Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Next on my list I have Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess this is a big piece of the Health and Social Services in terms of programs and services that we provide to residents and also supporting our not-for-profit organizations. I guess the first question that I do have is about a year ago, yes, just over a year ago we tabled the Early Childhood Development Action Plan in the House here, and it was a combination between Education, Culture and Employment and Health and Social Services. When you look at the action items, the Department of Health and Social Services was accountable for 14 of those action items. With a year into this action plan, I see that in here we’ve got some things like Healthy Family Program, Early Childhood Development Breastfeeding Program. He doesn’t have to get into detail, but would the Minister commit to provide committee with an update on where they are in this action?
Thank you, Mr. Moses. Minister Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would be pleased to meet with committee and provide them with an update on where we are with the Early Childhood Development Action Plan. From a health point of view, maybe we should probably have a joint meeting with Health and Social Services as well as Education where we can go through the items with committee.
In my general comments to the department yesterday, I talked about the importance of early childhood development, and development is what we’re really discussing here and the critical years are zero to two, zero to three, and I think that a lot of Members thought that this department should have been the head lead on early childhood development and looking at that. Committee was supportive. Once again, as mentioned, we did try to bring in a motion for, I think, $1.2 million for early childhood initiatives which was also defeated. But I think we’ll put that on the agenda for standing committee and we’ll try to get some correspondence to move on that.
The next one is in terms of the Disabilities Fund. Sometimes it seems that our organizations that work with people with disabilities tends to get overlooked when we’re also dealing with a whole bunch of other issues. I look at the amount of funding that goes into the Disabilities Fund and there hasn’t really been a big increase in this area. I just wanted to know if the Minister, as my questions to the Premier last week in terms of the Third-Party Accountability Framework, whether or not forced growth is looked into working with our organizations that do work on behalf of government such as the Persons with Disabilities Council and also an update on that action plan. Can the Minister provide maybe an update on the action plan that was, I guess, tabled in 2008, and also whether or not forced growth is given to these organizations such as the NWT council?
We have a pretty solid relationship with the NWT Disabilities Council. We do provide them with a significant amount of money. Not all organizations get forced growth, like non-government organizations get forced growth, and I don’t believe at this point in time the NWT Council is one of the ones that’s getting forced growth. It isn’t. We have been talking to the council about updating the action plan. It’s pretty old and it really needs to be updated, and they certainly have an interest in doing that. They have been a little busy with a number of the different projects that they have undertaken lately that we’ve been working with them on, but we anticipate that those negotiations and discussions will continue and we will be moving forward with an updated action plan or, rather, they will.
That action plan was developed February 2008 and a lot has changed in the last seven years, and I appreciate the Minister working with the Persons with Disabilities Council to look at modernizing this and see how we can take better steps in working with the Council and with individuals.
The next one is in terms of home care support and whether or not we’re providing our home care staff in the communities and in the regional centres… I know we have, I think, when I was working with public health, we only had one home care support worker, and to deal with a community of over 3,000 at the time was very cumbersome and working pretty well right from when she walked in and usually worked a little bit late to provide support to those who needed home care. I’m not sure where the department is in terms of looking at the home care support and resources that we have for those that provide home care services to our residents, and when was the last time that we looked at supporting them?
Our home support workers as well as our home care nurses provide a really valuable service throughout the Northwest Territories. We have home support workers in many communities throughout the Northwest Territories and we’ve also provided training to many of the individuals that are supporting individuals who need home support such as our personal support workers. By way of example, we’re doing training in the Sahtu right now to prep a bunch of individuals from the Sahtu for the new long-term care facility to provide personal support in there. There are a number of things that we are doing. These are incredibly valuable positions. But for some of the specifics on some of the things that are going on, I would like to go to the deputy minister.
Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Deputy Minister DeLancey.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We recently signed another five-year agreement for home support funding with Health Canada which is where a lot of the funding for our program comes from. It did allow us to do a little bit of enhancement. First we always work with authorities to assess the pressures, where there are pressures, where there’s the most need for increased staff or increased training. Some of our authorities are doing some very innovative work with communities to find different ways or more, at least, culturally responsive ways to deliver their home care services. In the Sahtu and in the Tlicho they’re doing some unique things. We do provide, as I noted, training and foot care, palliative care, respite care. We’re working with the NWT Disabilities Council to do some pilot projects on providing respite care in small communities. They work with our home support workers to identify the families that are in need. There is a lot going on, but as the Member noted, it’s an area of increasing pressure. There will be increasing demand. We are constantly looking at how to make the best use of our budget. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, deputy minister. I’ll go back to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Once again, a new format that we’re looking at here today and there are things in a few different places. It is going to take us all a little bit of time to become familiar with this and we will re-offer that briefing.
The federal dollars the deputy minister is talking about appears on page 220 under work performed on behalf of others. It’s the second from the bottom, home and community care, $5.5 million.
Thank you, Minister. I think we’re going to allow everybody to ask some questions and have a little bit of leniency, a little change in format here. Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the update on the agreement and the funding from Health Canada. Speaking with mental health and addictions theme day again, I think that’s one area that we might be lacking in. I think we need to provide more services and programs. You heard it today in some questions about the waiting times to get into counselling. I’m glad that we’re streamlining people to get down to treatment and getting to the institutions that they need to go to, to get the help that they need, but it’s when they come back to the communities, especially if it’s a small remote community.
