Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. [Translation] Today I would like to acknowledge what happened in our community. We just lost two of our citizens in the Tlicho region. I know there’s a lot of people in our community who are suffering right now. We all know each other. Even when we’re here, we are remembering them and we want to have prayers in our hearts for their parents and their families.
We have to look at how we can resolve this. We have to support them and try to help the community in the situation they are in because of what has happened and what has occurred in our community. I know that next week we will be having a funeral service for the people and the communities. We have to support them with prayers. Prayers go a long way and are a big help for the families.
I just wanted to acknowledge the fact that we have a terrible situation that happened in our community. I wanted to mention this in the House. We have families and friends in the Tlicho community who are all watching and listening to us. I am sure we are praying for the families. Although we are here today, we will support the families, remember them and have a prayer for them. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize two Pages from Hay River South who have been working in the Chamber for us all week. They are two fine gentlemen, Ethan Schofield and Matthew Lafferty. Say hello to them if you get a chance to. Thank you.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize a constituent of Inuvik Twin Lakes and president of the Nihtat Gwich’in Council, Mr. Jozef Carnogursky. Welcome to the Chamber.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to recognize Mr. Jozef Carnogursky, president of Nihtat Gwich’in Council, a long-time friend and I really appreciate the work he’s done for the Gwich’in people up in Inuvik and the region and being a strong advocate for the people up in that region. Welcome, Jozef. I hope you enjoy the proceedings. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. Mr. Yakeleya.
Mr. Speaker, I would also like to recognize the elder from Deline First Nation government, Mr. Andrew John Kenny. Andrew John Kenny mentioned to me yesterday, he said he thoroughly enjoys the Assembly, listening to the people going back and forth. “It’s a real good meeting you guys are having,” he said. “Too bad I didn’t get in there.” But he’s watching, so I have to watch the election close. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to recognize all the work of the Pages we have working for us here who have been working this session. We have a Page from Kam Lake, Ms. Hayley Barry. I appreciate all her hard work. I also want to recognize a long-time friend and former chief of the community of Deline, Andrew John Kenny, welcome to the House, as well as Mr. Carnogursky. Good to see you here today.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Like my colleagues, I wish to recognize all the Pages, most particularly the Pages from Mildred Hall who are representing us today. Specifically I would like to recognize a constituent. I believe her name is Genzi Zhang. Thank you for your work. I am glad to have all Pages here. It’s a great opportunity for all. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for Minister Ramsay today. I scanned the list of documents to be tabled this session, but I was disappointed not to see the promised Agriculture Strategy listed. We haven’t even had a whiff of a draft, in spite of it being promised by the end of this summer, long past.
This strategy, an intended action plan, has been called for by the citizens of the Northwest Territories for decades. With only days effectively left to deal with this, can the Minister tell me when we can expect to see a draft of this long-awaited strategy? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Minister Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’ve had some great forward momentum when it comes to agriculture here In the Northwest Territories. We’ve advanced the sector tremendously. We have a What We Heard document from consultations we’ve had with the public and stakeholders around the territory. We will be tabling that report in the House during this sitting. Thank you.
That’s good news. In the absence of a logical strategy, people have been pursing agriculture on their own, wrestling with volatile and inconsistent support and often barriers from this government. They have a lot of experience to share and they are hoping the government will actually hear them.
What consultative process is the Minister engaged in or was the Minister engaged in to hear from the people regarding a comprehensive NWT agricultural policy? Mahsi.
We had a tremendous amount of positive feedback from around the Northwest Territories. In talking with stakeholders, people were involved in the agricultural sector here in the NWT. We believe we had a consultative approach. As I said, we will be tabling the What We Heard report in the House probably sometime next week. The Member can see for himself who we talked to and what we are going to focus on. Thank you.
Thanks to the Minister. Agricultural policy is important to the future of sustainable local economies and food security for the communities in the North. If our people are to achieve the optimum level of self-sufficiency, the Economic Strategy must contain a comprehensive agricultural policy.
