Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have to say this must be a story of embarrassment of riches. I have to say that per square foot, or by any measure, this government — the Department of Health and Social Services, ECE, Housing, you name it — pours more money into downtown Yellowknife than anywhere else in the territory.
Mr. Speaker, we fund the Salvation Army. We poured millions of dollars into the Salvation Army, Bailey House, SideDoor youth centre, Centre for Northern Families. We fund the Yellowknife Association for Community Living. We fund the YWCA. I say a large portion of our capital funding for health and social services is going downtown, building $15 million — that is $500,000 per bed…. We are building 28 units for the dementia centre, and we are building a primary care clinic. We have three clinics in Yellowknife that we’re combining. Surely, out of all that money the city and the organizations could figure out how to build a public bathroom to serve our people.
Mr. Speaker, if we are missing something.… In my last question, I said I will meet with the city and I will talk to the mayor. The Member knows that I asked this morning that this issue be put on the agenda.
So, Mr. Speaker, I don’t believe it is about money. It is about coordination. I have to say to the Member, he must have everything satisfied if he is spending time talking about GNWT funding a public bathroom in downtown Yellowknife, the richest in all our territory. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee.
Interjections.
Order! Supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Mr. Speaker, obviously the Minister had her coffee this morning.
You know, it’s kind of shocking to hear a Yellowknife MLA — the Minister, who happens also to be a Yellowknife MLA — complain about the investment in Yellowknife.
Mr. Speaker, I am sure the Minister misunderstood the point. My riding actually doesn’t cover the Bailey House. And by the way, the Bailey House and the Salvation Army? That’s not in downtown Yellowknife.
The question really comes down to what leadership role is she suggesting? She keeps telling the city to do this. This is not a mandate of the city. I have spoken to the mayor, and he does not want to be downloaded this crappy issue. The question is: what is the Ministry and the Minister responsible for the homeless going to do about establishing a public washroom in the downtown?
I have already indicated that this has got to be something that I have to resolve by working with the city council.
I just noticed that we are building a beautiful park in downtown Yellowknife, by the city. Surely, if we put our good minds together, eight councillors in the City of Yellowknife and Yellowknife MLAs…. We have regular meetings, Mr. Speaker; the Member knows that. We’re working on the agenda. I have asked to put this item on the agenda. Obviously, I’m missing something here, because we’re pouring hundreds of thousands and millions of dollars into address homelessness issues and other social issues. I’m sure we could come to a resolution without public investment from the GNWT to build a public bathroom in downtown Yellowknife.
This is a significant social problem that the Minister keeps wanting to point at the city to solve. This is a shameless approach to pass it on. Would the Minister responsible for the homeless step up and say that she will work to establish a public washroom, without trying to download it to a municipality?
Mr. Speaker, as I’ve already indicated, I could give him a table of all the dollars we spend for all of these facilities, which we are glad to do. I know that these organizations were saying that they could always use more money. Now, I state again that I’m willing to work with the NGOs and the city government to resolve this issue. I remain, unless I’m convinced otherwise, that this is a municipal issue. They have the capacity and wherewithal to address that.
Final short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Quickly, the fact is that public health is run by the Department of Health, which is also led and supervised by the Minister of Health and Social Services. Is public health not an issue under her responsibility that also covers the area of infectious disease?
Obviously, public health is an important issue. I remain convinced that with the resources we have in downtown Yellowknife as well as the capability of the leadership of the city, we could resolve this issue. This is totally resolvable, and we just need to put our heads together and sort this out. I just cannot believe that we provide funding and bed spaces and program money to all of this public infrastructure programming in downtown Yellowknife and they cannot provide a public bathroom facility for people in need. That’s a shame, and it’s a shame for all of us. The city has to take some leadership.
Interjection.
Order! Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.
Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I talked about the Great Elders Facility and its use. I’d like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services questions on this. Can the Minister advise what internal discussions she has had with her department on the usage of the Great Elders Facility in Fort Resolution? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Member’s question, as well as commitment, on this issue. As I have indicated already, we have been able to provide additional programming at the Great Elders Facility in terms of facilitating seniors to use that facility more in day programs. I know that the Member and the community are looking for an opportunity for the seniors to be able to stay there and be taken care of.
I want to give the Member a commitment that I am interested in working with the Member on that and working on a wider proposal to go to the Standing Committee on Social Programs to see how we could use this Great Elders Facility better. Thank you.
Can the Minister advise if the department can sit down with the community to hear their solutions and what they think of the usage of the Great Elders Facility and how it could be used as a residence for the elders of Fort Resolution?
