Thank you. We welcome any opportunity that we have to interact with the youth and hear their opinions. I don’t know if I was aware of the event that was taking place in Fort Providence. Perhaps if the MLA had invited me I would have gone.
---Laughter
So I'll put some of the blame back on the Member. We welcome any opportunity we have to work with the youth. We have an excellent team over at MACA that works with youth and they’re all over the place, all parts of the Northwest Territories working with the youth. So we welcome any opportunity, and if there’s an opportunity for me to meet with the youth in Fort Providence in the future, the MLA can let me know and I will be sure that I’m there. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think what the community has done is taken the initiative of trying to bring the leadership and the youth together at the local level, and there’s a need for resources and program-wise and funding and trying to work with the youth.
The last Assembly, the 16th Assembly had a Youth Forum. Would the Minister ensure that we do have a pan-territorial youth forum for the end of the 17th Assembly? Mahsi.
Thank you. The one in the 16th Assembly was the initiative of the then Premier, but it was a very valuable tool, because I took part in that and I think one of the other Members in his former life had taken part in that too. It was an excellent opportunity to gather with the youth from across the Northwest Territories and get their views on a lot of different issues that are facing the Northwest Territories. So I will commit to the Member that this is an initiative that I’ll work with the department to have a look at and I’ll work with my colleagues to see if there’s a possibility we could pull something like this together, especially in event of the Youth Parliament not going ahead this year because of the Elders Parliament. This might be a good opportunity to gather the youth and have their input on issues facing the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On February 5, 2014, I’d asked the Minister of Education to use some of his authority under Section 7 of the Aurora College Act. I asked him to tell the Aurora College Board of Governors to meet the students and certainly provide some e-mail addresses so people can contact them, but rather, they still appear to be anonymous. Perhaps they like it that way in a sense of governance of the board and the college for the students.
I want to hear what updates the Minister can provide the House immediately to find out has he actually done anything. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The Minister of Education, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Yes, that information was brought to my attention even in this House. I did meet with the chair and also the president and addressed that concern to their attention. There has been work done in that area where their meeting is open and they have a student representative. We nominated a student just recently.
So we’ll continue to make that important to the Board of Governors of Aurora College. I’ve always stressed whatever has been brought to my attention from this House, or even the general public, I raise that with the profile for the Board of Governors. Mahsi.
It has been three months and I’m glad to hear that the Minister has met with the board and met with the president, but he hasn’t informed me or anyone else that I’m aware of that he has met with any of them. So what topic did he actually meet with them about, what did he direct them to do, has he had the courage to use Section 7 of the Aurora College Act where the Minister can direct the board to do things such as provide e-mail addresses so students can contact their Board of Governors with concerns and complaints so they can get direct action? There is zero accountability. What can the Minister say about that problem?
Mahsi. When I met with the Board of Governors, I addressed all of those issues. Any issues that come to my attention, I address with them. We work out solutions. When it comes to the contacts of certain individuals, private e-mails of private individuals’ contacts, those are at the discretion of the board if they want to release that information. But they do have a website. All the contact information, phone numbers, e-mails, it’s all on the website. They even have a student representative as well. We are going to a June meeting in Inuvik and I believe the Member will be there as well.
So, we’re looking forward to those exchanges of information as we move forward. Mahsi.
Thank you. So, go to the website; interesting answer. As I brought up before, the website says send all correspondence through the president’s office. So the president gets to handle, control who knows what with the information. So the direct contact and accountability, what is the Minister afraid of to tell them to provide them with an Aurora College e-mail address because if they’re on the Board of Governors, they’re there as an advisory board, they’re there as an administrative board, or are they there for whatever reason? I don’t know. Maybe the Minister will take that initiative on and demonstrate some true accountability for the students. Thank you.
Mahsi. Obviously, we’re not afraid of anything. Every time an issue comes up, I do address those issues with the Board of Governors. What’s being said here will again be shared with the Board of Governors. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
I’m not sure this is getting through to the Minister. I brought a complaint to a particular member of the Board of Governors the other day and they just go, well, it’s part of the policy, that’s the way it goes. Then he sent me to the president’s office with the complaint. What is the point of having a Board of Governors if they don’t do anything? This is frustrating. They don’t represent the students, they don’t represent MLAs when we bring complaints on behalf of the students, and now the only option for us to do is bring complaints to the president’s office, who controls them, whether they meet the Board of Governors or not. So, frankly, I want to know what this Minister will finally do to demonstrate accountability because, frankly, it’s a hollow word around this Assembly, it gets batted around regularly and I see zero meaning behind it.
Mahsi. Aurora College Board of Governors does work with the students. We deliver the best program we possibly can in the Northwest Territories, along with our partners further down south at various institutions. We’ll continue to make that a success. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to follow up from my statement and ask some questions of the Education, Culture and Employment Minister about the Education Renewal and Innovation Project and how it’s going to be funded.
