The dental services in itself for a Treaty Dene is not covered. It’s not an insured service, so that is covered by Non-Insured Health Benefits from the federal government, although it’s in the contract with us and we provide the same service to the Metis, and we also provide the same service to people over 60, through extended health. So that is something that we are looking at working on better ways on how dental hygienists can work with the dentists.
Right now we have to be under the supervision of the dentist, but we are trying to work on that. There is as much indirect supervision as possible, but at the end of the day, they have to be under that supervision. We have vacancies for dental therapists right now in the NWT. Thank you.
I think all governments should invest into more visits to our communities.
Also in my Member’s statement, I spoke about the ability to change the Dental Auxiliaries Act to allow dental hygienists services and to provide that service. It’s another alternative way to provide better oral health to our communities. Will the Minister focus on that and move to make legislative changes? Thank you.
Certainly, we will have a discussion with the dental contractors to provide more days. It would cost the system more money to provide more days. So if what we’re finding is we know the exact amount of days a dentist goes into each community, so we would check to see the utilization of that time that they’re in. An example would be if they spend 43 days in Fort Liard in 2010-11 and 42 days in 2013-14. So there would be no increase, so my assumption would be they weren’t having full utilized days while they were in there. But I will check that and if they are fully utilizing all their days and there is more time needed in any of these communities, we’ll have that discussion. That would be something that would have to go into the contracts we have with various dentists.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I am glad to hear that. If the Minister can just speak about amending the Dental Auxiliaries Act specifically to allow dental hygienists to operate unsupervised in the communities, that will give us the potential for increased visits to the communities as well. Also, Mr. Speaker, I really believe we should invest in oral hygiene care in all communities. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. That’s more of a comment. Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Health and Social Services Professional Act is something that the Member is aware that we are going through 19 different acts, including the Dental Auxiliaries Act. That is something that we are looking at, so it’s a future possibility that we can develop regulations specific to dental hygienists. However, there is another factor and that is there are no dental hygienists school in Canada at this point. So what we are hoping to do is work with perhaps not even other jurisdictions, but right into other countries. We are thinking about working with Alaska on that.
So we are looking at the acts to change them so dental hygienists can be a bigger piece of the puzzle and work independently at the community level. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Health and Social Services with regard to the Medical Travel Policy. I guess my first question would be: Does the department have a point of contract or an NWT coordinator or regional coordinator for anybody that’s travelling to either Edmonton or Yellowknife for medical treatment or appointments to contact, should they be travelling on the weekend, say a Saturday or Sunday, and needs some information? It might even be late at night and somebody could give them assistance so they can get back to their home town, back into their community such as Inuvik. Does the department currently have an on-call service for after hours or on the weekend, should people find themselves in that situation?
Thank you, Mr. Moses. The honourable Minister of Health, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Anyone travelling with medical travel, according to the policy, should have an after-hours number so that if an individual is returning from medical travel on Sunday, Saturday or a late night flight, then that individual is supposed to be equipped with an after-hours number if they cannot afford to get back home to their community. So if an individual is landing in Inuvik and they are from another community in the area, they would overnight in Inuvik in a boarding home. If they are from Inuvik, they are supposed to just jump in a cab, go home and be reimbursed. If they don’t have money, there is a number that is provided to them.
When individuals are consulted on this after-hours number or when they are going through their itinerary, is there somebody else in the room with these clients or individuals? In some cases, I’ve had elders approach me where they have agreed on medical travel and agreed to go to Edmonton without an escort when, in fact, they did need an escort. When I have approached the Minister in the past, he’s always said this elder – the Minister’s office, I shouldn’t say the Minister himself – was consulted. However, in some cases, the elder or the individual might just agree, not knowing what they’re agreeing to. So is there someone else that is consulted, a third party that the client can approach that attends these meetings with the client?
