Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to follow up on my Member's statement today to the Minister of Health and Social Services. As I stated previously, the issue of trying to get patients referred from Fort Liard to Fort Nelson to deal with their medical conditions has been a concern that has been going on for 25 years. I was really shocked when I heard that, and I've talked to the Minister about it. I realize he's only been in this portfolio for four years, I believe it is, so I feel sorry for him, but: can the Minister of Health and Social Services please provide the status of the agreement with the BC government to allow residents from Fort Liard and Nahanni Butte to be deferred to the Fort Nelson Hospital? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This issue first came to my attention about three and a half years ago, when I travelled to the communities of Fort Liard and Nahanni Butte with the former MLA for the Nahendeh riding. At that time, I indicated that we would certainly be willing to have a discussion with Fort Nelson and the Government of British Columbia to put in place any protocols that would allow us to refer our residents from Fort Liard to Fort Nelson. At that time, I did say we would wait until we finished our negotiations with the Alberta government that we're currently updating our protocols on. Unfortunately, that has taken far longer than I had hoped. Last fall, I had a discussion with the department and got an update on both files. At that time, I did direct the Department of Health and Social Services to work with the Government of British Columbia and to speak to Fort Nelson to establish some protocols that would allow us to refer residents of both Fort Liard and Nahanni Butte to Fort Norman in British Columbia, which, as the Member said, is a two-hour drive away instead of a three-hour drive away and a two-hour flight away and then an overnight stay and then a return. We're interested in providing best health and best care to our residents, and I think this is an important protocol that we have to put in place.
The department has done some initial research and an analysis, and they will be travelling to Fort Nelson later in March. Hopefully at that time they will also be meeting with leadership in the community to try to determine the best ways to move forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I thank the Minister for giving us that update. I appreciate the hard work he and his department are doing. Again, you can understand the confusion and the willingness or unwillingness. The community is saying it's been 25 years, and I appreciate the work he's doing right now, and the department is doing. Can the Minister please tell us what challenges are stopping this agreement from being completed?
There are a couple of things. First off, I want to say, as Canadian citizens, all residents of the Northwest Territories can go anywhere they want to receive acute care and primary care services. Residents of Fort Liard can go to Fort Nelson now, and those services will be covered. It's the referrals that I think are the problem. Right now if we make a referral, they're referring to our system, which means often they'll end up in Yellowknife or Edmonton, which is I think the main issue that's being raised.
One of the challenges we have is in gauging the level of interest in Fort Nelson and British Columbia to actually open up more their services than they currently do. Right now, a large number of our residents from Fort Liard do go to Nelson, but there are no formal protocols. We need to determine what level of support or what level of services they want to make available. We need to understand the costs of providing medical travel there as opposed to other things. There might be an opportunity for controlling some spending, which is good. We also need to make sure what types of services are available in Liard so that people are receiving services in Liard when they're there and are being referred accordingly. So there are some challenges and some details we have to work up, but we are committed to getting that work done.
I thank the Minister for the answer. In my conversations with some of the residents, they were concerned about exchanging of medical information between British Columbia and the hospital there in Fort Liard. I guess my question to the Minister in regards to that is: has this been one of the challenges that we see, and how are you able to resolve this issue?
Privacy rights of our patients is certainly an issue. A number of years ago, we come up with a new health privacy legislation here in the Northwest Territories. Having that legislation actually, I think, will help us in this particular situation because we know what the expectations are, as opposed to when all privacy was under the Access to Information and Privacy. I think we're actually in a better place to have a more informed discussion on this, but it is absolutely a factor. I mean, the rights of all patients to have privacy and their information not ending up where it shouldn't be is paramount, and we need to make sure that is addressed and taken care of in all of our discussions. If we're going to open up to having referrals to a jurisdiction that we don't currently have a relationship with, we need to make sure that that relationship is solid and that there are protocols in place to make sure that our residents' privacy is protected, while at the same time providing high-quality health services to all residents.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Minister's answer. It did help clarify a number of issues from what I've heard, and I think the Minister has heard those same concerns previously. When will the residents of Fort Liard and Nahendeh finally see an agreement in place so that they can be sent to Fort Nelson for their medical treatment in the future? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
As I have indicated, I have already provided direction to the department to move forward on this initiative and to engage British Columbia, but this is a negotiation between the Northwest Territories and the Government of British Columbia. I'm cautious about sending out or setting a finite date, because there is a third party here. There's the Government of British Columbia that will have certain expectations and criteria they want. This may not be as big of a priority for them as it is for us, but we'll have a better sense, I think, towards the end of March on what kind of timelines and what kind of workload this is going to take. When I know, I'll certainly let the Member know and he'll be able to share that information with his community. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
