Thank you, Mr. Moses. The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d have to answer that question in two parts. First, with light vehicles, historically traffic for light vehicles was essentially shut down for almost a full month. That’s the historical data. Last year they were shut down for 19 days. Then vehicles up to 60,000, which is a threshold, I think, where the majority of the supplies can get across the Mackenzie River, historically in the last several years the shutdown has been anywhere from 72 to 83 days. Last year the shutdown was 33 days.
As I mentioned in my Member’s statement, just because the ferry is in the middle of the river and it’s moving at, like I said, a snail’s pace doesn’t mean that it’s operational, and it’s also a delay in terms of products and goods being transported to the community of Inuvik.
I’d like to ask the Minister of the department what is his department going to do to communicate the operation of the ferry and the hours that it’s operating and the time and length that it’s going to be taking off and arriving from one side to the other, and if it’s shut down, how is he going to communicate that to the business sector who are waiting on these goods?
The department has done some debriefing meetings with the Town of Inuvik, the community of Fort McPherson, Inuvik Gas Ltd., people that provide the energy to the community. Internally, we know that we have dealings with the Power Corp and we try to have these meetings to debrief amongst each other and see what we can learn from what has occurred since the last season when we were trying to operate the ferry right up until the winter road was open.
The Minister kind of got into my next question. We’ve had one year of the ferry operating, trying to operate here all season round. Now we’re putting in the winter road.
What is the department going to be doing differently from lessons learned from the first year, so we have a more efficient operating system so we get our goods and services to the residents and business owners of the community of Inuvik? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Probably the two biggest lessons learned were that we need to cut the ice sooner to get the ferry in before the ice hardens too much. That was a big lesson. The second lesson learned is we need to accelerate the construction of the ice road. Last year we were accelerating the construction of the ice road, but we need to add to that and accelerate the ice road even further.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The last question is in terms of any of these business owners who have products that might get ruined or be spoiled that have to stay on the other side of the river and can’t get to the community of Inuvik, does the Department of Transportation, who takes care of this infrastructure and operation, have a reimbursement program for who falls behind, whether it’s a contract or whether it’s in goods and services being ruined? Do they have a reimbursement program for our small businesses that are affected when there is a delay in goods and services coming across the ferry crossing? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The Department of Transportation does not have that type of reimbursement program. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As we embark yet again on another chapter of the territorial day shelter in Yellowknife, it is critical we have the right principles, standards, appropriate staff qualifications, appropriate service design and effective care practices for the success of the day shelter concept. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Speaker.
Admittedly, there’s no dispute that an NGO can offer a service or product at a much more reasonable cost than government. Therefore, it’s our duty as a government not to shortchange this process in any way and to make sure that we succeed in offering our territorial service.
Can the Minister provide to the House a proposed high level financial operational breakdown of the territorial day shelter in Yellowknife? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have signed a contract with the Council of Persons with Disabilities to provide the services for two years. The two-year contract is $619,400, which is just over $300,000 a year. We have also signed a two-year lease with the provider of the actual facility, which works out to $5,400 a month, which is about $64,800 a year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I appreciate the Minister’s reply to that. It’s apparent, given the current budget, that this shelter is expected to perform only basic core functions during what we’ve been hinting as a potential reduced open for business environment. However, many, including this MLA, feel this shelter is lacking the funds needed to perform the life-changing programs associated with mental health and addictions, not to mention critical life skill programs required for society reintegration.
Can the Minister indicate to the House where the funding dollars are for this? Thank you.
The day shelter at this point in time is providing some basic services, basically a warm place for people to go as well as some referral functions. We had been talking with the provider about having more opportunities for people to come into that particular facility and offer referrals and other services. The NWT Disabilities Council intends to expand their services to include a process for more referrals and management of the day shelter. They also intend to have some adult service workers scheduled for regular office hours come in and visit as well as some individuals from public health to come in and provide visits on a regular basis. Mr. Speaker, these people already work for the Government of the Northwest Territories. They already provide these services. It’s a matter of going to people who need those services as opposed to waiting for them to come to us. So we don’t need a whole lot more money to provide something we’re already providing. It’s a matter of getting the people to connect, and the day shelter is going to prove to be a location where we can connect. Thank you.
This is where the Minister and our ideology differ. I know the Minister takes pride for doing what’s right for the residents of the Northwest Territories, and he did the honour of opening the new shelter this fall. However, it is clear, with the information that we have today, we are still lacking the required funds for a successful NWT day shelter facility.
