Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Beaulieu.
Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. I was wondering if the Minister could communicate that to us in writing as soon as possible.
We had intended to come forward through the business planning process. However, if we can have all our initiatives firmed up so that we have a good understanding and some comfort that this is what we are going to do and if we have the dollars that are required, we would be glad to share that with the Members in writing.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Mr. Speaker, over the last several months I’ve been working with some families in the Sahtu region. We develop policies at the Legislative Assembly. They are brought forward by the Cabinet, and we go through the policies and have them implemented in different programs. These policies are well written, they’re well thought out, but when they hit the community at the community level, there seems to be a disconnect there.
One of the things I want to talk about is foster care. I want to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services about when children are taken out of the communities as to the point of contact. In my community I have received several phone calls. There seems to be a disconnect with the department and the policies, and some of the different organizations are blaming each other.
I want to ask the Minister in terms of a similar program they have in Fort McPherson; I think it’s called Plan of Care. Is that something that the department is thinking about implementing in our region? Because that was supposed to happen in the Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Plan of Care is something that has been provided for with the recent amendments to the Child and Family Services Act and is one that we would like to see implemented in every community.
The department staff have been going to the regions to work with community leadership and the communities to help them set them up. We have not had as much response as we would like. We will continue to work with the communities to support them to get this set up, because it is a good avenue for the communities to participate and have some say on the children.
It has been over how many years that the community has been saying this in terms of Plan of Care? My community of Colville Lake, over a number of years, has been saying this. The chief has called me; people in the community have called me. They’ve said, “Why don’t we get to work and get them to talk to us? They come in here and they scoop up the children and they bring them outside.”
I guess we’re waiting for the implementation of a good program. We’ve heard some good things from Fort McPherson. When are we going to see dollars that match these good words? It’s long overdue. Again I ask the Minister of Health and Social Services — the community is ready — to get this Plan of Care implemented into our communities ASAP.
As the Member is aware, this is relatively new legislation. The last Standing Committee on Social Programs worked to implement that.
The second thing is that all of the tools and the legislative framework are there. We just need to work harder to get the communities to come on board. There’s not a lot of money allocated for that. It’s a situation where community leadership and interested parties could get together, and we will give administrative support in that regard.
Lastly, what I want to say is that in some situations in our regions, families agree…. In Sahtu they have agreed to the arrangements that we have had for the children, even if they had to be moved out of communities, because in some cases they are with extended family in another community in the same region. These are very private and confidential family issues that we can’t really talk about here.
I do respect the confidentiality of this issue. But when the communities, such as my community, have elders come and talk to me…. The chief has come and talked to me; the families have talked about it with me. They ask how come the community hasn’t been notified and it hasn’t been discussed.
Small, close knit communities certainly know what’s going on. The elders said to me, “Why isn’t that child being looked after by our community? We could have done it.”
Again, the program is in place. How come, when we have this program, it’s not supported by resources? I’ll ask the Minister: would she look carefully, in terms of the resources that should be with these programs? Because right now… [English translation not provided] …there’s no money.
I think I have a good idea which community of the region the Member is referring to. I’ll commit to the Member that I will revisit to see where we are with that in terms of the conversation we’ve had with the community leadership. I will lend as much support as I can to make that Plan of Care Committee be established in that community.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Item 18, first reading of bills. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just had a couple more oral questions, if I could. Are you still on item 7, Mr. Speaker? If not, I seek unanimous consent to return to item 7.
Unanimous consent granted.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, in the news earlier this week there was a story about two women who had escaped from the women’s jail in Fort Smith. It caused a great deal of concern, especially here in Yellowknife. It wasn’t too long ago that we had a fire that left eight families out in the cold at Bison Estates, and the person who committed that crime was in this facility and escaped. This was a very serious crime, and I’d like to ask the Minister how it is that an individual who commits a crime like that ends up in a jail where she can basically walk out the door.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister of Justice, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. This certainly has been an issue within our department. That particular individual had been placed in the Fort Smith facility in remand. They were waiting for their court hearing. That is part of the reason they were stationed out of the Fort Smith facility.
