We spend slightly over $6 million in community counselling. A lot of the community counsellors are from the communities that they work in, so they may be involved. The other thing is certainly our involvement would be that we are a funder for the on-the-land treatment program. Where we can assist in other areas, the department is prepared to do that.
From a cost standpoint, can the Minister expect to see 33 different on-the-land programs or will the Minister provide leadership and develop a policy framework to ensure the efficiency of the delivery of the on-the-land programs? Mahsi.
One of our initiatives, through the Aboriginal health and community wellness division, is to develop wellness plans in all of the communities. Within those wellness plans, we are going to determine whether or not an on-the-land treatment program is what that community wants. Once that has been determined, our intention is to try to fund all of the treatment programs that are being proposed over the next couple of years. Money permitting, our intention is to try to fund them. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In terms of cost, what allocation of resources would the department identify as a possible source? Would it consider, with other departments, the possible consideration of revenues from liquor sales? Mahsi.
We would be coming forward through the regulatory process, the business planning process and presenting our full-blown costs for on-the-land treatment to the House. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
QUESTION 407-17(4):
REPORT OF THE MINISTER’S FORUM ON MENTAL HEALTH AND ADDICTIONS
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister of Health and Social Services. I want to follow up on my Member’s statement.
I spoke about the Mental Health and Addictions Action Plan 2012-2015, which was brought forward about a year and a half ago, and then I also spoke about the Minister’s Forum report. I’d like to know from the Minister with regards to the Minister’s Forum report and all the recommendations that are within it, can I get an update on what the department is doing in terms of those recommendations, what kinds of actions are they taking, are they updating the original Mental Health Action Plan or doing something different. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are not planning on updating the Mental Health and Addictions Action Plan. The Mental Health and Addictions Action Plan is something that is taking us from now to the end of this government. There is no time to update it. Within that action plan, we called for a Minister’s forum and visit with the people to get information from the people on what they think will work in this area. That’s what we’ve done. Thank you.
To the Minister, thanks to the response, but he didn’t really address my question with regards to the recommendations that are in the Minister’s Forum report. There are 67 recommendations in there. What is the Minister doing to put those recommendations into some kind of an action or to take some action on those recommendations? Thank you.
The department in general, we have an Aboriginal community wellness division; we have money that’s being put into addictions from the House. We’ve got some additional funding to address some of the issues that we laid out in one of the two, either the action plan or the recommendations from the forum. We’re moving ahead in areas that we have been talking about for the last several months since we’ve got the forum’s recommendation. We intend to carry them out. I think we’re moving in that direction. It’s a difficult thing to answer what are you doing to carry out. We’re following the plan. Wherever we find the money, we are trying to action things that were recommended by the Minister’s Forum. Thank you.
To the Minister, I guess I’m feeling very puzzled. I’m sure my face looks puzzled. I don’t think that this is a difficult thing to tell us exactly what you are doing. There are 67 recommendations in this report. The Minister says they’re following the plan. Well, I want to know how you’re following the plan. There is any number of things in there that could be done sooner than other things in there.
Can the Minister give me some indication of two or three things they are trying to do first before they do the other 63 or 64?
The first set of recommendations, the most prominent set of recommendations were around treatment on the land. So we are developing a treatment on-the-land program with the communities. We are receiving recommendations from those communities. We are proposing to run some of those recommendations or proposals as pilot programs. We are trying to develop a youth treatment program. Like I said, there’s a consultation process in Fort Simpson where we’re trying to develop an on-the-land youth program. We’re looking to other jurisdictions to see what they’re doing with mobile treatment, I think. Those are the top three recommendations, so we’re moving on those things. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That certainly helps. I thank the Minister for that explanation, but it sounds as though we’re starting with recommendation number one and working our way down to number 67. That’s a concern for me. Number 67 says, “Establish an advisory board with regional representation to oversee the implementation of the forum’s recommendations…provide annual reports,” et cetera. So can the Minister tell me if this advisory board is something that is on the radar within the next short time period, or is it going to be one we’ve done from number one to 66 and then we do 67? Thank you.
Thank you. No, we’re not doing it chronologically. What we’re doing is we’re trying to address what we consider to be top priorities. The recommendations to debrief the Minister’s Forum, we have talked about putting a group of people together. That group of individuals may actually have met, but I’m not 100 percent sure, so I wouldn’t say that here in the House. But we’ve talked with individuals that could work on debriefing the Minister’s Forum, so we’re approaching this. We’re not going to do it chronologically, for sure, I can assure the Member of that, but we are trying to get through all of them. We didn’t ask for recommendations so we could shelve them, like has been said before.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I look forward to this opportunity to ask questions to the Health Minister regarding crack and prescription drug use and what we are doing about it.
I was talking to my eight-year-old son yesterday, and this is no word of a lie and I dare anyone to counter that. He told me he heard about crack, and I’m telling you that was a shock to my wife and I to hear about it. We asked him what this is and he says, the kids talk about it at school. It’s not about one school, it’s the fact it upsets me and actually really ticks me off that my eight-year-old son is starting to understand what these things are.
So my question for the Health and Social Services Minister is: What is he doing to help people who suffer from crack and prescription drug addiction in the Northwest Territories? I want to hear what he’s doing about those types of problems. It really upsets me not only as a legislator, but as a parent. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The Minister of Health, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is correct that these are two very serious issues. Crack and crack cocaine have caused all kinds of problems in all of the communities, small communities. Communities are trying to deal with it; people are trying to deal with it in various ways. There is something that an individual can get to a counsellor that we will send individuals for treatment for crack cocaine addictions.