When this facility was built back in ’96 by the Housing Corporation, there was no arrangement made for O&M for 24/7 care. The problem seems to be that we have to…. The solution to this issue is to come up with ways different than how the budgeting and programming is done with respect to a 24/7 intensive seniors’ centre, which we will not be able to do in Resolution.
I think there are other things we could consider. I have had meetings with the band leadership and the seniors’ community in Resolution. I think the department is very well aware of the commitment and interest on the part of the community to make this work. I’m willing to work with the Member to consider all options we have to make use of those four units at the Great Elder Facility, and I will be coming to the Member and the community with a proposal for further discussion.
Thank you, Minister, for the answer. Can the Minister commit to communicating soon with an updated status on what the department considers to be a good solution for residential use by the elders of the Great Elder Facility in as far as scheduling and planning and so on.?
Yes, I’m willing to make a commitment to come up with a proposal. I have to work out the details with the department. I have not had a chance to do that. I will make the commitment to come up with a proposal to discuss with the community to see how that facility can be used better.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister also commit to keeping me abreast of all the plans for the use of the Great Elder Facility so that I, too, can communicate with community governments and elders of Fort Resolution in order that they begin to see some progress on the usage of this as a residential facility?
Absolutely. I would need the partnership of the Member to work together as we move forward on the use of this facility.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the unedited Hansard of October 3 the Minister of Health and Social Services stated that “anywhere else in Canada, dental surgeries are provided by private clinics. There’s no reason why the private clinics in Yellowknife couldn’t look at opening that.” Not necessarily.
In the South the way it works is very few clinics actually have these specialty services. Most clinics are like the clinics in the Northwest Territories. There are indeed specialist clinics that do it, and I think it’s unreasonable to expect that the clinics in Yellowknife — as opposed to the clinics in Hay River and Inuvik, which are basically the same as the clinics in Yellowknife — can take on that capacity. I think our solution to ensuring that our children are getting the dental surgery they need is to open up time in Stanton.
To that end, I’d like the Minister to commit today to at least opening the one day every eight weeks that they have available as well as any scheduled drop time, when they shut down the wards for regular surgeries, and provide that time to the dentists in Yellowknife so that they can work with the dentists in Hay River and Inuvik to reduce this backlog of children who are suffering from oral problems and require dental surgery.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m not able to commit to having this program be established at Stanton for the reasons that I’ve indicated earlier. It’s the Stanton authority that feels that given all the demands of the services that they have to provide…. They have to provide insured services first; they have to be able to provide surgeries and other procedures that Stanton has to deliver that other hospitals in the Territories cannot. So that is their first priority.
But I am willing to make a commitment to the Member that I will revisit this issue, including the one day every eight weeks that Stanton has available and what other options there might be. I will give a commitment to the Member that I will look at all options again and get back to the Member as to what the situation is.
That sounds like a definite maybe.
In moving forward, I’d like to encourage the Minister to actually contact the local dentists and work with the local dentists as well as the individuals that the department has worked with previously in Hay River to find a solution. I think it would be easy, at a minimum, to do the one day every eight weeks as well as any drop time. Will the Minister commit to communicating and talking with the local dentists on this issue?
I guess this is easy as long as we have an unlimited amount of money. That’s something we do not have. We know that Stanton has been experiencing a huge level of deficit. We have programs that we are obliged to provide. Dental service is not an insured service of this government. This is why it is not able to be provided at Stanton.
The secondary issue is that we do need to use all of our facilities. This is something that Hay River can provide, and we want to concentrate those services in Hay River for the south and Inuvik in the north. There are lots of details that I need to work through, but a definite maybe? I’m saying yes to revisiting this issue, because I understand that I need to be able to account for the decisions that I make. I will look at it right through again and report back to the Member as to what all the options are that we have available.
I like yeses. Yeses are good. I’d obviously like to hear her tell me today that she is actually going to communicate with the local dentists and whatnot. Just as a note, I don’t think the insured services are different in Hay River and Inuvik, so we’re not talking different prices there.
There are savings to the Government of the Northwest Territories to move forward and provide these surgeries to kids. Hay River has indicated to me that they’re quite happy, but they’re overwhelmed. They’re not able to move forward on these oral surgeries as quickly as they’d like. We do need to do something different. Once again I’d like to hear the Minister say that she’s going to do it and not that she’s maybe going to do it. I’d like to hear her definitely say that she is going to work with the local dentists to find a resolution to these problems.