Again, I think having individuals in remand for an extended period of time and in locations where they’re not secure…. If they can just walk out the door, that causes me a great deal of concern, and it should cause the public some concern. Why would an individual like this be remanded in a facility where she could basically walk out the door?
Mr. Speaker, as the Members would know, we have a women’s corrections facility in Fort Smith, the one and only in the North. We’re limited to holding our inmates, depending on their cases…. If they’re charged and going through a process where they’re before court proceedings, we have to hold on to them in a particular facility. That’s the only facility we can hold our inmates in. We have no other options.
Mr. Speaker, I hear the Minister on this: it’s the only women’s facility we have in the Northwest Territories. But for persons who are in remand, who are charged with serious and heinous crimes, why would you keep them locked up in a facility where they could climb out the window or walk out the front door? That doesn’t make any sense to me. It’s not good from a public safety standpoint. Why wouldn’t an individual like this be sent to the South into remand at a secure location where they couldn’t walk out the door or escape through a window that’s unlocked?
Mr. Speaker, when this whole incident occurred, they had to go through the court proceedings, and they had to be remanded because there was a court appearance that was coming up. There was a need to hold this individual in the North because of the court proceedings. That is part of the reason why we had to.... We do have the facility in the North, although it may not be fully secured. Because of the safety factor of the facility, that’s part of the reason why we had to have these ladies in remand.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.
Mr. Speaker, it doesn’t leave me with a great deal of confidence in our justice system if, when a woman in the Northwest Territories committed a very serious offence and was remanded, we would put her in a facility where she could escape out the window or she could walk out the front door. That’s what I heard the Minister say. That’s not good enough from a public safety standpoint.
In this case it’s a woman charged with a very serious offence. It’s lucky people didn’t die that night when that fire was set. Why is she remanded in a facility where she could walk out the door or climb out an unlocked window? That’s what I’d like to know, and that’s what the public deserves to know.
This particular issue is of great concern to us, as well, at the Department of Justice. We are doing what we can. We have brought forward a proposal for a new facility in Fort Smith to deal specifically with a secure facility. We are in the process of having a truly secure facility in the River Ridge area that’s across from the women’s corrections. We’re doing what we can at the present time to expedite the process so that we do have a secure facility to store these female inmates. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is directed to the Minister of Health and Social Services. When we have a dysfunctional system and it starts to break down, as government we usually try to intervene and basically bring it back up on its footings. I’ll use the Stanton hospital, where they hired a public trustee to intervene with the major deficit that’s being handled by the Stanton hospital.
Presently there are some 45 vacancies in the Inuvik hospital, yet they’ve been running deficits year after year. In this House we’ve been passing supplementary appropriations to bail them out. When you have 45 vacancies in a health system, that tells me there’s something wrong.
I’d like to ask the Minister of Health: what is she doing to intervene like she did at the Stanton hospital, where she appointed a public trustee? How soon can we see the appointment of a public trustee to the Inuvik hospital?
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
The Stanton Territorial Health Authority has been under the management of a public administrator since 2002, I believe. What I did was appoint a new public administrator in May of this year.
With respect to Beaufort-Delta, there is no plan to dissolve that board and appoint a new public administrator. As the Member is aware, the Strategic Initiative Committee on Refocusing Government is reviewing the work of all the boards under Health and Social Services; Housing; and Education, Culture and Employment. We will have to wait to see the outcome of that work.
I do take the Member’s point that it is my job to make sure the boards are functioning at their optimum level, and we are doing a lot of work with Beaufort-Delta in that regard.
Mr. Speaker, I should also note that vacancies don’t usually save us money. Often vacancies cost us money. Having vacancies does not mean we don’t deliver the work. We do deliver the work by locums, staff-fills, floating nurses or doctors. So often vacancies do cost money. The boards try to fill vacancies as much as possible. But there is a lot of pressure in getting health care professionals into our communities.