What kind of after-care are we providing for individuals that are coming back who have been healed and taken those first steps? What kind of after-care are we providing so that our residents don’t relapse back into the situations that they were in before? What kind of financial resources are we putting into that? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. Minister Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Before somebody goes out for treatment, and one of the residential treatment facilities that we’re currently working with, they do agree to, when they return, contact or be contacted by the community counsellor. So, there are community counsellors who are providing some degree of after-care.
There are also other opportunities. We know, and we don’t believe that we should be administering it or running it, that AA is a valuable program, but the reason it’s effective is because it’s a non-government sort of member-driven organization. We do know that there is some frustration because there may be not enough people in the community to actually really hold an AA. We’ve been working with AA groups that are trying to get established. We’re making our facilities available to them after hours. We’ve also indicated that we’d be absolutely willing to make things like telehealth available so that they could link to other communities. In fact, it has worked in a couple of communities in the Northwest Territories.
There are a number of things we’re doing. We’re trying to make sure that people have the tools they need. At the same time, and this doesn’t apply to every region in the Northwest Territories, a couple of the on-the-land programs that have come forward have had a focus on after-care. So, there are some varieties out there for individuals, and there is community support for individuals who are returning, and they are required to indicate or sign up to have continued contact when they’re back.
Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Next on my list I have Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just have one more question in this section and then I want to follow up where Mr. Moses left off on the early childhood development and discuss that a little bit. As Mr. Moses indicated, it was the view of committee, and as a member of the committee I agree with the view, that Health and Social Services should be the lead on the early childhood development initiatives. I would urge the Minister to reconsider with his partner Minister whether or not, after some time in putting these programs in place, maybe Health and Social Services is better placed to be the lead on these particular projects.
My specific question goes to the comments made by the Minister in his opening remarks. He stated, “We will continue to partner with the Department of ECE to provide early childhood development options for families,” and then went on to say, “a social marketing campaign will be launched this year.” That struck me as a little strange. I guess my question to the Minister is: How is a social marketing campaign going to provide for better services and programs for early childhood development, basically the zero to three, zero to four age group? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Minister Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. There is no real lead to early childhood development. We have an effective working relationship between Health and Social Services and the department. We’re working closely together and our staff are meeting regularly on the implementation of the individual items. Some of the items are education-specific; some of the items are health-specific, but many of the items are collaborative. We’re doing our best to break down the barriers, destroy the silos in this particular area. I wouldn’t say that there is a lead department. I’d say there’s an effective and collaborative working relationship here moving forward on ECD.
With respect to the second question, it is actually directly related to one of the action items within the ECD Action Plan. I will get the deputy minister to explain the details.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Deputy Minister DeLancey.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. As the Minister noted, one of the commitments in the Early Childhood Development Action Plan was the promotion, awareness and education initiatives related to early childhood development and making those available to all families and communities. We do know, of course, that parents play an important role. Getting information out to parents and caregivers is an important part of making sure kids get the support they need. One of the actions was that we would have target campaigns that would raise awareness about the importance of early childhood development and focus on getting that message out to parents and caregivers.
We do have money. We had set money aside in the ECD budget between ECE and ourselves. We have identified two key areas of focus for the social marketing campaign. ECE is taking the lead on getting messaging out about spending quality time with children, the importance of parents spending time with kids, supporting kids, kids getting enough sleep, reading to your kids and so on.
The Health and Social Services element of the social marketing campaign will be linked to our oral health strategy, and we want to have a big awareness on oral health, on how important it is that kids eat the right kind of foods, what parents can do in the early days.
A lot of people in communities don’t have access to dental services and a lot of parents of young kids aren’t even aware that they need to be thinking about oral health in the early days. This is something that has been in the action plan in the beginning. It’s been budgeted for since the beginning and we’re hoping to roll it out over the next year. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Deputy Minister DeLancey. Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thanks for the explanation. How much money has been budgeted? How much money is being spent on this campaign between the two departments? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Minister Abernethy.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I don’t have that at my fingertips, but I will commit to getting that to the Member and committee. Oh, wait! Yes, we do. For ‘14-15, $100,000; ‘15-16, proposing another $100,000.
Thanks to the Minister. That’s an awful lot of money in my view. I really question the value of spending $200,000 on what sounds like it’s going to be… If it’s a social marketing campaign, it sounds like it’s going to be pamphlets and I’m presuming Facebook and tweets, I guess. I’m not sure, but that’s what it sounds like to me. It does seem like a lot of money. I would far rather that that money went into a program in various communities. Certainly we have to alert parents to stuff that’s available, but I question the value of these types of campaigns. I don’t question the need to educate, but I question the methods that are being suggested. I’d like to know from the Minister if there was any kind of an analysis prior to the decision to spend and budget this money. Was there any kind of analysis of another similar campaign that was done within the government? Thank you.
The Early Childhood Development Action Plan was based on two years of research and best practices across the country and the world. So, yes.
