Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm just going to start off, and I'm going to get Ms. Young to elaborate on the response. I was concerned very much, as well, with the official languages and to seeing that we do meet the needs of the Northwest Territories. When I went to go toward the location, it was actually that we didn't have very many, I want to say almost none, calls that were called in requesting an Indigenous language. Right now, we do work with CanTalk, that does provide that service, but we did run into situations where we just have a limited number of translators for each of, I want to say there are seven dialects in the Northwest Territories, who actually speak the language, who can respond. We had a hard time to find those translators in the Northwest Territories. Going forward, according to what we have, our response is very quick and very effective, very efficient, to where the responders on the phone are able to decrease and rate a call and that they are able to almost provide the assistance over the phone. I'll have Eleanor elaborate on it a little bit more. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Ms. Young.
Thank you, Madam Chair. The way that the translation system works, the call comes in live to the operators, who, as the Minister said, are in our call centre 24-7. If they recognize that it's not French or English, they immediately dial in this CanTalk service, which then identifies the language and connects with a translator. We have, as much as has been possible, provided them with names of translators in the Northwest Territories who speak the languages, so that CanTalk could actually connect them with those individuals.
Unfortunately, and I know this has been a conversation with Education, Culture and Employment, as well, we don't have enough translators in the Northwest Territories to be able to operate this as a sustainable service in the territories currently, although that is ideally a goal of all of us, to be able to, instead of using CanTalk, have that translation service provided here. This CanTalk service is an interim solution that connects us to translators as quickly as possible. I know that we haven't tested it yet, because we've not had an Indigenous call come in, but the goal is to be able to have the translation connected and working live with the client within 60 to 80 seconds. Unfortunately, I can't tell you whether that has happened on the ground, because we haven't had one to experience yet. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Ms. Young. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Marsi, Madam Chair. Thank you to Ms. Young and the Minister for the response. I'm just looking through this, as well. It's always good, when you are doing a new program, you don't want to set it up to fail; you make sure it doesn't go by the wayside. I'm just wondering if the Minister could let me know if they feel like the staffing right now is adequate to keep this program running and if this will be adequate, this number here, this line item, to fund it; if $1.2 million will be enough moving forward. Marsi cho.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. This program rolling out is very new. I think we launched November of last year. We haven't been functioning for a year, yet. Going forward, I will be doing an assessment to see how our program is rolling out. Right now, we have I want to say seven staff and a relief. We have seven staff and a relief working at this call centre. As we go forward, we will be evaluating this program. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you. Mahsi cho, Madam Chair. One last question: are those staff, the ones you've just mentioned, are they reflected on page 335 at all? Mahsi cho.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, they are reflected on the page. Thank you.
Thank you. We will move on to the Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I appreciate all the questions leading and opening up the subject of 911 from my colleague. You mentioned just now that you have seven staff working with the 911 program. Is seven staff considered fully staffed? Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Presently, that is considered fully staffed. I said we will be reviewing the program probably within the year, so we would be able to see the program functioning and coming out. There could be a possible request for changes and more staff. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Right now we sometimes have a lot of people off sick, especially when flu season hits, when staff is short, where do the calls get routed to? Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. When we are receiving these responses and we require more staff, we have the med staff who are available, as well. I just want to really elaborate that we ended up hiring the one relief so it would alleviate and try to take care of the amount of hours and stress because I was very mindful of it when I went in. This could almost be a 24-hour position because they do get calls in. The centre is quite busy, so I'm very mindful of it just looking at the program delivery going forward. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Just to confirm, calls are only answered in the Northwest Territories? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, that's correct.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. What percent of emergency calls received in the Northwest Territories are going to 911? Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I don't have those numbers in front of me right now. I'd have to get back to the Member. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much. I would appreciate that, and I think that would go to the government operations committee, if possible. Thank you. My next question is: I'm wondering if the Minister could identify the significant growing pains they have experienced with 911 and how the department is addressing them. Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Since the program and the service has just been available to us since November, we have had I don't want to say staffing issues, but it's a very unique education that you need to fill these positions. There is just a limited number of people who come forward with this expertise. Looking at training, as well, I did emphasize that, as well, that we do have the centre available, and we would be open for training. It's very specific, and the level of training required is very different. That style of training is not available in the North, but I will have Ms. Young elaborate on the response. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Ms. Young.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Just a couple of things to add to the Minister's comments in terms of what we've observed. Obviously, the question of staffing, the staffing was identified based on what we assumed would be typical call volumes, so we have to measure what we're actually receiving against the model that was used to predict the number of staff and see if we are adequately staffing. We have had things come up like staff requesting parental leave, which, of course, when you design a staff model, you're not anticipating somebody being away for a long period of time, so how to cover that kind of situation.
It was designed in a way to meet national accreditation standards, so there have been some growing pains in just how calls are received and communicated to dispatch centres in communities. We are working through those with a number of communities. In some cases, communities have hired some additional support; in other cases, we're working with the community to try to go through and iron out exactly what the issues are and resolve those. I am working quite closely, for example, with the City of Yellowknife on some issues that they have identified and trying to work through what's causing the issue and then what the resolution to that issue is. We will be doing a report every year within 90 days of the end of the fiscal year, so I am looking forward to seeing the first report and some of the numbers and the analysis about how many calls we're getting, how much time our staff are putting in to be able to really get a better handle on: is it the right amount of staff? Are we getting the right expertise? Are there any other issues coming up? Those are the initial things that we have noticed. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Ms. Young. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Earlier, you gave some fabulous stats to my colleague in regard to trends in calls, specific to how many were fire, ambulance, and police. I am wondering if you also track data in regard to what type of calls, specifically: are they domestic violence? Are they car accidents? Are they suicide-related? I'm wondering if you're tracking trends in data related to that type of information. Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, we are. It's a new program. It's a new rollout. There is a lot of information that is out there, but just looking to see what identifies this program and what comes with it, yes, we do identify those different types of calls. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I am wondering what the Minister does with this data, and do they share it with Health and Social Services? Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. This data determines how we are going to roll out the program and what we need to improve. We do share the information with the department of health. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. You mentioned national accreditation, and I'm wondering if the department audits the calls that they have through 911 and, with the auditing, what specifically they look at. Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Looking at asking about an audit, the program has only existed since November. It hasn't been a year yet, but looking at the types of calls that we have determines the quality and the style of service that we are going to be providing. Going forward, auditing, the program has to be at least alive for a year for us to get those real numbers and those real stats. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. With my final couple minutes here, I would like to switch subject matters, but still under public safety. We had a conversation with EIA in regard to the SPCA and the funding that was given through EIA to the SPCA. Last term, we saw MACA give funding to the SPCA. I am wondering where that piece of the puzzle fits within the GNWT. The SPCA is more than just a place for animals. It has a huge public safety component to it. I know that we have an expectation for community governments to handle that, but we are underfunding community governments. There is nowhere for people to take their pets in a lot of these communities to be spayed or to be vaccinated. One bad dog bite can turn into a hugely expensive medical travel bill. I am wondering where this fits within the GNWT. Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Right now, it has been brought up before, and even during the campaign, that we're looking at the SPCA and who is responsible for the animals. We need to look at and consult with the local communities and see what level of service is provided. Also, this is what the Premier had committed to, as well, too, so our department will be following up and trying to find solutions on how we are going to be working with animals in the SPCA within the communities. I just want to say that because there is no SPCA within the communities, but we need to have some kind of control and service provided at the community level. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Yellowknife North.
