Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I've been talking about mental health and COVID fatigue in our up back home in the Delta and my riding in Nunakput. Mr. Speaker, what funding and available support do we have for our local community governments that are able to provide with gatherings organized for youth, and is there any funding available, and is there a list that the senior administrative officer or the hamlets could get sent to them for the communities to access funding under the COVID19 fatigue in that community. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Nunakput. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we do not have a pot of funding that is designated to COVID fatigue, but we do offer a suite of funds to deal with health and wellness, including ontheland funding, peer support, suicide prevention. We have counsellors who are resident in Tuktoyaktuk, and they are able to offer sameday appointments. We have apps for people to use who are experiencing anxiety and depression, parenting problems, and so on.
I realize that may not be very helpful in communities with slow internet connections. But we do have this range of funding available. And it's my understanding as well that there was funding provided by the federal government to Indigenous governments related to COVID.
So I can certainly find out or create a list for the Member to share with his SAOs, that there is quite a range of things that are available. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you for that, Madam Minister. What support services we have been made available to support mental health to our elders in our communities, I have one she says I have one in Tuk, but I think he was he left Tuk, and he's in Behchoko now, serving there.
But the biggest thing is the small communities, Sachs Harbour, Paulatuk, and Ulu. We have the services that are required there need internet. If you're using the apps and stuff like that, it's slow service. What's being made available, I guess, for inperson? Like I asked earlier this year, if teams could go in, help teams.
The biggest thing I think what we're looking for too is a community navigator appointed by the COVID Secretariat to see if we could use somebody in that position to help assist the communities and the people. Is that available? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when the Member for Nunakput previously asked for a mental health team to go to his community, it went to his community in the last week of March, the last week that we were sitting prior to this sitting. So, certainly, the department is able to provide inperson mental health supports.
I'm not sure if they can do that again. It's something that I can request. I can say in the meantime, as long as people have a phone, they can get telephone counselling, which is not the same as persontoperson but is better than nothing by a long shot. You still have a professional on the other end of the phone.
So if the person doesn't have a phone in their house, they can go to the health centre and request the use of the phone for a counselling appointment, and the health centre will accommodate people in that service. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for that. Again, I mean we're really thankful when we're getting help sent in, and that is so much required. But we do need a community navigator to work with our communities to help community's residents navigate public health orders to uncover funding, the funding programs that will ensure the small communities can have as much social activity and gatherings as possible during this pandemic.
So is there any availability to have, like, a community public navigator appointed like we have sitting in Inuvik with the COVID police or COVID Secretariat? So is there somebody available that we could appoint to Tuk maybe working with the department working with the Premier that could do something like that? Is that available for the outlying communities as well? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't think there is a position that is specifically about navigating public health orders. Although, of course, people who work in public health in Tuk and in Inuvik would be able to talk to the public health orders, what they mean, and answer questions about them. So that certainly is possible. In terms of appointing someone brand new to a position in Tuktoyaktuk, that would really need to be a budget consideration. And so I invite the Member to forward that when the time comes. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, will the GNWT, through the resources on COVID Secretariat, identify staff persons and appoint existing staff, I guess in the community, that are going into Tuk and doing their jobs and appoint somebody from there to assist the SAO and just on the public health orders to access funding services to ensure all small communities can have the social gatherings and social activities that are so desperately required for health and well being of the people. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I hear the Member's desire to have more social activity in his community, and I appreciate that people are feeling cooped up, and they're ready to move on from this experience.
I can certainly ask the department if there is someone there or somebody in the health authority who can reach out to the SAO and go over what the possibilities are for funding in the area that the Member has indicated. So I'll make sure that that happens. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Hay River South.