There should be. If the health professional is not able to communicate with the individual, then there should be somebody else there that can provide assistance to the individual and the health profession to ensure communication. I’m afraid what the Member is bringing up is correct. Sometimes elders will just get the information and then go down south. What we can do is, in cases where individuals are travelling to and from, we can alert Larga. For example, if they are in Inuvik, Vital Abel is available if they are here, to make sure that the people understand when they are going back home or when they’re travelling in, they understand that these are the numbers they are to call if they were to get into any distress or if they are feeling nobody is there available to pick them up at the airport and so on, so we can ensure that the system is picking that up. Thank you.
Thank you. Another issue that we’re having with the Medical Travel Policy here is the amount of time it takes for an individual to get approval for their travel, for their appointments and the amount of time when they do have an appointment, they’re usually given sometimes last minute notice – a day, not even two days, sometimes even the same day – that they’ve got an approval to go on travel. This also results in some of the no-shows that we have, this government has taken in as debt because of people not showing up to their appointments.
Has there been any update or any upgrades to the approval system of medical travel in the Northwest Territories? Thank you.
Thank you. The Department of Health and Social Services is able to gather all of the information necessary to modernize the Medical Travel Policy and the Medical Travel Program. At this time, some of those issues are the exact things we’re trying to work out of the system. We recognize that medical travel is a very important part of people travelling to appointments because we can’t always bring the doctors to the people. So we are working with that, we’re looking at some electronic aids and so on that would be able to help sometimes and maybe divert medical travel. But at the end of the day, there are 1,000 medical travel trips a month. We’re trying to make each of those events as uneventful and smooth of a trip down to see the doctor and back. So that is something that we are currently looking at. Hopefully we’ll get the bugs out. It’s a difficult task, but we’re trying to get the bugs out of the medical system so it works effectively for everyone. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Medical Travel Policy itself hasn’t been revised in about 15 years and the Minister has made some suggestions to that. When would this government look at a possible revised Medical Travel Policy that might include such things as an after-hours coordinator, a weekend coordinator, language translator and speeding up the process such as putting in timelines? Is there a timeline that we can see a revised Medical Travel Policy within this government? Thank you.
Thank you. Unfortunately, I do not have the exact date of when we are going to make changes to the Medical Travel Policy. We have someone currently working on it. I don’t know of the timelines, but I am prepared and willing to provide that information to the Members as soon as I can. Before the end of session I can provide the timelines. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last week on Thursday I was trying to raise the issue of 911. The fact is, the concern in Yellowknife, as well as across the Northwest Territories, is this file still has gone nowhere.
So I ask the Minister of MACA, who is in charge of the 911 issue, I guess one could look at it that way or I don’t know what he’s doing with it. So that’s where my first question lies.
What is the Minister of MACA doing to move forward the file of 911 to ensure we have safety for all Northerners as requested by NWTAC, the City of Yellowknife and Northerners at large? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, 911 is a concern across the Northwest Territories. We’ve heard about it in the many meetings we’ve had. I have asked officials to go back and have a look at it, considering the fact that technology and telecommunications have improved throughout the North. So I have committed to revisiting the issue. Thank you.
Thank you. Maybe the Minister could elaborate. The 911 issue has been brought up no less than 13 occasions in this Legislature and it was always hinging on being able to reach out to the communities and cell phone services. So I’d like the Minister to actually explain to this House what does he mean by he’s looking into this. Thank you.
I said we’re revisiting the issue. The question has been raised. The Member said what, 13 times. I think it was a lot more than that, but at the time, because of the lack of communication across the Northwest Territories, telecommunication, it would have been difficult to work on or implement this system. So with the improvements, we are going back. I have directed officials to revisit this issue and see if there are ways that we can possibly implement this program. We’re working with the communities to implement this program on a stage-by-stage basis. Thank you.
Thank you. Written words speak louder than oral words. So what is the Minister willing to table before this House or even put in a letter to Members to show that MACA is committed to this, rather than just standing here and saying we’re behind it? Well, let’s prove it. Thank you.
