Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The roadside parks are the responsibility of ITI. We work closely with ITI, and as the Member has indicated, ITI clearly has done a very fine job in advertising and promoting and maintaining and building up the park. As a government, we have every expectation that we’re going to maintain that level of service. Thank you.
I’d like to thank the Minister for his reply. These parks, particularly the area that is situated in Alexandra Falls is a geological gem.
What plans can ENR report for development, promotion, outdoor crews or other new projects involving the Twin Falls Gorge Territorial Park? Mahsi.
I will commit to get the response to that question from ITI and make sure that it’s shared with the Member. I just want to reiterate once again, the strong commitment demonstrated, high level of practice and investment in the parks by ITI is going to continue. Thank you.
Part of the distinctive attraction of the area is the fossils, and the Minister’s department is responsible for at least the management and the protection of fossils.
Are any paleontology projects planned for this region in the near future? Mahsi.
Not that I’m aware of. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Nadli.
How are paleontology and archeology recognized in tourism planning for this region? Mahsi.
Clearly, that’s one of the attributes that draw people to that particular location. I listened, as well, how he pointed out the young ladies that found a fossil and brought it back. It’s part of the ability to see that just by following the walking trails and that type of thing. So, it’s a critical selling point of those particular sites. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to follow up my questions and my statement with the Minister of Public Works and Services. I know Public Works and Services doesn’t control the current facility, and my first question to that Minister is: Why is Public Works and Services so interested in the new facility now, Mr. Speaker?
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. Minister of Public Works and Services, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There was direction given back in 2010. Any GNWT buildings coming on would be looked at under the consolidated maintenance program which is run by Public Works. This is a new building coming on stream so Public Works will be maintaining it. Thank you.
I’d like to ask this Minister why we haven’t seen a plan going forward, how this maintenance is going to roll out, what his department is going to take over and what the Department of Health is going to take over. Why is it taking so long to get this plan completed? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you. One of the key factors is that the staff at Hay River Health and Social Services is under a different union agreement than the GNWT staff. Although the buildings have been transferred under that consolidated program, all the buildings that were at one time ownership of the Health and Social Services Authority in Hay River are now GNWT buildings. So, what has happened is that we need to be able to have a discussion not only with Health and Social Services and Public Works that would be providing the maintenance but also with HR labour relations to ensure that we’re going into an area where there’s another union agreement in place for people providing current services that we do this in a phased approach. For now we’re talking about the hospital; in the future we’ll be phasing in the rest of the buildings that are with Hay River Health and Social Services. Thank you.
I guess that’s to my point; the complexity of this and the fact that we need a plan of this is what Public Works and Services is going to do, this is what Health is going to do, and then we can bring that to the union and see how this is going to roll out. Right now we don’t have a plan.
When will the two departments get together, have a plan and bring it to the MLAs and the union?
The Department of Public Works and Services, Department of Health and Social Services, HR and the Hay River Health and Social Services will have a plan on the disposition of the employees, whether they’re coming over to work for Public Works and maintain the hospital, or if they’re going to remain there for a period of time. Overall, we will have a plan in place before the new hospital is open. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bouchard.
As I indicated, these are people’s jobs, people’s lives that are on the line, so they would like to hear this sooner than later.
My question is: Can we get this resolved as soon as possible? Not a set date, not when it opens, but as soon as possible. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
We’ll have this done. The intention, of course, is to have the building open this summer, so within the next several months. We will have a plan prior to then, so we can talk to the departments. I will talk to HR and Public Works. The Minister of Health and Social Services is going to have a discussion with his staff, and we’ll put a plan together as soon as possible. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to talk more about the $26.95 million that this government spends every year on southern and, may I say, Alberta institutions for placements for northern residents. The Minister indicated that there were 106 including adults and children. That works out to an average of $255,000 per placement.
I’d like to ask the Minister, first of all, when is the last time these placements where these referrals are being sent to, when was the last time those facilities were visited by somebody from our government, either standing committee or members of his staff? Thank you.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Minister of Health, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There’s a large number of facilities that we actually are utilizing – there isn’t one facility – because the residents who we actually have down at these facilities have a huge range of needs. We have some individuals who require 24/7 with multiple attendees in order to provide them the services that they need.
As far as when I’ve been down to them, I haven’t visited them. I don’t believe standing committee has visited them. But if that is something standing committee is interested in doing, I’m willing to entertain that and have a discussion. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I just want to reiterate my phrase out-of-sight, out-of-mind. I don’t know what support there is for families, either, for seeing these folks’ family members who get referred to southern institutions.
Previously, in another Assembly when I was on the Standing Committee on Social Programs, we actually went and did a tour and visited many of the facilities. That was way back in the day when Michener Centre was still operating and we went to the Alberta Hospital. I believe Minister Miltenberger was the Minister of Health and Social Services, and off we went to see where our people were living.
It still seems like a lot of money to me, $30 million a year every year, year in, year out. I know they’re specialized needs, but I’m a little bit, I don’t want to say suspect, but I’m a little bit curious that if we don’t have any capacity here in the Northwest Territories that every referral that is made is for these specialized reasons and for this very specialized care.
