Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It was not considered. According to the health professionals, including the NWT Chief Public Health Officer, vaccination continues to be the best defence against COVID19. Vaccination requirements are fluid across Canada as employers adapt to changing circumstances. NTPC is committed to providing a safe and healthy workplace for its employees, and it will continue to take conservative approach to achieve this goal.
So NTPC continues to review its policy on a regular basis as the COVID19 evolves. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member's statement, I went through the fact that a number of jurisdictions are finally, I think, taking the long overdue step of introducing some paid sick days for workers under their employment standards legislation. My question for the Minister is will he do the same? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I recall yesterday in the House the Member stood up and said we have to make some hard choices. We're facing a budget crunch, and we can't have everything we want.
If the GNWT were to do this, it would be a very expensive program. And if we put it on to private employers, it could be a very expensive program for them. That being said, maybe it is something we want so we do have to look into this.
The Employment Standards Act provides a bare minimum of protection for employees. So there could be employers right now under this act who are providing paid sick days. It is an employees' market right now. You know, it's tough to find staff. And so I think it would be a competitive advantage. So there is that market force.
As I said, maybe this is something we want. And when we review the Employment Standards Act, which is going to happen in the next fiscal year, so not that long from now, this is going to be one of the things we're looking at. Every once in a while, we have to look at our act to make sure we are on par with other jurisdictions and make changes as necessary. So I look forward to that review, and I'm sure I'll get lots of feedback from the Member. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I do believe that there's a much larger conversation to happen; if we're going do this, you know, how many paid sick days. Are they funded like vacation pay? Is there some GNWT contribution? There's a lot of different ways this can look. But when we do a comparison of currently unpaid sick days in the Northwest Territories, it's clear our employment standards is below average of what other jurisdictions. Is this something the Minister is also willing to look at, is increasing the guaranteed number of unpaid leave days? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And again, when we look at this review it's something we can look at. There's other ways that unpaid sick leaves are implemented in other jurisdictions. So some provide some Employment Standards Act provide for extended medical leave. In some cases, in line with the EI sickness benefits. So there are some options more than just beyond just adding days. But I want to say that I think that this pandemic has shown us that when you're sick, you should stay home, even if it's a flu. Those kind of things really do they hinder the economy, they hinder the public health system, and we want to ensure that we are supporting people. So I'm more than willing to look at these reforms going forward. But, again, I can't promise anything. It's the Assembly that passes legislation, and it's the Assembly that passes the budget. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I've tried to find some information on this, and I think key to having this conversation is knowing how many people currently have no paid sick days. I expect the overwhelming majority do. We know that all GNWT workers do and those with collective bargaining units certainly have paid sick leave. It's really a small percentage of what I would deem working poor typically who do not get access to paid sick days. I'm wondering if we have that information of who presently in the NWT labour force has zero sick paid sick days. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I don't have that information. Most people in the most employees in this territory are governed by the Employment Standards Act. But that is not to say that none of those people have access to paid sick days because employers could offer that. So while the majority of employees in the territory are governed under this act, we don't have the number of how many don't have access to paid sick days. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, I guess my next question is as part of the review of the Employment Standards Act, is that information the department could try and find out; could we engage with some of the small businesses who are not offering paid sick days and see kind of where we are at in order to close this gap? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Any changes to the Employment Standards Act, especially potential changes that could cost small businesses money, will be the subject of extensive consultation and discussion with small businesses. I do not want to do anything that is going to put a heavier burden on small businesses than they're already carrying. So I can guarantee the Member that we will have extensive consultations on these points. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.
Oral Question 885-19(2):
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I didn't have a chance to ask my questions yesterday so my questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services.
Can the Minister state or commit to provide the estimated financial savings from decreasing the size of the longterm care facility from 48 to 16 beds? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for the question. We have some loose ends in this project which we need to tie up before we can provide a specific dollar estimate of the savings.
The analysis that's underway right now is whether it is feasible to attach an extension to the current longterm care at the Inuvik Regional Hospital or whether it would be more effective to build a standalone facility. So this is something that engineering and geotechnical work is looking at evaluating. We do, because we've gone from 48 beds to 16 beds, in any case expect some reduction in the cost, but the amount of that is hard to quantify right at the moment. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In order to reduce the demand for the larger regional longterm care facilities, support for elders are going to be needed to be provided in their homes. So can the Minister commit to use the financial savings to provide the support or build that capacity within the communities, in the small communities for elders? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is a bit of an apples and oranges situation because we don't usually take funds dedicated to capital projects and move them into operations and maintenance. So even if there was savings on the capital project, it would be spent on other capital projects, whether for health or some other kind of development.
