, whatever those services may be, as close as possible to the people who need them. Mr. Speaker, why is the Minister still insisting that Yellowknife, where half the population of the NWT lives, should actually lose yet another of these badly needed programs? Mr. Speaker, thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Braden. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.
Return To Question 2-15(5): Relocation Of The Territorial Treatment Centre
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, let me restate once again for the record that Yellowknife is not losing access to any service. It will be available across the lake in Hay River the same as services in Yellowknife are available to all people who have to fly into Yellowknife from wherever they may live. It’s a very simple situation. There is no loss of service to the people of Yellowknife. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.
Supplementary To Question 2-15(5): Relocation Of The Territorial Treatment Centre
Mr. Speaker, while the Minister is adamant about moving this program, even in the midst of the confusion and uncertainty about how it is going to be done, will he do what the 700 people who signed this petition asked for, and that was to continue this service in Yellowknife? Why does it have to be abandoned?
Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Miltenberger.
Further Return To Question 2-15(5): Relocation Of The Territorial Treatment Centre
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, nothing is being abandoned and nobody is being abandoned. The service will continue to be provided and in a community that has the skills and ability and the workforce to do that, and that’s in Hay River. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.
Supplementary To Question 2-15(5): Relocation Of The Territorial Treatment Centre
You know, Mr. Speaker, I and I think at least some of my colleagues here would be ready to work with the Minister to establish a transition here that where a service can be established in another community I certainly don’t want to stand in the way of it, but I would return to that essential duty that we have to supply a badly needed service as close as possible to the people who need it. That is why these 700 people asked for this service to stay in Yellowknife. Can the Minister find a way to help us achieve this, Mr. Speaker?
Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Miltenberger.
Further Return To Question 2-15(5): Relocation Of The Territorial Treatment Centre
Mr. Speaker, we will continue to provide full access to all those children that are deemed to be in need of the service at the Territorial Treatment Centre and that has never been an issue. We will put the resources necessary to continue to do that. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final supplementary, Mr. Braden.
Supplementary To Question 2-15(5): Relocation Of The Territorial Treatment Centre
This, again, Mr. Speaker, is a continuance of a sad legacy that our government has had over so many years. What we are abandoning here, Mr. Speaker, are 15 years of investment by this community, not just a government contract, but the schools, the medical people, the NGOs that are part of this. That’s what we are abandoning. Will the Minister understand that this is what is at stake here?
Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Miltenberger.
Further Return To Question 2-15(5): Relocation Of The Territorial Treatment Centre
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I hear the Member’s comments and I can appreciate and comprehend what he is telling me. I also have a position here that we’re moving on and we’re not abandoning anybody, we’re not denying anybody a service. I can appreciate how it feels when the concern people have when they see things they think move out of their communities, but this service is not going to be lost. It’s still going to be available a very short distance away. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger. I’d like to pick up where my colleague Mr. Braden had left off in questions regarding the relocation of the Territorial Treatment Centre from Yellowknife to Hay River. We had discussed this issue at length here in the House last year and, according to the Minister’s own words in this House, a key element to the program relocating to Hay River had to do with there being a facility in Hay River that was going to be renovated and the fact that it was going to be cost neutral. I’d like to ask the Minister, given the new circumstances, the Members of this House having to find out via newspaper that Dene K’onia was going to be demolished and, Mr. Speaker, I’ll get to the question, when was the Minister and his department going to let the Members in this House know that the scope of this project had changed yet again, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.
Return To Question 3-15(5): Relocation Of The Territorial Treatment Centre
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the intent is still to relocate the program. The initial intent was to renovate work done by some experts in this field that came back with a report that indicated that for the same price they could build new. As Minister, I thought I was obligated under good sense and good management to at least take a look at the options since they indicated it would add 20 to 30 years to the life expectancy of the building. So those are the steps we are taking at this point to see in fact to ask for the estimates for either demolition and construction new, or just construction on a new site to see in fact how accurate their estimates were or are before we…and then with that information we can examine where we are. Thank you.