I recently received a letter from the Minister responding to questions that I raised in March of this year about the Education Renewal and Innovation Project. In that letter it indicates 10 initiatives from the ERI plan, well, actually 11 if you consider Junior Kindergarten, but the 10 initiatives are set to start in the 2014-15 school year. However, in the letter there was absolutely no reference to how these initiatives will be funded.
I would like to ask the Minister to explain how these 10 initiatives planned for the 2014-15 school year will be funded. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. This whole education renewal and innovation, as you know, I did a statement on that. We are going through the various stages of engagement with the general public. We have delivered the overall framework. Now we have to develop an action plan based on the feedback from the stakeholders, the educators, the school boards, the superintendents and MLAs and others. Other individuals are interested to providing their input. Based on that, we are going to have a cost factor where the new money is going to be approached. Those are some of the discussions we are going to have with the stakeholders.
The Minister mentions an action plan. I know that that has been out there for quite some time. We have been waiting for that. It was originally scheduled for January and I know committee suggested that it be pushed back. Another question would be: When are we going to see that action plan?
The letter indicates that some of these initiatives will be funded from existing budgets but that others will require funding to be put in place. I need a little bit further elaboration from the Minister.
Will there be new funding for these initiatives, or will he continue with the current funding from within policy that we happen to see right now? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, when I talk about the action plan, yes, it’s been directed to us that we need to have more time to engage the general public because it will be their document, their solutions, their ideas and their suggestions. So I have allowed more time for that to happen. We want to deliver a draft action plan by this fall – that’s the target date – and deliver that in the House potentially I am hoping by February session or sooner. It all depends on the engagement that we’re conducting.
When the Member is talking about using existing resources or new funding, those are a mixture of information that we need to discuss. If there is going to be an ask for new funding, by all means I will be there demanding that within my portfolio. Mahsi.
I’m very glad to hear that new funding may be on the horizon, but if these initiatives are being implemented in the ‘14-15 school year, the budget for that school year is already over and done, and I am not convinced that we are going to get new money.
I spoke a bit about contingencies for school boards in my statement. Yesterday the Minister, when he was talking about contingencies, stated that, “those monies should be expended into educational programming, so we support that as well.” I am very pleased to hear that the Minister supports spending contingency money on educational programming. He said it I think three times yesterday – I would have to check Hansard to be sure – but my concern is with the fairness of the support that is being provided.
I would like to know from the Minister, in terms of support, does he support forcing the boards to use their contingency dollars to make up for the reduced budgets that he’s implementing? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I am not forcing the school boards to use their surplus on various projects. It is at their discretion to use. We’re hoping and encouraging them to use it towards their educational programming within their district. We will continue as a department working closely with them. My department, as I stated yesterday, is meeting with them now and yesterday and continues to discuss part of the opportunities that we have before us. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thanks, Mr. Speaker. The Minister and I have to respectfully agree to disagree. He is forcing the boards to make one of two bad options. They either use their contingency to fund the shortfall or they have to cut staff and increase their class sizes and reduce the quality of education.
The boards use this contingency money to fund extra staff, so they may get a special needs student who needs an assistant. They may get an extra 20 students in September that they need to find a staff person for.
I would like to know from the Minister, without a surplus, if my board has no surplus, in such a situation where I have an extra 20 or 25 students come September, can a school expect funding assistance from Education, Culture and Employment? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I just want to make it clear. If I was forcing the school boards to use their surplus, I would take all the surplus back, which I am not doing. It is at the discretion of the school boards to use the funding towards educational programming, and we highly encourage them to do that. Some of the boards have, as I stated in this House, substantial surpluses. When it comes to enrolment, if the enrolment goes up, then obviously the financial aspect of the school boards, their contribution increases as well. Those are areas that we continue to closely monitor and provide additional funds if that’s the case. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am following up to my statement today. I have questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services. As I stated in my Member’s statement, the last time I brought this issue up with jaundice and the lack of a BiliBlanket being available or having an extra one on hand at the Inuvik Regional Hospital was brought up in February 2013. I was wondering what kind of updates have been happening since then in terms of looking at securing extra equipment such that somebody who does come in that needs a BiliBlanket that we have one extra one on hand. Can I ask the Minister for an update? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In most cases the neonatal jaundice is treated with light therapy and the BiliBlanket is one of the tools that may be used to support individuals that are suffering from jaundice. It’s a clinical choice by the physician providing the service, providing the treatment, whether they use the BiliBlanket or another source. We don’t direct the physicians to use any particular tool. However, I have talked to the department and I have asked for some specific information on the number of BiliBlankets that are available to residents of the Northwest Territories. As soon as I get that information, I will happily share it with the Member. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, the photo therapy from the BiliBlankets actually helps reduce the bilirubin that is built up when the decrease in red blood cells happen. If there is no immediate action taken, that build-up of the bilirubin can become very harmful to the infant. Hence, we have the medevacs.