It's important to know that we get a chunk of funding from the federal government from the First Nations and Inuit home and community care funding, and what happens here is that the regional health and social services authorities identify the resources they need to meet what we already see is growing home care needs and we evaluate those for additional resourcing. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I know in the health centres the nurses that we hire, or CHNs, I've said it in the House, they have many roles that they play in the communities and home care is just one little part that is added to all of their emergency, everything else that they do.
So can the Minister provide how many positions have been created in each in Inuvik in each of the seven Beaufort Delta communities to support the establishment of home care and home support workers available seven days a week for elders to age in place? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, following the home and community care review, which was completed and presented to the Members of the Standing Committee on Social Development in the summer of 2020, we've invested in oversight for home support workers to try and develop standards and scope of practice for these positions. So we've been looking at, for example, what kind of clinical supports people need who have complex needs, expanded hours of service as the Member mentioned, and how to meet the needs of the growing population of people who prefer to age in place.
In the Beaufort Delta region in particular, there is funding for two regional home care coordinator roles. But at this point, we have not added incremental positions to provide extra hours of service, but that is coming. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd ask when, but I don't want to use my last question for that. So can the Minister identify or provide the total cost of equipment that's been provided to oh, sorry. I switched that question up yesterday, because I knew I wouldn't get an answer.
Can the Minister commit that the Department of Health and Social Services will assess all elders' homes, as well as the homes that have elders living with them in the Beaufort Delta communities, or all NWT communities, small communities, for their equipment needs and work with the NWT Housing Corporation for their access needs in order to help them continue to age in place? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, next year we're going to implement a system called Interride, which I'm sure the Member is familiar with. It's an international assessment tool that assesses people for the kinds of needs they have, the services that they require, and the resources they need to meet their needs. And so this is going to be introduced and implemented for the whole population who requires supported living of some kind. And that will enable the health planner, that we have recently hired, to develop a plan about how to meet these needs, what kind of funding is required, where the needs are most urgent, and how to go about meeting them.
So this is a very systematic evidencebased decisionmaking assessment tool that will tell us what people need, when they need it, where they need it, and I'm really looking forward to the results so that we have a concrete way of making decisions about supporting people to age in place. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Monfwi.
Thank you, Minister I mean Mr. Speaker. Okay, for the Health and Social Services. Many NWT residents have voiced that they want mental wellness and addiction recovery support in their own communities. Currently, most of the positions for this work is located in Yellowknife. But what plans are underway to increase more staff in the regions?
Thank you, Member for Monfwi. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thanks to the Member for that question. The focus recently in Health and Social Services has been to provide communitybased funds that have specific applications for services and programs that communities or Indigenous governments, in some cases municipal governments and NGOs, can apply for to create service delivery in their communities.
So this year we announced an addictions recovery and aftercare fund which can be accessed for hiring communitybased counsellors, and those counsellors could support two kinds of projects:
Projects that support individuals living in or working towards addictions recovery; and,
Projects that support addictions recovery and aftercare programming in the community.
So this has been a very popular fund. 13 proposals received so far. And just at a quick scan of this list, I don't see that there is one from Tlicho community services agency but certainly one would be welcomed.
We have other communitybased programs. I won't go through them all but I'll just say there's a peer support fund; there's a suicide prevention fund; and there's the ontheland healing fund.
The purpose of these funds in general are all the same which is to provide communitybased responses to issues that people identify. Thank you.
Thank you. In the field of mental health and addictions, we often hear that we must meet people where they are at. Are there outreach workers in each community? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if the community has used the funds that I'm talking about to hire counsellors, there may, in fact, be someone in place who does addictions outreach, otherwise that would be a function of the community counselling service that exists in either inperson, virtual, or telephone form everywhere throughout the NWT. So community counselling is the place to go for immediate sameday follow-up.
