Thank you, Mr. Minister. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Could I just gain an understanding about whether the Western Arctic people are encouraged to use services in the Northwest Territories or are we a default? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Mr. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, if the Member can maybe help me understand the question a little bit. What does she mean by, you know, default or encouraged, by us or by their own providers or by their own government?
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Ms. Green, extra clarification?
Thank you, Mr. Chair. What I’m getting at is whether the western Arctic residents come here because it’s cheaper to come here than to go to Edmonton or whether the services here are advertised to them as superior than to other services and therefore they come here? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Mr. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we do have a historical relationship pre-division where the residents of the Kitikmeot did come to Yellowknife for services, they were providing things like CT scans and some of the specialty clinics. That relationship has carried on. We have a relationship with Alberta, for services that aren’t provided in the Northwest Territories, we go to Alberta. For Nunavut, for services that aren’t provided in Nunavut, they come to us, and if we don’t provide them they also go to Edmonton or Alberta.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Ms. Green.
That’s everything. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I wanted to follow-up with some questions about the Metis health benefits. I think my colleague covered the funding aspects and the legal requirement to move on it quite well. I’ve heard there’s a concern from some people that the quality of prospective benefits that the federal government’s now obliged to offer won’t be of the same quality that we currently provide. I guess my question is, will we be using any incoming funding to… Will we lapse our program and just take the new federal program or will we find some way to maintain the benefits? Can we give people certainty that we’ll maintain benefits at their current level or improve them with federal money and not diminish anything that Northerners are currently receiving? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Mr. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I believe there’s a mistaken belief out there that we provide Metis health benefits that are different than the NIHB, the Non-Insured Health Benefits. In fact, the Metis health benefits we provide here in the Northwest Territories are an exact mirror of NIHB in every way, it just happens to be funded by us rather than funded by the federal government. Moving forward, we anticipate, given the Daniels ruling, that the federal government will simply include Metis people under NIHB. The benefits that they receive should be identical, unless there is a decision by the federal government to amend or change NIHB, and we have no indication that that is the case. the individuals should receive exactly the same benefits that they are receiving today. The funding agent will be different, and that builds upon Mr. O’Reilly’s point, that the federal government needs to come to the table. We agree wholeheartedly. The federal government lost the Daniels case and they have been told that they need to provide services to Metis. We aren’t sure what they intend to do, but are hopeful that they will meet that.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I understand that there is no difference today regarding other funding, but if we wanted to make a policy change to Metis benefits now, could we do that theoretically on our own, or is it rigidly mirrored, or could we make those minor corrections? Say if a Metis client in the Northwest Territories had some trouble. Could the Minister, our Minister of Health make a policy change to that program, or does that not happen currently, if there was a gap in coverage? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Mr. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we do have the ability to have during negotiations discussions with the federal government on NIHB and its coverage, and we are planning, we are going to be going into negotiations soon where we will certainly make some points about some specific things that are covered that confuse us a little, and we will certainly raise those issues. We don’t just mirror NIHB for Metis health benefits. We also mirror NIHB for extended health benefits. It we get into a position where we start changing the benefits that we provide to some people in the Northwest Territories like seniors or Metis, we would be in a situation where we are providing different benefits to different people. The baseline is NIHB based on the services that they provide, and we stick tightly to that. There are opportunities for exception requests. We have supported some of our residents in those exception requests. Sometimes they win. Sometimes they don't. I think there is value in being consistent within NHIB rather than creating a twotiered health system here in the Northwest Territories for Aboriginal and nonAboriginal residents, Metis and nonMetis residents.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Testart.
Nothing further, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Any further questions? Seeing none. Moving on to detail, page 173, Health and Social Services, active position summary, information item. Any questions. Mr. O’Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. There are a number of reductions here, and I’m just wondering if the Minister and his staff can describe what these positions are and whether they’re vacant or not. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thanks, Mr. O’Reilly. Mr. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, there are a number of changes. We have two positions that were sunsetted. That’s an environmental health officer in Norman Wells as well as a midwife consultant in Yellowknife. We’ve got some initiatives where we have added some positions: two fulltime, one parttime, for a total of three as a result of the increased funding and changes to the Mental Health Act. We have some internal re-allocations, one fulltime, one parttime within the Beaufort Delta, midwife positions, and we have some reductions as a result of our reductions exercise, strategic human resources positions, as well as a senior project management. Of these changes, one position was filled, so we have one affected employee. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. O’Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Any questions. Mr. Thompson.
Can the Minister advise if these positions are moved to Yellowknife or out to the regions? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Mr. Minister?
Thank you, Mr. Chair. What positions specifically?
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Minister was just saying there was an increase and a decrease, so there are some new positions. My question is: of these new positions? Are they moved to Yellowknife or being allocated in Yellowknife or out in the region? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Mr. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. As I indicated, we have two positions that have been sunsetted, one in Norman Wells, one in Yellowknife. We’ve got three new positions that have been created, two fulltime, one parttime for the Mental Health Act, and to help us with the implementation of that. Those three positions are in Yellowknife. We have some internal re-allocations. As I indicated, the Beaufort Delta midwifery positions, one parttime, one fulltime, and those are to help with the planning and design of the territorial midwifery program. Those are not in Beaufort Delta. We’ve brought them to Yellowknife. They were never established in the Beaufort Delta. There was actually no established positions, and then the reductions are in Yellowknife.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Thompson.
The Minister talked about two fulltime, one halftime position for the Mental Health Act. Is this going to be able to help alleviate some of the issues out in the regions? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Mr. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, late in the life of the last government, we brought in the new Mental Health Act which is going to go live, I believe in January. Part of the act is the implementation and utilization of something we call assisted community treatment. These positions are going to help us bring that to reality to help provide services that are outlined under the new legislation that didn’t exist under the old legislation.
We believe this is a significant step to move forward to providing better mental health services across the Northwest Territories. These positions, at least one of them is also going to help us with the review board that we are required to have under the legislation.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. If I get this correct, this is supposed to assist the communities or the regions with their mental health challenges and issues out there, so do we have the positions out in the region already that these people are going to be working with? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Mr. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the new Mental Health Act is new legislation. It changes the way in several ways that we will be provided mental health services here in the Northwest Territories. We’re also working on the mental health and addictions framework that’s been raised several times in this House.
All these have to work together. The legislation gives new capacities, new responsibilities, new ways of doing business, and this new assisted community treatment service that we can provide, but it is, yes, working closely with practitioners that already exist, and given the new responsibilities under the legislation.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Thompson.
No, thank you.
Further questions. Seeing none. We shall move on to page 174, Health and Social Services, active position summary, information item. Any questions? Mr. Thompson, then Mr. O’Reilly.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. In regards to the Dehcho Health and Social Services Authority, it shows a reduction of two positions, one fulltime and one parttime. Were these vacant or full presently? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Mr. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, these were internal re-allocations. I believe they were vacant, but we will confirm.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Thompson.
I’ll just refer to somebody else right now.