The cost of the BiliBlanket is about $4,000. If you put the costs associated with a medevac, which is thousands of dollars, why wouldn’t the Minister look at purchasing more BiliBlankets through the Northwest Territories rather than continue to possibly send more medevacs out? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I’m certainly going to have to follow up with the department to ask some additional questions and get some more information for the Member. The BiliBlankets offer the possibility to treat some degrees of jaundice at home for otherwise healthy babies. I acknowledge that there are some advantages here, but there are other methods of treatment as well.
In the Northwest Territories, unlike the rest of the country where the statistical prevalence of this particular condition is about 50 percent in babies, in the Northwest Territories, fortunately our statistics are significantly lower. In 2007-08 it was about 7 percent of babies. It has gone up a little bit, so that for 2011-12 it is about 13 percent of babies.
I acknowledge that there is certainly an opportunity here. I am certainly willing to have additional conversation with the Member. If there are opportunities for cost savings for those babies who the BiliBlanket will work for, I’m certainly willing to explore that with the authorities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Just in terms of the information the Minister is seeking and mentioning that he’s going to commit to, I just want to confirm commitment that he will get a full inventory of BiliBlankets that we have in the Northwest Territories and for the regions and whether he will look at doing something in the smaller communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I commit to getting that information for the Member. As far as providing BiliBlankets in the additional communities, we need to figure out what the rate of prevalence of this particular condition is and figure out the cost balance analysis. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, also known as FASD, affects many people in the North. It impacts every aspect of their daily lives in the way they interact and participate in society. It often causes them to act in ways considered harmful to the community or themselves.
My first question to the Minister of Health and Social Services is: Does the department consider FASD a treatable condition, or is it considered to be a lifelong chronic condition requiring continuous support? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is no cure for FASD that I am aware of. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
That was my understanding as well. Today diagnosis of children with FASD is routine, but diagnosis of adults who were not assessed at young ages is a problem and many adults remain undiagnosed. They find themselves abandoned by the system, in trouble, in hospital or homeless and unaware of programs that might help. They don’t have the ability to function in a society that seems uncaring and stacked against them.
What treatment options and support services are in place to identify and help adults who have FASD? Mahsi.
Cognitive behavioral assessments for adults are completed by psychologists, psychiatrists, neurologists upon referral from a physician, community health nurse or a community social worker. In the Northwest Territories, we use the Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Canadian guidelines for diagnosis, which were developed in 2005. There are a significant number of supports that individuals with FASD can access within the Government of the Northwest Territories. So I would say we are far from not caring for these individuals. We are not stacking against them. We have social workers who can deal one on one. We have mental health and addictions counsellors who can meet with them as well. We have rehabilitation supports to help people transition through activities of daily living. We’ve got case management that’s available, as well, supported living as well as respite services.
Adults with FASD who cannot live on their own may qualify for income support, for shelter, food, clothing, utilities and other things. We do have out-of-territory placement for individuals whose needs are beyond our capacity.
There are a number of things that we do, Mr. Speaker. We certainly aren’t stacking the system against these individuals. Thank you.
Thanks to the Minister. This is the impression adults with FASD often have. I didn’t accuse the department of that. Thanks for that thorough description of the services available.
Families put a tremendous amount of time, resources and love into caring for children with FASD who are now adults. When these children grow up, they often remain in the care of their families. Caring for someone with FASD can be difficult, as the Minister knows, and the families become highly stressed and the person confused. They do not know if there is help or how to find it or access it. So perhaps it’s a communications issue.
What measures are in place to reach out to the families who have children, especially adult children, with FASD and help them access the services they need?
There are a number of services, and I hear the Member, we may have a communication gap in getting this information to the right people at the right time. I know our professionals certainly share the information when they come in contact, but if they don’t come in contact, the Member is right, the individuals who may need the information may not have it. I will have a conversation with the deputy of Health and Social Services to find out and get more concrete information around the types of communication we are using to help get the right information to the right people at the right time. I will share that with the Member and Members on both sides of the House. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Short, final supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Our judicial system treats adults with FASD as though they are responsible for their decisions and have a full capacity for that responsibility punishing them instead of offering treatment or alternative ways of dealing with it, and thus, our jails are full of adults with FASD who circulate through this costly system without resolution. A wellness court announced for this fall that partnership between Health and Social Services and Justice is a positive step and is needed as soon as possible.
Is there any capacity within Health and Social Services and the courts to expedite this for adults with FASD? Thank you.
We are making progress with the wellness court and we are hopeful and actually anticipate that anticipation of the wellness courts later this year will help the courts better address these exact situations by providing supports. As far as expediting, we have a plan in place to start rolling out the wellness court in the fall and we would be ready to start providing those services then.
In the meantime, if there are individual cases that Members are aware of, Justice and Health and Social Services are always willing to work together to try to find solutions in the interim. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