Thanks. I guess best practices across our country and the world are not necessarily what work in the North. I would suggest that we’d have an awful lot of people in small communities who are not going to get a heck of a lot of benefit out of this campaign and I would urge the department to reconsider.
My last question has to do with the Healthy Family Program. I think it should go on this page, not the next page because I note the next page is just for the Tlicho Government. Are we increasing the number of communities that will have a Healthy Family Program in the ’15-16 year? Thank you.
Thank you. The Healthy Family Program will be moving to Tuk in ’15-16. It was based on a supp that occurred in ’14-15. The planning is occurring now, but there will be a Healthy Family Program in Tuk in ’15-16. I’d just like to add, that’s in partnership with the IRC. As I say often, a lot of these programs really benefit from partnering with community governments, Aboriginal governments as well as other people throughout the Northwest Territories. Partnerships really make these programs better and this particular one in Tuk is being done in partnership with the IRC.
Thanks. A last question here. So we’re adding one community in ’15-16. Where does the increase, I’m presuming there’s an increase in expenditures because of that. So where does it show in the budget and how much is it? Thank you.
Thank you. The dollars actually came in in the ’14-15 fiscal year, which we’re using for the transition and the planning, and it came in by way of a supp in ’14-15. So it will not show as an increase in ’15-16. Thank you.
So I guess that means that Tuk was added in this current budget year, not in ’15-16. Okay. So we are not increasing the number of communities for Healthy Family Programs in ’15-16? That would be my last question for confirmation. Thank you.
The work to set them up is actually occurring right now, but the money actually hasn’t been transferred. A supp will be coming to Committee of the Whole later, in the next couple of weeks. It’s a transfer from ECE. So we’re beginning the work now and when the supp is passed, the money will be there and the dollars will be used to create the program in Tuk. So it is going to be new in ’15-16. There is only a month and a half left in this fiscal year.
Thanks. I did say it was my last question. It is my last question, but I guess I have to spar with the Minister. We’re talking budget here and I asked about the budget. So there is no increase in the budget for Healthy Family Programs? Thank you.
Recognizing the support this committee has for Healthy Family programs, I imagine that we will see an increase in the budget once the supp passes. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Next on my list I have Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I was just wondering if we could get a bit of a breakdown of the disabilities funding, how much it is. I see the indicator here at $335,000, but what the breakdown specifically is and what program areas are they targeting in their support. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Minister Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. There’s $113,000 for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, $183,000 for the NWT Council for Persons with Disabilities and $39,000 for the Hay River Community for Persons with Disabilities for a total of $335,000 in the Disabilities Fund.
Thank you, Minister. I’ll just remind committee we’re on 197. If you have some detail to go to the next page, we need to get there. Go ahead, Mr. Hawkins.
Thanks, Mr. Chairman. The reasons I was just citing more specifically are grants and contributions fall under 197, but the detail of it is actually on the next page. So I can save the rest of my questions for the next page. What would you like me to do, Mr. Chairman?
I guess we’re flexible. Go ahead.
Excellent. All those years of yoga are paying off. First off I’m going to say it’s nice to see the money continue. I don’t see the money really elevating a little bit. Yes, there is more money than last year, which looks like it was taken up at $329,000. Interestingly enough, I notice the Disabilities Council in the Yukon is losing all their funding from the Yukon government, but their funding was twice as much than we offer here today, a little more than twice as much.
The reason I highlight the disabilities funding is I’m a little unsure that there’s enough there to do the work that they actually challenge each and every day and provide the programming. In talking to the folks here in Yellowknife and certainly the good folks down in Hay River, as well, one of the biggest challenges they have is funding, for example, like handivans to ensure that they get people in their membership out and in the community to community events to keep them in the area of active living. I’m just wondering what availability is there to create some flexibility.
Now I’m not asking about capital projects. In other words, I mean, of course they’d like you to buy a van, an appropriate van, but usually it’s not the capital cost that kills organizations like this, it’s the O and M to run these things. They cost a lot more over the long haul.
So I’d ask the Minister, what type of flexibility is there for additional funding to assist with things like handivans in order to get people with disabilities and even in a lot of cases seniors out to community events more often? In some cases, people who are shut in don’t get out at all. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Minister Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just for the record, there is an additional $226,553 for community-based respite that goes to the NWT Disabilities Council. So the $183,000 is not the only money that they’re getting.
As I indicated previously, we are working with them and we’re hoping to see a revised disabilities action plan and that may come with some financial asks. We’re looking forward to seeing that document when it is concluded, at which point we’ll be having, I’m certain, some discussions with the committee on that.
With respect to handivans and other programs, we believe that the individual associations that are looking for handivan support can go to MACA in communities to seek funding under the Community Public Infrastructure Fund.
Thank you. Could I have the Minister restate that last title under MACA, the access fund? I heard two people talking at the same time and they sounded like they were disagreeing. Thank you.
I actually forget the title, but it’s infrastructure funding for community governments. We will get that information confirmed from MACA and provide it to committee. I forget the name of the fund. Thank you.
At this particular time I don’t have anything further in this area. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Next I have Mr. Moses.