Will this Minister commit to making sure we have in place solid targets, proper timelines and the proper funding dollars needed to deal with all levels of withdrawal management programs for our shelter residents? Thank you.
We have processes and programs in place in the Northwest Territories for individuals who are suffering from addictions. We will have an access point for individuals. Our staff will visit the day shelter on a regular basis and those individuals who are ready to take advantage of some of the programming we have will get that treatment. So, we do have a disagreement.
I believe we have many programs and services available. I believe the day shelter is a great access point, a great place to bring people together and share information. When those individuals are ready to take treatment, we are here to ensure that they get that treatment. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Minister’s response. Unfortunately, history has shown this department has failed to publicly disclose the full operational cost for the shelter service nor has ever tabled a full cost accounting analysis.
Can the Minister commit to turn over a new leaf and agree to make an annual disclosure of full cost accounting of the Yellowknife Territorial Day Shelter? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, we disclosed in the previous contract how much we had contracted for the services for the previous day shelter. The information of what we are spending on this day shelter is out and available, but as we move on, we would be happy to provide the Member with actual costs at the end of each fiscal year, as well as committee. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services if he can commit in helping residents complete the applications regarding residential scholarships. The deadline is fast approaching. Perhaps the government services officers, or GSOs, in communities can provide assistance, or perhaps the Minister knows of other appropriate employees who can step up and assist. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe that the Department of Education, Culture and Employment has been coordinating working on this exact issue. I don’t have any specific details, but I will commit to having a conversation with the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment and share that information with the Member. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I don’t know whether I should continue asking the Minister of Health and Social Services questions, but I’ll try. A significant portion of residential school survivors, at the federal level the Residential School Settlement Agreement has provided numerous remedies and forms of compensation.
What is this government, the GNWT, doing to build on these remedies? Is it providing direct support such as professional counselling to the thousands of NWT residents negatively affected by the residential school experience? Mahsi.
Once again, I will pass that information along or that question along to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment and I will get a more fulsome response. At the same time, all residents of the Northwest Territories are able to receive the services we provide, which includes counselling, mental health and addictions services. We do have a number of contracts with different providers for individuals who have substance abuse challenges. Those services, all services, all services that are available in the Northwest Territories are available to all residents. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I believe in his role on the Social Envelope Committee of Cabinet, the current Health and Social Services Minister may be the appropriate Minister to answer this question. I would like to know if there’s an appetite, a political willingness for the territorial government to match the federal government’s $3,000 personal credit. A matching territorial credit would benefit anyone who doesn’t manage to meet their upcoming deadline. Or could it be used by people who want to collectively organize on the land healing activities. Mahsi.
I’m not familiar enough with that particular program of the dollars being provided by the federal government to say that we are committed to it. But what I will do for the Member is I will talk to the Members of the Social Envelope Committee and Cabinet. We will get ourselves informed and we’ll be in a better position to respond. Thank you.
Thank you. Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister of Health and Social Services and I’d like to follow up on my statement about the breast cancer navigator position. I mentioned in my statement that the position has been empty for quite some time.
I’d like to ask the Minister, first off, if he could give me an update on what the department is doing to fill that breast cancer navigator position at Stanton. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Member indicated earlier, the position is no longer called a breast cancer patient navigator or a cancer patient navigator. The new one is, actually, the cancer care coordinator, which still has a key patient advocate role and we are currently trying to fill that position. We are going through some internal recruitment at Stanton to find somebody to take on that role. So we are recruiting as we speak. Thank you.
Thanks to the Minister for the update. I can appreciate that the coordinator will have an advocacy role, but I would stress that I believe that the navigator position is a lot closer to a patient than the cancer care coordinator is going to be. Just the very name “coordinator” removes it from the actual patient who is in a position to need the help.
One of the recommendations from the Breast Health/Breast Action Cancer Group was to expand the navigator position to the regions and to patients, patients with other cancers. So I’d like to ask the Minister if that is anywhere in the thinking of the Department of Health and Social Services.
Will we see navigators in the regions? Will we see navigators for patients other than breast cancer? Thank you.
Thank you. The cancer care coordinator will focus on navigating the system and embracing the patient-centred care philosophy. It will help improve the patient’s experience and care outcomes and empower a patient towards things like self-management, harm reduction and health improvement and maintenance.