Is this promised agricultural policy a priority for this government given we are just hearing What We Heard and not a policy or is this another case of this government paying lip service to the sustainable localized economic development communities require while pursuing fossil fuel which should remain in the ground, for example? Mahsi.
I agree with the Member that this is a very important sector of our economy. I do take issue with some of the Member’s overtures that we are just paying lip service and that we are taking our time. Mr. Speaker, this is important to us. As I mentioned, we are going to come forward with the What We Heard report. We initially formed the basis of a draft Agriculture Strategy for the Northwest Territories.
This is too important to be rushed through. We are taking our time. We are listening to people and stakeholders around the Northwest Territories to ensure that we get this right because it is such a valuable component to our economic well-being as we move this territory forward. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again amazing context here between what’s real now on the ground and able to give us dividends versus the theoretical fossil fuel pursuit that gives us nothing. Given the need to diversify our economies and lessen reliance on boom and bust industries like that, our need for local sustainable jobs and food security, when will such a policy be in place? Mahsi.
I don’t have a crystal ball. I’m not sure who’s going to be back and who’s going to be in which position, but it’s safe to say, early in the life of the next government the Agriculture Strategy will be put forward to the 18th Legislative Assembly and debated by Members of that government. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I talked about grandparents, single parents and people who want to go to work. One of the issues in Norman Wells and Colville Lake, ironically Norman Wells is an oil-driven economy and Colville Lake is a resource economy based on harvesting and trapping.
What can this government do to help young people with a daycare centre? How can we get those doors open? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker, We do have daycare facilities across the Northwest Territories. I know we need to improve certain areas. We have been working in the Member’s riding. We currently have three licenced early childhood programs in the Sahtu region. Obviously, Members are requesting additions to that as well.
Fort Good Hope has a daycare; Tulita, child development; and Deline has a pre-school. These are some of the areas where we have established early childhood centres. We continue to improve in those areas.
My staff, my department is more than willing to meet with leadership and stakeholders to develop these centres because we do have funding available. Those are some of the discussions we are currently having. Mahsi.
The Minister talked about the daycare centres and I appreciate the ones in Fort Good Hope, Tulita and Deline. I want to focus on Norman Wells and Colville Lake. If the funding is there, I want to ask the Minister if he can give me a commitment that prior to the writ being dropped that his staff will initiate meetings in Colville Lake and Norman Wells to act on this funding so that the daycare centres can be opened and these young people can go to work and go to school. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
In 2015, obviously these are discussions we’ve been having with Norman Wells to develop programs. My staff are working with community members from the Sahtu region, more particularly in Norman Wells, to open a licenced early childhood program within the Sahtu region as well.
Just last month the Norman Wells Land Corporation met with ECE and is considering establishing a daycare. Those are discussions we’ve been having and we are making progress in that respect, Mr. Speaker. Mahsi.
I do want to thank the staff in Norman Wells and the willingness of the Norman Wells Land Corporation to initiate this meeting with the Education, Culture and Employment department. I appreciate that, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask now if the Minister would redirect his focus and attention to Colville Lake where they also need a daycare centre. There are lots of young families there also willing to look at this initiative.
Will the Minister take a leap of faith and ask his staff to go to Colville Lake and look at ways they can bring solutions to establish a daycare centre for young parents, young people in Colville Lake before the writ is dropped?
This particular issue is not new to my department. My department has been working very closely with the community and has provided funding over the past several years with respect to the summer preschool programming. Just recently Colville Lake residents have expressed an interest in having licenced daycare programming, so at this point my department is working with Colville to identify suitable space availability in the community. So, we’re doing everything we can to push that forward and I’m hoping we’ll see some progress in expeditious timing. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the Northwest Territories there are eight health centres without full-time nurses. That’s a fact. Another fact: there are 11 communities without full-time RCMP members in that community. There are eight daycare centres that are not operating in the communities in the Northwest Territories. I’m just pointing out two in my region, Colville Lake and Norman Wells.
I want to ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, seeing that we have two, can the Minister instruct the staff to work tirelessly to ensure that nobody else in Colville Lake has their doors open for daycare centre prior to let’s give a time date of Christmas, so the parents in those two communities can have a Christmas present?