I’d like to ask the Minister, could we use another group home in the Northwest Territories for adults and children? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, we actually have contracts with accredited agencies located in Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba to provide these incredibly specialized skills. It’s not just specialized skills but it’s different skills. I mean, we have our residents who have really unique conditions who require significant supports, and we don’t actually have programs or the specialists to provide those skills here in the Northwest Territories for one person. Whereas, they have institutions in the South that provide it for similar causes or conditions where they’ve got a large number of people in there, so they’ve got economies of scale that they can administer these.
I, like the Member, am very concerned about these numbers, and this is something that I’ve asked the department to look into. Following on the recommendation of committee, the department did a thorough analysis. Honestly, we are hoping that we would find some like conditions where we could bring them together and utilize a northern facility with northern professionals to provide these supports for our residents. Quite honestly, we want our people home. We want our people in the Northwest Territories. But given a unique file-by-file review, there weren’t enough conditions that were similar that we could justify creating a unit or a function or a service in the Northwest Territories to provide those high-level services.
But it may change. As we continue to evolve here in the Northwest Territories, as patients are coming forward with new conditions we may find that there are conditions similar enough that we can house them, which is why we do the biannual review to make sure that we’re on top of these. Every once in a while we’re lucky where we do have an opportunity to repatriate individuals and we work with the southern institutions to develop great repatriation plans for the individuals who we can bring back, so we’re always looking for ways to bring these people home. We hate spending the money in the South; we’d rather spend the money in the North; but sometimes requirements are so different, so unique, we don’t have a choice but to work with one of our southern partners. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The planes fly both ways. Maybe we should be looking at building some facilities here in the Northwest Territories, and if we didn’t have enough people with specialized need that required that care, we could actually probably take some of the pressure off some of the provinces and have the people come this way.
I would like to ask the Minister if he ever gets any pushback or any concern raised by families. I mean, we’re raising this here in the House and we’re talking about it from the point of view of economics and economy and work. But from that personal human interest side of the folks that are referred to these southern institutions, does the department ever hear from the families about whether they would like to see their loved ones closer to home? Thank you.
The department hears from time to time, but we also hear it the other way as well. We have individuals who would prefer to be in southern facilities because they don’t feel that they’re getting the supports they need here, and at the end of the day, we make referrals to the South that sometimes are declined. So it goes both ways, and we do hear from residents on both sides of this issue. As I said, we really would prefer to have those people back here. I hear the Member talking about opportunities for maybe bringing people from the South up, but we would still need incredibly specialized professionals to come with those positions, and many of them are working in large facilities where they have a huge clientele and maybe wouldn’t be that interested in small facilities that have maybe 10 or 12 patients.
We’re always looking for opportunities to bring our people home and we will continue. We’ll do the biannual reviews, and we’ll continue to keep committee up to date. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.
MRS. GROENEWEGEN:
We’ve just finished the most recent one as a result of recommendations from committee, so I’m assuming biannual would be two years from now. We did just finish one. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I request unanimous consent to go back to item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. Thank you.
---Unanimous consent granted
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize and welcome to the Chamber the chief negotiator who’s helped us negotiate the agreement with Alberta on transboundary water that we’re going to soon conclude, with a similar one in Saskatchewan and hopefully, as well, with British Columbia. She’s also the chief negotiator on the Thaidene Nene file. I would like to welcome Ms. Merrell Ann Phare to the Chamber. She’s one of the best in the business.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment:
Does the Department of Education, Culture and Employment income support division have a definition of “transitional housing” that they use to determine a client’s eligibility for income assistance?
If yes, please provide it. If no, how does the department determine if a client is in transitional housing, and if they are, how does the department determine if the client is eligible for income assistance?
What policy governs clients whose only accommodation option is a motel or hotel room? Why are they not eligible for income assistance?
Explain what a client in an emergency housing situation, i.e. no housing options, should do to find accommodation. Who should they go to?
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Can the Minister provide to this House and make publicly available the entire set of inspection reports for registered daycare facilities in the Northwest Territories, beginning in the 2010-2011 fiscal year up to and including the 2014-2015 fiscal year?
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to table a document from the Canadian Education Association, entitled “2014-2015 Winners of the Ken Spencer Award for Innovation in Teaching and Learning.” The document, as I mentioned, highlights East Three Secondary gardening program.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. I wish to table the Report of the Auditor General of Canada to the Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly – 2015: Corrections in the NWT – Department of Justice.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Thebacha, that Bill 47, An Act to Amend the Child and Family Services Act, be read for the second time.
This bill includes amendments to the Child and Family Services Act that would add a new definition of youth and add provisions respecting the protection and services available to youth, add a new provision requiring the director to notify a child and a child’s parents of the right to be represented by legal counsel, add a new provision providing for mediation, amend the criteria for determining that a child needs protection, add a new provision requiring an application for an apprehension order to include a statement of alternatives to apprehension that had been considered, add a new provision requiring notification of the applicable Aboriginal organizations of an application for an apprehension order in respect to an Aboriginal child, amend the maximum amount of time the child may be placed in a temporary custody by the director or of the director, add a new provision authorizing new roles of the child and family services committees, add a new provision requiring the Legislative Assembly to conduct periodic reviews of the act and make minor technical changes and corrections.