Prescription drugs are a little bit different issue. Prescription drug addiction is a very hidden addiction, so it’s something that’s difficult to bring out into the public. People can say, well, that person sells crack, that person is on crack and that person is on crack, but it’s very difficult when it comes to prescription drugs to easily identify that. In those cases, it’s a lot of personal responsibility that individuals have to take and all we can do is get the messaging out there that we’re available to help. Thank you.
Thank you. Personal responsibility and sending people out for treatment, let’s follow that thread to see where we go.
We send people out and we have contracts down south and I’m aware that they’re coming up in the new year. Let’s start with finding out first what the success rate is of the people we send out of the Northwest Territories on these treatment programs. Thank you.
Again, success rate is something that’s very difficult to identify. I don’t have the information on the number of people who went out for crack cocaine addiction, came back and stayed clean. So I’m assuming that would be the success, because crack, unlike alcohol, is once you’re back into it, you’re back into it and you are no longer successful. So first we determine what success is and then we start looking at the different numbers. Thank you.
The citizens of Yellowknife feel very strongly about this, and I’m not trying to raise the ire of the Members here or certainly the public, but quite often you hear, when we call for a treatment centre here in Yellowknife, they say, well geez, the Legislative Assembly has an anti-Yellowknife attitude. Well, some days it really feels like that, but when they closed the Nats’ejee K’eh Centre, you think that they have an anti-treatment attitude. They’ve hurt Northerners. They spent a quarter of a million as a retainer for these treatment services down south.
What is the Minister willing to invest in the Northwest Territories to open up treatment programs for the people where they need it?
Thank you. We had allocated $2.2 million to run Nats’ejee K’eh. So if there’s a treatment program in the Northwest Territories that we consider to be a treatment program that is working well for the community, a treatment program that can retain their staff and that’s attractive to the people of the North, we would put that money into that. So I guess that’s what we’re willing to spend. We’re willing to spend whatever we were spending prior to the Nats’ejee K’eh closure. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
This government, this very government had spent upwards of $10 million in fire suppression in the Northwest Territories this year and successive years and years before that. We spend a measly $2 million or $2.2 million on addictions.
Can the Minister of Health and Social Services explain to me how we’re meeting the needs when we spend five times the amount on fires than we do putting out the fires of the cancer of addictions and prescription drugs when it’s hurting real people? Thank you.
Actually, we were spending $2.2 million on the treatment centre, but we have $6 million on community counselling and we have in and around $12 million coming from the federal government in the Wellness Fund. So that’s money that’s going into the wellness of people. So it’s actually not one-tenth or 20 percent of what we’re spending on fires, it’s more than that. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
What is the current teacher to pupil ratio in the Deh Cho region?
What is the percentage of students classified as special needs in the Deh Cho region?
What is the percentage of students classified as special needs in the NWT?
What is the percentage of students classified as special needs in all of the Yellowknife school system?
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to table a document in relation to my oral questions today. It’s regarding Keep Seniors At Home Longer: Minister, an October 14, 2013, Yellowknifer article. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Monfwi, that Bill 27, An Act to Amend the Revolving Funds Act, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Bill 27 has had first reading.
---Carried
Item 19, second reading of bills. Item 20, consideration in Committee of the Whole of bills and other matters: Bill 12, An Act to Amend the Education Act; Bill 22, Territorial Emblems and Honours Act; Bill 24, An Act to Amend the Liquor Act; Committee Report 7-17(4), Report on the Review of Bill 24, An Act to Amend the Liquor Act; Committee Report 8-17(4), Report on the Review of Bill 12, An Act to Amend the Education Act; Tabled Document 70-17(4), Electoral Boundaries Commission, Final Report, May 2013; and Tabled Document 107-17(4), NWT Capital Estimates 2014-2015, with Mrs. Groenewegen in the chair.
I’d like to call Committee of the Whole to order. We have a number of matters before us today. What is the wish of the committee? Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Madam Chair. We would like to deal with Bill 24 and Committee Report 7-17(4).
Thank you. Is committee agreed?
Agreed.
Thank you. Ms. Bisaro, do we not want to deal with Tabled Document 107-17(4) as well?
Thank you, Madam Chair. We do, if we can hear from Mr. Miltenberger.
Okay. Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. We’ll reconvene after a short break.
---SHORT RECESS
I would like to call Committee of the Whole back to order. Minister Miltenberger.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Over the last few weeks, Members of the Legislative Assembly have been working hard on reviewing the departmental capital budgets for the 2014-15 fiscal year.
As part of their review, Members of this House have recommended amendments and other commitments to the Department of Transportation’s 2014-15 Capital Estimates.
I have considered these recommendations with my Cabinet colleagues and offer the following commitments:
Recommendation for chipsealing Highway No. 1
Highway No. 1 from kilometre 187 to 206 is currently a priority to be resurfaced in 2014-15. The department will commit to resurfacing this section of road next summer.
Recommendation for upgrading of Mackenzie Valley Highway winter road
This winter the department will improve the strength of the crossing at 12 Mile Point by watering the snow fill to create a solid base and will cover that base with rig mats. Going forward, the department will look at a more permanent solution, such as a portable bridge, for the 2014-15 winter season.
With respect to the recommendation for multi-year funding for the Detah access road, the Financial Management Board has approved $2 million to resume the Detah Access Road Project in the 2014-15 fiscal year.
I will also assure Members that the additional funding for the Detah access road will not be financed through reducing funding from another project.
I will follow through with this adjustment in the Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 1, 2014-2015, which will be introduced in the House next week. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Ms. Bisaro.