Thank you. If the Member doesn’t want to take my word for it, then we’ll put a letter together and send it to the Member. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Has the Minister of MACA ever gone to the FMB Cabinet table to fight for 911 and is he able to prove that for a fact? A lot of Northerners in this city and across the territory all feel that this issue continues to get dusted off and ignored. Thank you.
Thank you. It’s not our intention to dust this off and keep pushing it off. I have not gone to the Cabinet table yet. We are planning on doing a little more work on this and then once the opportunity arises, we’re looking for some funds, and I will approach FMB and see if there’s a possibility that we can gain access to some of these funds. But in the meantime, we do recognize that things are changing across the Northwest Territories and I’ve heard from a lot of folks out there. I’ve heard from NWTAC, I’ve heard from Members in the 16th and 17th. So it is one that I have committed to revisiting and seeing if there’s a possibility that we can advance this issue any further. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’re marching towards the April 1st, 2014, deadline of completing the devolution transfer process. However, we have regions that haven’t settled their land claims and, at the same time, haven’t signed on to the Devolution Agreement. So my questions are for the Premier.
The Intergovernmental Council that’s described in the post-Devolution Agreement sets a relationship between this government and also Aboriginal governments. Will the Dehcho and Akaitcho be involved in that process in terms of the Intergovernmental Council? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The process, as laid out, is for Aboriginal governments to sign on to devolution in order to be part of the Intergovernmental Council. Having said that, we are currently under discussions with both the Dehcho First Nation and the Akaitcho First Nations to find ways to move forward and hopefully get both the Dehcho First Nation and the Akaitcho to sign on to devolution. Thank you.
Thank you. Unsettled regions are described as historical treaties and the Premier just indicated they’re making efforts to ensure that efforts are made to bring along the Dehcho and the Akaitcho with the devolution process.
Can the Premier explain the GNWT’s efforts to work with both regions to ensure they come on board on the devolution process? Mahsi.
Thank you. The grand chief of the Dehcho First Nation and myself approved a terms of reference for a small working group of senior officials to have a without prejudice discussion on ways to move forward on land issues. It’s our expectation that very soon we’ll be able to approach both of our leaderships to see if we can find common ground to move forward. My principal secretary met with some of the leaders of the Akaitcho First Nation to see if we can work together to set up a similar process.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The land claims and self-government processes are basically predicated by federal government policy including, just to name perhaps two, the comprehensive land claims policies and the inherent rights to self-government.
What guide and policy does the GNWT take into consideration when engaging First Nations on lands, resources and self-government arrangements?
As a government, we have approved mandates that guide our negotiations on comprehensive land claims. We have also approved the inherent right to self-government and we have our own mandates and policies and guidelines that we adhere to.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Premier perhaps give us an indication of a timeline when those groups that haven’t signed on to the devolution process may come to the table?
As the Member knows, we are guided by the Constitution of Canada, and the Constitution of Canada provides for comprehensive land claims. As I said many times in the House, the Dehcho First Nations and the Akaitcho First Nations both don’t believe the written versions of the treaties. They believe the oral version of the treaties. That is what has complicated the negotiations.
Now, both processes involve land, and lands are big issues. As part of the final agreement on devolution, we have a process whereby there is up to one year after the implementation date for an Aboriginal government to sign on, and there are also financial considerations for which the Government of Canada is paying; things like waste sites. There is also money for implementation, and those funds will drop off after one year because the Government of Canada doesn’t want to continue to carry those forward as liabilities. On our part, if after a year those financial considerations by the Government of Canada fall off, I think it’s incumbent on us, if the Aboriginal governments sign on after one year. Obviously, our government’s objective and preference would be to have all Aboriginal governments sign on to land claims or sign on to devolution and that’s what we’re working towards.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following three documents, entitled Government of the Northwest Territories Mission to Kiruna, Sweden, and Munich, Germany: Mission Report; NWT Water Stewardship Strategy, Implementation and Progress Report, April 2011 to March 2013; and NWT Water Stewardship Report Card, April 2011 to March 2013. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Item 15, notices of motion. Item 16, notices of motion for first reading of bills. Mr. Ramsay.