Mr. Speaker, to have 45 vacancies in a health system is not healthy. Someone is paying for 45 positions in a system that…. Basically, it was passed in a budget in this House to cover the costs of 45 individuals to fill those positions. If they are bringing locums and whatnot in, again that tells me there is really something wrong here.
I’d like to ask the Minister again: not waiting for a review of a committee, will she seriously take a look at the health crisis we have at Inuvik hospital, realizing that it’s running a deficit, it has 45 vacancies, and basically it’s not doing what it should be doing? Why are you not intervening in regard to finding a way to improve the system by approving a public trustee to oversee the problem at Inuvik hospital?
Mr. Speaker, all of our health authorities are under pressure in terms of the capacity and the ability to recruit and retain health care professionals, especially in areas of physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners. We as a government are working to encourage as many as possible of our northern trained nurses and nurse practitioners, midwives and whoever to be able to go to the regional centres. At the same time, the Department of Health and Social Services and Beaufort-Delta are working closely together to look at our operations and numbers and finances to see what is causing the deficit and what we can do to ameliorate that situation going forward.
All health boards in the Northwest Territories are not running deficits. There are two health systems in the Northwest Territories: the Stanton hospital and the Inuvik health system. There are only two places that have been running deficits for the last number of years. The other three systems have — and in some cases, had — surpluses, and good surpluses.
For me to stand here and hear the Minister say that it’s a problem right across the board…. It’s not a problem right across the board. The problem is in two locations: the Stanton health centre and the Inuvik regional board of health. I’d like to ask the Minister: why is it that you continue to allow this practice to continue, knowing that services aren’t being delivered and that you have 45 vacancies and they’re running a deficit?
Mr. Speaker, I think it’s important to note that the two authorities that are under the most pressure and having a significant deficit are the ones with a hospital. Stanton has a hospital and Inuvik has a hospital. Hay River and Deh Cho have hospitals too, but it’s a different level of hospital care. I think there’s unique pressure in running these hospitals that causes deficits.
The second thing is, whether there’s a board or not or a public trustee doesn’t seem to…. That’s not a factor that helps or doesn’t help deficit situations.
I do want to assure the Member that I am working closely and paying attention and am involved to help the Beaufort-Delta authority figure out and get to the bottom of what is causing the deficit and deal with that issue. I will be working closely with the Member to look at all options.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mr. Krutko.
Mr. Speaker, the problem that I see happening, especially in the Inuvik region, is that what’s going on at the Inuvik hospital is having a direct impact on services outside the Inuvik hospital in other communities. It’s affecting the delivery in the communities I represent, where we’re seeing health centre closures. We have seen notices posted throughout our community, and that is because of the major problem that is happening at the Inuvik hospital.
I’d like to ask the Minister: exactly why is it that you’re telling our communities, “Sorry; we can’t provide you services, because we don’t have the resources to allow you to operate”? Where you’re closing down health centres, now we find out you’ve got 45 vacancies that aren’t filled in the Inuvik hospital. That, for me, is exactly what the problem is. What are you doing to ensure that this does not have a direct effect on the services that are being provided to our communities when our health centres are being told that they’re being closed for non-emergency patients?
Mr. Speaker, as the Member is aware, there are a variety of reasons why some of these health centres had to reduce their services to core services. None of the health centres have been closed; it’s just that on certain occasions they have to reduce the services to core level. There could be anything from nurses having to travel for training or an HR issue or somebody who was to show up for new employment did not, or sometimes we have pumps breaking down. There are various reasons why some of these units have to be closed.
I think the situation here is that we do have a significant issue with recruiting and retaining health care professionals. I believe the Beaufort-Delta, under its board leadership, is doing everything it can to address that. I’m committed to working closely with the Member and the board, and I have made a commitment to come back with some proposals that we could consider to address that situation.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Premier. It’s on the condition of our economy and what the potential for problems might be in the Northwest Territories.
