Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize one of the members of the union contingent, as well, Ms. Lauraine Armstrong, a family friend and a berry picking and swimming companion of my wife. Thank you.
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Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize a delegation in the gallery. First I’d like to recognize NWTTA president Gayla Meredith here with us today, and also executive director Dave Roebuck that’s here with us, as well, from the NWTTA. Also, we have two distinguished guests from the communities of Gameti and Whati and they’re a part of the MACA School of Community Government law course they’re taking. I’d just like to recognize Judal Dominicata, SAO of Gameti and also Lisa Nitsiza, SAO trainee in Whati. Welcome to the gallery. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to welcome constituent Val Robertson to the gallery, as well as Mr. Sonny Greenland to the gallery, and Mr. Lafferty pointed them out before, but there were a number of people here from the Community Management and Finance Training Program. I believe they’ve all left, but I’ll read their names off so they’re on the record: Judal Dominicata from Gameti, Dennis Buboire from MACA in Fort Simpson, Chris Chai from the Hamlet of Tulita, Lisa Nitsiza from the Government of Whati, Judi Wall from the Hamlet of Ulukhaktok, Alison Brown, Department of Municipal and Community Affairs in Fort Simpson, Patricia Modeste from Deline, Mary Rose Yukon from Deline, John Yukon from Deline, Jodie Doctor from the Community of Deline and Valene Kenny from the community of Deline. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I just want to welcome Mr. Ken Stewart of Fort Simpson to the gallery. It’s great to see you in the gallery, and hopefully you enjoyed the Members’ statements and Ministers’ statements. Thank you very much. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to welcome all the residents of Weledeh that are in the House today, I know there are many. I’d like to mention in particular Ms. Jennifer Young, co-founder of Face2Face, a local organization that helped the House recognize Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day, as mentioned earlier, which was yesterday. As a result, all the Members are wearing pins that recognize that day. Ms. Young I know has requested that all MLAs wear the pins for the rest of October. In fact, they are planning an event tonight at the Yellowknife River at seven o’clock and all Members are invited to join that.
I’d also like to welcome to the House Frank Walsh, the second vice-president of the Union of Northern Workers executive, as well as regional vice-president for North Slave, Chris Potyok, if I got his name pronunciation correct there.
The Union of Northern Workers executive are here in Yellowknife to attend the UNW’s 16th triennial convention that starts tomorrow and goes through Sunday. Welcome to Yellowknife; welcome to the House. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize a constituent from back home, Mr. Sonny Greenland. Welcome to the House.
I’d also like to recognize Ms. Val Robertson, who is also from Inuvik and does a lot of work over at the school and for the UNW.
I’d also like to recognize all the UNW members and all members from the Northern Territory Federation of Labour. Welcome to the House, and I hope you enjoy the proceedings this afternoon. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too would like to welcome the executive of the Union of Northern Workers who are here for their convention, and I wish them well in their convention in the next couple of days.
I specifically want to recognize two constituents of Frame Lake, Mr. Ivan Landry, who is the regional vice-president Kimberlite; and Ms. Miriam Gordon, who is equity vice-president for the UNW. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m going to take the opportunity to recognize constituent Julie Green. She’s been a wonderful woman, she does a lot of great things in the city and I think she spends a lot of time with the YWCA. At this time I’ve forgotten her position so I won’t try to name it, but I will say that she has an enormous impact in the North for women and their rights.
I’d like to recognize two missionaries in the back of the gallery I can see there. They are both from the United States doing good work here in the Northwest Territories. They are Elder Ames and Elder Anderson, and although I am not Mormon per se, but I can say that getting to know them very well, that they have done wonderful things for people here.
The final thing I’d like to mention, too, Mr. Speaker, I’d like to recognize the collective group here today who’s recognizing their concern, their democratic rights and certainly bringing to bear the pressure of their focus on Bill 12, and that they’re doing it in such a respectful manner I want to give them recognition for that and I’ll, finally, say that I share their concern. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Bouchard.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize constituent Mr. Roy Courtoreille, member of the UNW and a long time Hay River resident and a member of the large Courtoreille family that are distinguished in Hay River. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to introduce to you and through you a number of people here in the gallery here. First and foremost the UNW executive, thank you for joining us here today. It is always nice to have people in the gallery.
As Mr. Hawkins alluded to, we have two young Mormon boys here who are spending their spiritual journey, the last tail of it here in Yellowknife. Great young men and thank you for joining us today.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Mr. Blake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to recognize Bruce Noksana, one of my friends I believe who now lives in Tuk. Welcome to the House.
Thank you, Mr. Blake. I too would like to welcome Mr. Bruce Noksana, one of my good friends I grew up with back home in Tuk. I’m glad to have him move back to Tuk from Inuvik. It’s all good.
