Mr. Speaker, my question is directed to the Minister of Health and Social Services in regard to my statement and the motion I passed back in the 14th Assembly.
Mr. Speaker, the “whereases” refer correctly to the services that are provided in our communities — or in this case, the lack of services. If anything, the service has declined to a point where there are no services in the community of Tsiigehtchic and no programs such as mental health positions in Fort McPherson and also in regard to the medevac emergency service to get people out of our communities to the regional hospital or elsewhere. I would like to ask the Minister exactly what the department is doing to reinstate programs and services that were in place in our community and why it is taking so long.
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the question from the Member. As the Member is aware, I have been to Tsiigehtchic twice since I became a Minister, and I have had meetings with the community. The Member has talked to me about this issue repeatedly. I do appreciate what the Member is asking me to do, and I have been working on this issue.
Mr. Speaker, as you know, right now all of the authorities are directed to operate in such a way that they balance their budgets. For authorities like Beaufort-Delta and Stanton, where they have been experiencing deficits, they are having to look at all the programs they have to see how they can still balance their budgets and deliver the programs. I have directed the department to see how we can extend, for example, the service time for nurses who had been practising in Tsiigehtchic — how we could extend their time or increase their services as well as mental health work. It is taking a little longer, because authorities cannot come up with the money on their own. I have to come up with the money within the system, and in order to do that, I need to look deeper.
So I want to assure the Member that I agree with the need to enhance services in the communities, and we have to look at it in an innovative way. I am fully committed to looking at what we can do to enhance services in small communities.
Mr. Speaker, it’s fundamental that we do provide programs and services in communities. Simply having a mental health worker, an alcohol/drug worker or even a community nurse.... At least it’s something. But when you do not have any of those aspects in your communities, the services and the people’s well-being are undermined.
So I would like to ask the Minister: exactly why is it that the Department of Health and Social Services in the Inuvik region has a policy as a budget reduction exercise to not fill vacancies?
Mr. Speaker, the Health and Social Services department, as well as all the other departments, is right now having to operate at a certain growth level that’s a lot less than what they are used to. Health and Social Services over the years had been growing at about 10 per cent. We are trying to live within a 3 per cent growth rate.
Having said that, I do agree with the Member about the need to evaluate and enhance the services at the community level. We cannot rely on the authorities to do that, because they have strict budget measures. I have to review the entire program that we have in Health and Social Services, whether it is mental health or nursing or community wellness programs. We have to completely change the way we are delivering our programs. We are undertaking that exercise, and I am committing to the Member to bring back a proposal that could work to enhance the program. But we have to use the money from within.
Mr. Speaker, again it sounds like a “dream on” answer, where basically nothing is going to happen. So I would like to ask the Minister this: why is it that the community of Fort McPherson, some 900 people, does not have a mental health position in which they receive services two days a month from Inuvik for 900 people?
Mr. Speaker, I was in the community of Fort McPherson with the Member in January. It was one of my first tours that I had as a Minister. I visited all of the Health and Social Services staff there. We have a whole floor of social workers, health protection workers, community wellness workers, the healing society; we have a lot of people there that are assigned to help the people of the community. What we are trying to do is see how we can service the community better by putting all those resources together and enhancing services in Fort McPherson. Mr. Speaker, I’ll just leave it at that.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final short supplementary, Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t know how to put this, but services in the Mackenzie Delta communities have declined to the point where it’s actually affecting people’s health. People have been medevacked, people have passed on because of not having a secure health system in the Inuvik region. I think it’s imperative that we talk to those families and individuals that have been affected by the lack of services and the implication that has had on the Inuvik region. They run a $5 million deficit, yet no programs and services are being delivered in the communities.
So again I’d like to ask how this government can operate in a deficit mode and not see any improvement in services. If anything, there are no services.
Mr. Speaker, there are services in our communities. I understand that the Member wants to have that service improved. We are working on a new initiative to support after care addiction worker programming. There are lots of proposals from the community and aboriginal governments in the Beaufort-Delta that we’re considering. I’m not saying wait forever. I have correspondence going to the Member within the next day or two that will state more clearly what it is that we’re doing for the Beaufort-Delta.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
