Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Earlier, I spoke about the month of cancer awareness. Many times, on occasions, we're given the opportunity of trying to raise the awareness, so my questions are to the Minister of Health and Social Services. In the NWT, what services does the department provide for cancer patients from initial diagnoses to treatment and beyond? Mahsi.
Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it's kind of a difficult question to answer, given that every individual will be treated differently, depending on the nature of their illness. We do have providers across the Northwest Territories who can do some frontline diagnosis and assessment, and, if an individual is at risk or there are concerns about cancer, they certainly can be referred to a specialist who can help develop an individual care plan that suits the individual and the particular type of cancer they have.
But, on a broader scale, Mr. Speaker, we do have the 10year cancer strategy that we put in place. In fact, I tabled it in October of 2015. This is a 10year plan. This is the first strategy that we've had in place, and, as a result of that, we're doing a number of things across the Northwest Territories to help people who are living with and/or going through treatment processes, things like sharing circles and other opportunities for people to get together, share their experiences, and work together through the healing process. But, when it comes to actual treatment, Mr. Speaker, like I said, very difficult to answer. It really depends on the individual and the nature of the cancer that he or she may have. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I'd like to thank the Minister for his reply. At the very minimum, cancer patients that go through the experience of dealing with this condition, at the very minimum, this system should have a care and compassion, and a public system sometimes becomes very impersonal. What is the department currently doing to promote cancer awareness, prevention, and standardized access to screening? The Minister has stated that he's tabled a 10year cancer strategy. Can he please explain in terms of the prevention measures that his department is taking?
Mr. Speaker, in addition to the cancer strategy, we're also trying to work with residents across the Northwest Territories and create awareness of healthy choices. Those are not only to help prevent cancer but also help prevent other chronic diseases that are really prevalent here, in the Northwest Territories. We're trying to get more information out there on healthy diets and physical activity, reducing or quitting smoking preferably, as well, you know, controlling the amount of alcohol that one consumes, basically everything that the Member said in his statement, which I thought was a very fantastic and a very thorough statement.
We're working with different communities. There are different community wellness plans in place to create awareness, to create promotion, and we do have the cancer strategy in place. We have "Let's Talk About Cancer" websites, where there's a tonne of information. I would strongly encourage the Member to encourage all of his constituents to please take a look at this website and learn about the information that's on there and talk to family members, encourage people to eat healthy and not smoke and get physical activity. In fact, I would encourage all Members to use the means that are available to them through newsletters and other promotional materials to get that information out, as well. We all need to work together to create awareness and encourage people to make healthy choices moving forward.
Going forward, building upon the tabling of the 10year cancer strategy, how are Indigenous traditional beliefs reflected in treatment of First Nations patients?
Mr. Speaker, that's one of the things that we're trying to do across the Northwest Territories. We've been holding different cancer sharing circles throughout the Northwest Territories, with different groups, working with organizations like the Gwich'in to try to get those sharing circles out to different communities. I believe we had one in Aklavik.
We want to keep doing this type of thing, where we're working with the communities, trying to find things that work with the communities but also give people who have cancer an opportunity to share and have some people to share their experiences with, people who have a lived experience who can talk about the frustrations they had, the fears they had, but also the successes they had and where they were able to get support and help. Once again,
I would strongly encourage people to take a look at our website, the cancer website, where there's a lot of this information, very detailed, in there that they can go and figure out what's happening and figure out who they might want to talk to.
If people are worried that they might have a chronic condition or cancer, please go to your Well Woman, Well Man clinics. Please go to the health centres and talk to the resident practitioners, whether it's a nurse practitioner, community health nurse, or visiting doctor. So talking is important, but they also need to get out and talk to the practitioners if they're worried. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I ask these questions to try to bring awareness to cancer and also, at the same time, to the public to be more educated in terms of understanding this plight that affects lots of people in the NWT. The Minister encourages the public to, you know, refer to their website, but, at the same time, not everybody has an opportunity in terms of basic access to the Internet, including the website that he refers to.
Many Northerners volunteer for many different anticancer organizations but can feel frustrated when high cancer rates continue to affect themselves, their friends, and their families. What is the department's role in coordinating cancer awareness, screening, and research efforts across the NWT? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I appreciate the Member's point. Yes, not everybody has access to the Internet, but the information is out there in other means. There are paper copies which sometimes are as hard to get to the constituents and residents as digital. I understand that. We are making sure that information is available in our health centres, or health stations, our regional hospitals, our hospitals, so that individuals who have questions can get a hold of that information in paper.
Through the strategic cancer initiative, we're working with organizations and creating partnerships with places like University of Alberta, who are helping us design programs and bringing, in fact, some southern dollars into the mix to help us do creative new things at a community level as far as creating awareness, getting involved, getting the message out to residents.
At the same time, I'm happy and willing at any time to sit down with Members and take your input, feedback, on areas where you think we might be missing the target...and where we can improve the way we're getting the message out there. I believe we have a bunch of the information we need. We have a lot of good programs. We need to work together to make sure that our constituents have that information and I'm absolutely committed to working with you and all Members to make sure that information is getting to the people who need it, when they need it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral Questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.