I’d like to welcome all visitors here in the public gallery today. Thank you for taking in our proceedings and taking an interest.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would just like to follow up to my Member’s statement and ask the Minister of Health and Social Services, in regard to our priorities that we set in the 17th Legislative Assembly, has the department gone out in the Northwest Territories and identified any existing infrastructure that we can potentially turn into a treatment facility for residents that are battling addictions?
Thank you, Mr. Moses. The honourable Minister of Health, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Following up on the Mental Health and Addictions Action Plan, we have contracts with four facilities in southern Canada. We also have $1.2 million in the Northwest Territories budget that we’re going to be using for on-the-land programming, and we have gone to the Aboriginal governments to distribute those dollars and we’re looking for plans.
With respect to facilities in the Northwest Territories, what we’re hoping to do is have a mobile treatment option program where we have a program in the Northwest Territories that can go to different regions at different times in different facilities that happen to be located throughout the Northwest Territories. There are a number of buildings or facilities that would be appropriate for mobile options, but before we actually finalize any of those locations, we need to finalize the work we’re doing on the mobile treatment program. We have made some progress on that. It has been slow. I will admit, we haven’t got as far as we would like and we’re not ready to roll out a program, but that will be where we’re able to use local facilities throughout the Northwest Territories and provide yet another option for our residents who are seeking treatment.
The mobile treatment unit sounds like a great idea; however, if the mobile treatment is going to the community of Inuvik but we have somebody, say, in Norman Wells or Hay River that needs that treatment program, we need that one facility, functional facility that’s stabilized that will provide the services that will bring people from across the North to a place that’s safe, a functional facility.
If the mobile unit is going to Hay River, you know, why do people in my community have to wait for that mobile unit to get to Inuvik to get the treatment that it needs? Can I ask the Minister, is he looking at creating one facility here in the Northwest Territories?
We’ve actually done that a number of times and it’s failed every time. Right now we have contracts with four southern facilities that have massive economies of scale and can provide programming that has never been able to be delivered here in the Northwest Territories just by the sheer size.
I do disagree with the Member. If we have a mobile treatment option that’s going to different communities at different times, anybody can go to that program at any point in time regardless of what community they’re in. But what we’ve heard is people do want to have options in their communities, so we could run a mobile treatment program in the Sahtu for a 48 day period, then we could run it in the South Slave, Hay River as an example, for 48 days, then we could run it in Inuvik for 48 days, but because it’s run in a different region does not mean that we are excluding people from other regions from participating while it’s being run. There are options for people. When we finalize the program, the mobile treatment program, we will be utilizing northern facilities.
What I heard in those answers is that the department is not looking at creating a treatment facility in the Northwest Territories due to the costs, but as I mentioned in my Member’s statement, mental health and addiction is the biggest cost-driver for this government. We have four contracts going down south.
Can I ask the Minister, has the department looked at streamlining our residents who are applying for treatment? Is that process streamlined? I know in the past we’ve had residents who have had to wait 30 days or been sober for 30 days before they can even look at treatment. We don’t have those facilities, and our counsellors are already overworked to get that opportunity. Is he looking at streamlining the process, so we get people who are battling addictions who really need it into the treatment that they need right away? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, we’ve already done that. We’ve streamlined the application process for individuals who are seeking treatment. We normally require residents to go through four counselling sessions, but we acknowledge that clearly sometimes now is the right time. So, we have put in a modified process, an expedited process. An individual would go to their counsellor or other professional that happens to be available to them, and a referral can go to the department and we can have literally 24 hours turn-around time on approval of the application. Through that we’ve been able to direct people into one of our four treatment facilities in as short of a turnaround time as 48 hours.
Now, I will acknowledge that I have had an opportunity to travel throughout the Northwest Territories this summer. I have talked to people throughout the Northwest Territories about the modified process and I have had some health professionals come to us and say we weren’t aware that there was this expedited process, so clearly we needed to do a better job of helping our professionals understand. I have directed the department to put a little bit more of a communication strategy together, so that our staff know and they can respond to those individuals in a timely manner. We still do suggest that people do try to attend four sessions, but as I said, we know that sometimes now is the right time. We’ve had residents in treatment programs in facilities as early as 48 hours after they’ve come to a professional. Sometimes it takes a little bit longer, but we can get quick turnaround. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. In my Member’s statement I talked about doing a unique approach, a pan-territorial approach with our northern territorial partners, Nunavut and Yukon, and look at using one of our existing facilities and getting funding to look at creating that facility where Northerners from Nunavut, Yukon and the Northwest Territories can get the treatment and services that they need.
Will the Minister be willing to look at that option for all Northerners, Yukon, Nunavut and Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
This was actually an idea presented to me by committee. I believe it was the Member, during business planning. Since then I have had an opportunity to attend the federal/provincial/territorial of Social Services Ministers throughout Canada. I did have an opportunity to briefly mention the concept to my counterparts in Nunavut and Yukon. No decision has been made, but we’ve asked our officials to start having conversations about the possibilities.