The problem has never been with the local dentists. Obviously, the dentists would be happy if the government provided a service and facility to provide their services. That is not really the issue. The issue is putting the burden on…. I understand that this is a huge issue for parents with children who need to have dental surgery. What we need to remember is that health care costs are under pressure. We can’t do everything for everybody. And when we have limited dollars, we have do what we are required to do by our health insurance program. Dental surgery is not one of them. We as a legislature have to make choices about what services we’re going to provide and not.
Secondary, I think that’s an important thing. We as a Legislature have to decide how to use our resources. If we can maximize the use of other facilities, then we need to consider that. I’m willing to consult with any stakeholders to see how we can make this work, and I’m willing to get back to the Member on that.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The children are our future, and by dealing with their oral issues now and getting their teeth healthy and their gums healthy and their mouths healthy, we’re actually going to save ourselves a lot of money down the road. When they get older and they have poor oral health, they’ll be sick people. Obviously, I want her to continue.
I’m curious. I’ve seen the photos. Has the Minister seen the photos of these young children with their mouths full of sores and wounds that pus out where their teeth used to be? Has she shared that with her Cabinet colleagues? I think that if they were to see these pictures, they would understand the ramifications of not taking action on these issues.
Yes, I have. I was the Minister who was in the room with yourself, Mr. Speaker, the Member for Hay River North. I am the Minister and the department who worked to get this program re-established in Hay River. We understand the needs. It’s not about who needs to do what. This is not a government health insurance program. We need to consider how we’re using our dollars, and this is what I’m doing. I will get back to the Member after I’ve revisited this issue.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to reference the statement made by the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment yesterday in regard to apprenticeship and occupational certification and the review that was done. I’m very pleased to hear that a review was done. From my understanding of people who are involved in apprenticeship certification, it was a review that was well overdue.
The Minister stated yesterday that some of the changes that have been implemented are “streamlining activities, making the system more efficient for employers and trades people. There is evidence of results, with the number of registered apprentices climbing by almost 25 per cent…from about 320 for the past several years to just over 400 as of September 1, 2008.”
I’d like to ask the Minister: I understand that we run apprenticeship programs at Aurora College in Fort Smith. I’d like to know what apprenticeship programs are offered at that college.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mr. Speaker, we do offer a variety of apprenticeship programs at Aurora College. I can provide the detailed lists of all the different apprenticeship and trades programs we do offer. I can certainly commit to the Member to provide that detailed information. Mahsi.
Thank you, Minister. I don’t actually need a list of those programs, although it might be interesting to have a look at it.
I’m wondering if the Minister can advise on how thoroughly these programs are subscribed to. Basically, I’m wanting to know whether these programs are full all the time. If we have a listing of, say, 20 apprenticeship programs in Fort Smith, do they run all 20 every year? Do they run all 20 every semester? If we have 20 programs, how thoroughly are they subscribed to?
Mr. Speaker, those programs would vary depending on the type of interest in the program. Sometimes we continue to work with the industry where there’s a need. It depends on the industry’s needs. Then we see more students in the program. Most of the time we do have the trades programs to full capacity. But, again, it does vary, depending on certain programs and certain interest from the students and from the community.
It’s my understanding that it does happen that programs are scheduled and they are then cancelled. I wonder if the Minister could advise under what circumstances apprenticeship programs are cancelled.
Some of the programs have been cancelled in the past due to limited seating capacity. We do have certain criteria that we follow, where in order to cancel a program, there should be a certain number of students into the program. I can certainly provide to the Member that information on the criteria and the guidelines we use for these particular courses we offer.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess I’d like to suggest that cancellation of scheduled programs has a huge impact on both the employer and the employee in this instance. We are concerned why we’re losing people to the South, and cancellation of apprenticeship programs is one possibility. I’ve heard of one instance where that’s happened. People plan their lives around scheduled programs, classes and courses, and when there’s a cancellation on short notice, it creates large problems for any number of people.
I’d like to ask the Minister whether or not there are any guidelines as to the amount of notice that is required for a scheduled program when it is cancelled, and if not, why not.
Mr. Speaker, we certainly don’t want to cancel programs unless we have to. At times we have to go that avenue, but at the same time we do, to the best of our ability, communicate to the students and the families, because we realize the impact that would have on the family and the student. We want to give at least advance notice if there’s going to be cancellation of a program. That will be part of the communication dialogue from our department with Aurora College and on to the students and the families. We do what we can to communicate with the students who will be impacted when there’s a cancellation. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Mr. Speaker, in my Member’s statement I asked about the on the land program with the Department of Health and Social Services and the Sahtu health board. I would like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services: would she consider taking this notion to a pilot project in the Sahtu? People in Colville Lake or Délînê or even Fort Good Hope could have such a program, inviting the department to have on the land healing programs for people in need.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