Obviously, we would like to see a child development centre established in those two respective communities. My department, again, is working very closely with the community to have that established and ready to go. So, we’re working with community leadership to make that happen and it’s just a matter of finding that suitable space in Colville Lake and also working very closely with Norman Wells, the corporation that has shown interest, and we want to move forward on that. So, we’re doing everything we can as a department. We need to push that forward as best of our ability with our parties involved. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The question I have today is for the Minister of Health and Social Services, and it may seem like a small issue, but it’s a very important issue when a family is in crisis and a loved one is in the care of a health care facility.
So, I’d like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services if he is aware of a policy that would guide a health care professional or a person in administration when answering an inquiry about the condition of a patient. Let me give you an example. I recently had a constituent who was in the hospital who was nearing end of life, and her son called from another jurisdiction to inquire about his mother’s condition. When the person speaking on the phone checked the list – which I wasn’t aware there was such a thing – this individual’s name was not on the list, so they were notified, I’m sorry, your name is not on the approved list of people we can discuss your mother’s condition with.
I’m bringing this up today because I know it seems like a small thing that I could just as easily ask you personally, but I want other people to be aware of it, too, who may be listening. If people are required to have a list of approved contacts when they are a patient in the hospital, it is very important for them to know that, because, like I say, the family could be in great strife or stress.
I’d like to ask the Minister, is he aware of the policy of the health care facilities with respect to providing information to people calling to inquire about family members. Thank you.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Minister of Health, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the health care system, privacy and privacy rights is an incredibly important factor in providing services, and effective today we have the Health Information Act that actually guides our ability to share information. It indicates when we can share the information and also indicates when we can’t share information. Prior to today we were bound by ATIPP.
So, when it comes to health privacy and those types of concerns, I would strongly encourage you and I would strongly encourage all Members to make sure that when individuals are in the health care system, they are very clear and articulate who can and can’t receive information, and who can be told that somebody is in a particular facility. But if we don’t have that information, we can’t and we won’t share people’s personal information. So, as of today’s Health Information Act, it went live today, prior to that it was ATIPP. Thank you.
For the benefit of patients and patient’s families, then, is there a protocol or any requirement on the part of people in admitting or people who are in administration on the front desk of a health care facility to advise a patient or a patient’s family that this list needs to be articulated and held by the people who might be in a position to give out information on that patient’s condition?
Prior to the actual implementation and the go-live date of the Health Information Act, and recognizing that we have eight health authorities here in the Northwest Territories who have all of their own operational procedures and protocols within the institutions, I can’t say for sure that there was one policy for all authorities.
Moving forward with the system transformation, we will be able to have consistent standards that are clearly articulated and informed by the Health Information Act moving forward.
I would further just like to ask the Minister, then, if he would ensure that there is consistency across the health authorities going forward and some mechanism that would remind patients or families of the need that if they want the information to be made available that they have to grant that authority or that approval in some form, maybe attached to the admission form, or some way, so that we don’t end up in the situation where someone is wanting to find out about something, which they rightfully probably should know and their parent or their loved one may want them to know.
Can we make sure that there is a formal system-wide process attached to this so that people are fully aware of it?
It’s a great idea and I will certainly share that information with the department and ask them to ensure that we have mechanisms to ensure that our patients are adequately informed about their privacy rights and their information rights, and to encourage them to include people who should be involved or be aware of their files, particularly family.
This will be a lot easier moving forward with one system as opposed to multiple systems, and this is the type of conversation I know that the professional staff that we have working on amalgamation have been having.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Could that also include provision for a patient to designate someone other than themselves as a decision-maker to work with the health care providers to make sure that list is comprehensive? So if the patients themselves are not capable of providing that information, if they could be asked to confirm a designated decision-maker who could provide that list for the patient?
I know that with the new proposed Mental Health Act we actually have that provision in the legislation to designate an alternative decision-maker. As far as patients not covered under the Mental Health Act or the future Mental Health Act, I’m not actually sure, but I will check and I will get back to the Member.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.