I do recognize that each of those jurisdictions has plans in place for their own treatment as far as sending people south or having on-the-land or other programs available. We have actually begun having some of that dialogue. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When the Department of Health and Social Services shut down Nats'ejee K'eh and first came up with this idea of referring people to southern placements, I bought into it and I’m still not saying that it’s not good and doesn’t have a place, but for a territory that has a problem with mental illness and addictions to the proportion that this territory has a problem, we need something here. We need a flagship. We need a centre of excellence. We need some place that we as a government can say we are committed to working with our residents to solving these problems.
Not everyone wants to go south. Some do, some go with success, and some go many times and don’t come back. It’s a huge transition. I agree with my colleague from Inuvik. We put so much money into infrastructure for so many different things, and yet, as the Premier said today in his statement, we’re being held back. Our people are being held back by this.
I would like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services again, could there be a facility for the Northwest Territories on the horizon of this government, given the size of the problem? Thank you.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When the Minister’s Forum on Mental Health and Addictions had their conversations, they heard clearly that programming and services was what people wanted and what people needed. We are looking at putting in a mobile treatment option, which allows us to use different facilities in the Northwest Territories. The important part of any program or of any mental health and addictions facility is the programming that exists within, so we want to make sure we have solid programming for a mobile treatment option that we can go to different communities in different regions and offer our residents yet another option for addictions treatment. So, we are looking at using facilities, multiple facilities with a solid core program. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
As I mentioned in my Member’s statement, people are dying. Oftentimes we need a very critical intervention on an emergency basis. Right now there is nothing, nothing in those communities.
When is the mobile treatment program coming to Hay River, because we need it there. Thank you.
I disagree with the Member that there’s nothing in the communities. Throughout the Northwest Territories we have counsellors and many NGOs that do incredible work to support residents. We’ve got communities developing community wellness plans and trying to put in options. We are supporting on-the-land programming that is designed by the people for the people. We do have access in a timely way to southern facilities, and yes, we are looking at mobile treatment.
As I said to the Member from Inuvik, we are a little behind on making progress on the mobile treatment program. We haven’t finalized any programming around that. We’re still negotiating with a potential provider. Once we have a program, a solid program in place, we will start to roll that out in the Northwest Territories.
There are multiple facilities in the Northwest Territories where a mobile treatment program could work. There are facilities in Yellowknife, facilities in Hay River, facilities in Inuvik. We will move it around. It will be a multiple-day program. We believe probably around 48 days before it moves.
So I can’t tell the Member when a mobile treatment program will be utilized in a facility at or near Hay River, but it will come. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
To the Minister’s point that there’s nothing, let me retract that and say yes. If you want to get into long-term planning for housing or treatment or income support or all kinds of support, yes, there are people in offices that you can go to. But in the situation of an emergency or a crises, the person… Mental health and addictions is very much related to homelessness, and so to the guy that’s standing on the front door of the parish priest’s residence because he has nowhere to go and he’s got serious, serious mental health and addictions issues, where does that person go on any given night in Hay River? Thank you.
I think we are now talking about something slightly different than a treatment program; we’re talking about immediate response to individuals who happen to be homeless or in a different type of crisis. I heard the Member when she was giving her statement, talking about the possibility of some sort of housing or an overnight shelter for individuals in Hay River. I don’t believe that exists at this point in time, but I would be willing to talk to the two Members from Hay River about a possibility and what we can or can’t do at this time. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, which department would be looking at putting something on the ground in a community like Hay River for people who need some kind of immediate crisis type of intervention help? Which departments would be working together on that? Thank you.
As the Department of Health and Social Services, we are happy to work with the community on any proposals they’d like to put forward. Recently I’ve had the opportunity to travel to many communities, and many communities and their leadership actually approached us and said we want to participate, we want to do something in our community, and we’ve had ideas like respite houses or places where individuals can go when they are returning from care, some work that can be done up front. So we’re open to any idea. We’re happy to talk to the leadership in your community. We’re happy to work with the Housing Corporation, who may be able to assist us identify facilities. We’re happy to work with anybody who can get us to where we need to go. I’m happy to work with both Members from Hay River. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Back in July of this year, the Department of Health and Social Services apparently mailed 195 personal NWT health care cards to the wrong addresses. According to the department’s own words, “This was due to a spreadsheet sorting error.” Interestingly, the department immediately claimed that there were no privacy concerns with this mistake. Today my questions will be for the Minister of Health and Social Services.
This is the first time the Minister has been able to comment on this privacy breach since July. Could the Minister clearly inform the House what exactly transpired with these 195 personal NWT health care cards? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Minister of Health, Mr. Abernethy.
