Thank you, Mr. Chair. Can I get clarification in the question again?
Thank you. Member, can you clarify that?
Thanks, Mr. Chair. Is there standardized training provided to the public health officers when they're designated under the Public Health Act with regard to COVID?
Thank you. Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, I believe there is, but I'd like for Mr. Neudorf to be able to expand on that, on the training aspect. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Neudorf.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. First, in terms of training, it's important that we hired people with experience so that they were already brought up to speed on kind of the general principles around enforcement and appropriate conduct. When we bring them in, we do designate them as public health officers, and there's training around confidential information that comes with that. We have, as well, organized kind of a three-day training session for all of our officers, as well, around orders and the public health requirements. Thank you.
Thank you. Member.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. When a public health officer conducts a visit or an inspection, do they do this on their own, or are they always accompanied by another officer or another, say, somebody with a liquor or cannabis commission or Workers' Safety and Compensation Commission? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. As stated earlier, the enforcement is probably, of all the duties of the COVID secretariat, is one of the most at-risk because they are actually giving out verbal warnings, written warnings, or tickets, and people don't always take that very, very well. Yes, Mr. Chair, no enforcement officer is going to either knocking on doors or in businesses or anywhere, other than that two phone calls, on their own. We always send two members. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Premier. Member.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. That's exactly what I'd hoped to hear and would expect from our public service and our leaders, so thank you very much for that. In general, is there a written inspection report provided to a business owner after an inspection is conducted? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will turn it over to Mr. Neudorf, but before I do that, I want to state that it's very important that Protect NWT and 811 have the autonomy to be able to do their jobs. At no time, as the Minister of the COVID secretariat, do I actually give any direction to Protect NWT or 811 on their enforcement practices, who they ticket, what they're ticketing, although, Mr. Chair, I have said that I will stand behind each member in their decisions. On that, I'd like to turn it over to the deputy minister for more information. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. Neudorf?
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes. When our inspectors go out and we do an inspection of a business, they will always provide a written inspection. There are times, depending on the nature of the business and the inspection, that someone from WSCC or a liquor inspector might accompany our enforcement officers, as well, just depending on the particular issue at hand. Thank you.
Thank you. Questions on this section? Any further questions? No further questions, please turn to page 177. Health and Social Services, COVID secretariat, operations expenditure summary, 2021-2022 Main Estimates, $34,589,000. Does committee agree?
Agree.
Thank you. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses from the Chamber. We'll take a five-minute recess.
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Does the Minister of Health and Social Services wish to bring witnesses into the House?
Yes, please, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses into the Chamber. Would the Minister please introduce her witnesses?
Thank you, Mr. Chair. On your left is Deputy Minister Bruce Cooper and on your right is Director of Finance Jeannie Mathison.
Thank you. Committee, we will defer the departmental summary and review the estimates by activity summary, beginning with administrative and support services, starting on page 172 with information item on page 175. Questions? Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I am going to start off with the line item for the French language services. I'm wondering if there is a matching line item for Indigenous languages. Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. There is a Tlicho cultural coordinator who is listed in the same area, but to the best of my knowledge, there is not a separate coordinator for each Indigenous language. I'll just confirm that by asking the deputy minister if that, in fact, is the case. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Deputy Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, indeed. We do not have a corresponding category for Indigenous translation. We track French-language services in this way because it is linked to some of our federal funding. We get funding that offsets some of these expenditures. Thank you.
Thank you. Member.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Would interpretation for any Indigenous languages also be found in this budget, and what line item would it fall under? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll ask the deputy minister to answer that question. Thank you.
Deputy Minister.
Translation services for Indigenous languages are integrated in our health system, so you'll find it in our hospital services budget line.
Thank you. Member.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Since we're not in the hospital services section, I'll come back to that one when we get to the appropriate place, then. My next question is in regard to the Health and Social Services Authorities funding. I'm wondering if this is the appropriate place to ask about the deficit for the NTHSSA. Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I don't believe that this is the right area. I think that this doesn't represent the entire grant to the health authorities, but I'll ask Ms. Mathison if she can tell us more particularly what portion of their budget this figure represents. Thank you.
Thank you. Ms. Mathison.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, the funding for the health authorities is distributed throughout all the activities, so pieces of their deficit would be showing up in various activities. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Member.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I can either ask here or I can wait and ask my questions where the big chunk of the deficit sits, which is in Health and Social Services programs, so at your call, Mr. Chair.
Wait until the later. Wait until the deficit area. Any further questions?
Questions? Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm just wondering, I look at page 175, the active positions, and just note that all of them are in headquarters here in Yellowknife. I'm just curious if the Minister can speak a bit to whether or not there is any opportunity to move any of these positions outside of the capital and put some of this employment into our smaller communities. Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. These 82 positions in administration are out of a total workforce of over 1,800 people between the department and the health authorities, all of whom are represented in this budget. The department exists primarily here in Yellowknife, and then, of course, the health authorities are the front-line delivery for the programs. They exist in every community. Thank you.