This is a patient advocate and they will consult with a variety of health care providers in partnership with the patient. They will assist in identifying needs within the cancer care continuum for the patient and for the patient’s caregivers as well as their family. The cancer care coordinator will also work closely with the individuals in care of the roles and responsibilities. So, this is clearly an advocate position.
We do work closely with the Breast Health/Breast Cancer Action Group and the Aboriginal health and community wellness division has been doing a number of things with respect to the recommendations that have come forward from that group as well as other groups, not just them.
We aren’t, at this point in time, planning to put cancer care coordinators in every region, but we are looking at expanding the role of this particular one to be more than just breast health, and from there we’ll be able to make some more evidence-based decisions on whether this is something that is indeed needed throughout the territory. Thank you.
Thanks again to the Minister. The Minister mentioned the report and the 18 recommendations in the report and that they are doing some work on it. There are certainly several of them which I want to highlight. One I did already, but number two was to develop a standardized cancer care process, number seven, establish policies, protocols and mechanisms to ensure there’s good coordination and information flow among professionals, develop and implement breast cancer care after-care, which is something that we need in many different situations, and review the escort policy, which certainly Members have a very large interest in getting revised.
So, to the Minister, if they’re looking at this report from the Breast Health/Breast Cancer Action Group, can he tell me, have they responded to the action group on these 18 recommendations, and if so, is there a response to that report which could be available to Members and the public? Thank you.
Thank you. Cancer is obviously a big deal in the Northwest Territories. It is one of the leading causes of death in the Northwest Territories and to that end we are currently developing an NWT Cancer Strategy, which does incorporate input from many different groups, including the group that the Member has already referenced today. We’re also working with Aboriginal governments, we’re working with the individual health authorities, we’re working with elders and non-government organizations, communities, as well as cancer survivors. This isn’t just breast cancer. This is a number of the different cancers that people in the Northwest Territories experience. So we are taking all that data and we are developing an NWT Cancer Strategy. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To the Minister I would suggest since he didn’t say that they have replied to the report from the Breast Cancer Action Group I would take that as a no.
My last question is my usual time question. I’d like to ask the Minister when can we expect to have this cancer coordinator position filled. Thank you.
The Aboriginal Health and Community Wellness staff members are working with the group, the Breast Health/Breast Cancer Action Group that the Member has mentioned and they’ve been having continued dialogue. So there has been some conversations both ways. We are hoping to have the cancer care coordinator position filled in the immediate future, but it’s hard to say for sure whether we’ll find somebody. We are currently staffing. The staffing process usually takes a month or two. We’re hoping to have it filled within that period, but we have had problems staffing similar positions in the past. So I’d hate to give a hard and fast date, but we expect it to be soon. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have questions for the Minister of ITI. As I mentioned in my Member’s statement, it’s been a year and a half now since a lot of my constituents were flooded out in the spring of 2013. I also mentioned that we had a few cabins that floated down the river, of which none of those applicants were approved for their funding.
So I’d like to ask the Minister, out of the total number of applications filed in the spring of 2013, why was there only two applications that were approved. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Blake. The Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just received another letter from one of the Member’s constituents regarding the flood of ’13 and looking for compensation. I’ve made a commitment previously to the Member that we would review those applications for assistance. Back in ’13, I must first off state that allocated to this fund is $15,000. Both in the year ’11-12 and ’12-13 we had expenditures there of approximately $80,000 in each of those years. So it was heavily subscribed, oversubscribed, if you will, and the department had to find the funds elsewhere.
As to the reason why claims weren’t initially accepted, it would be because they did not hit the criteria that is put there in place for people to apply to the program and get the funding that’s available. That’s to a maximum of $4,500 per applicant, and again, I’d made a commitment to the Member that we will work with his constituents to try to see if there’s a way that we can get them some assistance. Thank you.
Thank you. That brings me to my next question. When was this policy put in place for the compensation applications? Thank you.
Thank you. I’d have to go back and see when the policy was developed surrounding the funding here. To my knowledge, it’s been in place for some time. That amount of $15,000 has been static going back at least to ’78. So we’d certainly have to go back and find the genesis of that for the Member, and I commit to getting that information to the Member. Thank you.
Thank you. I’d also like to ask the Minister what type of education or advertisement does his department do to ensure harvesters are tracking what they sell from the harvest. Thank you.