I know the Premier did not attend the national round table of Premiers and leaders, but it’s recently been announced that the Yukon is taking action to at least monitor the situation. They are developing a round table themselves, for that jurisdiction, to give them an early alert and try and come up with some solutions. What is this government doing to monitor this situation and come up with a plan before it’s too late?
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The Hon. Premier, Mr. Roland.
Mr. Speaker, earlier today there was a similar question, and my response was that the Department of Finance is involved in monitoring, looking at the environment we are in and preparing to make a presentation on the status that we are in here in the Northwest Territories. For the record, the Yukon is putting a deputies’ committee together to do their work, not a round table — a deputies’ committee to do the monitoring. Our Department of Finance is doing that work for us.
Mr. Speaker, given the situation that we are becoming more and more reliant on the export economy — diamonds and oil and gas — what’s the expectation of the Premier, having heard the situation on the market again this morning getting quite serious: global concerns and national concerns about recession…? What’s the expectation in terms of the diamond industry and the oil and gas industry for the Northwest Territories?
Mr. Speaker, we had an opportunity to meet with the presidents of the diamond mines over a week ago to touch base with them and look at setting up a cooperative agreement on further initiatives we can jointly work on; for example, establishing the workforce in the Northwest Territories by reducing the fly in/fly out component, looking at additional training areas. That’s something we’re working on.
The other area with the mines that they’ve shared with us is that the cost of fuel has a big impact. They’ve been watching the markets and shared with us their concerns. We know, as well, the rate of return that some of the oil and gas areas of development are producing right now; there’d be an impact with that. That would mainly be felt, along with the federal government, on the royalties side as well as by the companies themselves. We’ve been working with the industry and, again from our side specifically, working through the Department of Finance to look at our numbers to ensure we’re still in a healthy situation.
I must remind Members that during the budget we had in June, we talked about the dangers that were potentially out there — that we must look to living within our means. That was the budget we presented to Members, and the Finance Minister is continuing along that path.
Thank you for those comments from the Premier. I know that our public is acutely aware of this issue and also acutely concerned.
We apparently purchased fuel near the peak of the cost — the bump we went through — to resupply our communities. There’s a potential for some serious downturns in our industries. Will this government be preparing a thorough update and response to this, at least for discussion in the business plans or certainly at our next session?
Mr. Speaker, as we go through our process, first and foremost between me and the Finance Minister, we’ll be making presentations to the standing committees as we go into the business plan process. Following that, departments themselves, specifically as the Member has touched on…. On the petroleum side the Department of Public Works and Services would have all the information on how they’ve had to deal with the pressures they’ve had to look at.
Part of the problem — and the Member has touched on it, in a sense — is that when we purchase our product, we are purchasing it off the market. At the point when it was delivered to our communities, the prices were significantly higher than they are now. We won’t be able to adjust those until the next refuelling cycle, which in some communities may be through winter roads and in other communities the next barging season. That’s the difficulty the Department of Public Works and Services’ Petroleum Products Division faces when it comes to providing a level of service in our communities. But that will all be available to Members when we sit down and go through the process in the next business planning cycle.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. Final supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate those comments from the Minister. This, again, is a very serious issue.
I’d just like to note that the Yukon will be holding round table meetings with various associations, such as the Chamber of Commerce, the Association of Yukon Communities and so on, so it’s not just an internal process. Will the Premier commit to including a public process where our residents can participate in a response to this situation as required?
Mr. Speaker, a number of departments have functions established that allow for public input. I know that within the Department of ITI the Minister responsible has an economic table advisory group that he can go to in these times. The Minister of Finance has gone out with a discussion paper about revenue options and got much feedback about that. Much of the feedback is coming as of late with the impacts that are being felt by individuals and companies as a result of the economic turmoil we are facing globally.
Myself, I have met with, for example, the president of the NWT Chamber, the president of the NWT mines, and the Construction Association on a number of occasions, and we’ll continue to use that avenue again to get more feedback about the work we are doing as the Government of Northwest Territories.