I also wanted to mention that where communities have connectivity, we have a mobile phone app called Wagon, WAGON, which is an interactive aftercare and recovery app which is available to residents who would like to try it out and engage with the supports that are provided. This was developed by the Edgewood institution in Nanaimo, BC, which many Northerners have visited for their addictions for the facilitiesbased addictions treatment. Thank you.
Thank you. Can the Minister identify what specific communitybased programming is in place now to support people struggling with addictions between the age of 20 to 40 years old?
Yes, thank you. I just went over the general list, the community counselling program, which I just mentioned, and the fact that it is now transformed into a sameday service. There are child and youth care counsellors which are offered jointly with ECE in the schools which provide support to youth. There are the Emental health options which I just mentioned, Wagon, but there are others. There are facilitiesbased addictions treatment. There are no facilities in the NWT so these are facilities in the south which we contract and people attend.
We have psychiatric care and treatment available in the Northwest Territories. We have the NWT Help Line to call with immediate needs. And then I'll just mention again the three specific funds:
Ontheland healing;
Community suicide prevention; and,
Addictions recovery peer support.
Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Monfwi.
Thank you. How does the Department of Health and Social Services work with other department to provide wraparound supports to people in their 20s to 40s 40 years old struggling with addictions such as child care, counselling, career coaching, income assistance, etcetera. Thank you.
Yes, thank you. Providing those wraparound supports is very important. It's not just the work of one department; it is often the work of many departments. And I'll give an example:
Right now, we're asking for an expression of interest in transitional housing for people who are exiting facilitybased treatment and require a place to live while they maintain their sobriety and build up some stamina in that area. So we're working with the Housing Corporation on that. We work with ECE on issues like income assistance. We work with Justice. This is really a crossdepartmental approach.
As the Minister of Justice said earlier today about the therapeutic community at the South Slave correctional centre, this is a place where people can obtain their sobriety while serving their sentence and can then move into a continuum of service which includes not only Justice but as I say, Housing, ECE, and Health. So this is an area that's new. It's one that we're developing and we're very keen to receive feedback on. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
MS. CLEVELAND: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Justice. Earlier this year the Minister and I spoke in the House about the mens’ new day program, a healing program for men, and we spoke about how that program was set to change.
Can the Minister update the House on the new program for men who choose to use violence in their intimate and family relationships? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister responsible for Justice.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And of course the new day program ended. It was not renewed by the Department of Justice, and so I'm glad the Member today read one of the Minister of Health's old statements and not one of my old statements from last term about the new day program.
I think that so the program has ended, but the money is still there. And so what the department has done is looked at other ways to utilize that money. We found that the new day program was not working for the Northwest Territories for a number of reasons, and we didn't want to continue down that road. But we have intimate partner violence rates that are ten times the national average, and so something needs to be done.
There was a 2017 study done by the Aurora Research Institute, and what they concluded and what they recommended is that we explore communitybased programming. And so what we have done with that money is we put out a request for proposals, and communities were able to put forward proposals for a portion of that money to run programs out of their own communities.
Initially, the proposal called for, I think you could request up to $40,000 for one year. There was limited uptake on that, and so some changes were made. It was increased to $70,000 a year, and we opened ourselves up to multiyear agreements. So that's where we're at. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And the Minister might remember I already used his words against him in February of this year.
Mr. Speaker, I'm wondering if the Minister can speak to how many or which communities are taking part and what the total budget is now for the program. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The funding is still $290,000 a year. The funding has been fully allocated for this year and for next year because of the multiyear agreements.
So far, we have threeyear agreements with the Gwich’in Tribal Council, the Friendship Centre in Behchoko, and Liidlii Kue First Nation, LKFN, and those are each $70,000 a year for three years. And then the Sambaa K'e First Nation we have a $70,000 a year agreement for two years with them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm wondering how the department will evaluate the success of these new programs that are providing support in their communities? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And evaluations are something that we really learned to value with this funding because some of the issues that the department ran into early on with the new day program was the inability to really evaluate outcomes and how well it was working. And so all of these contribution agreements here require that there be reporting. There will be some shortterm measures, so just things like the participation rates in the program and the feedback from clients. But we also require some more longterm reporting. And I will follow up with the department to ensure that we do have some measures that are going to be sufficient so that we know whether or not this money's actually being well spent. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one of the strengths sometimes of really good reports are error evaluations, are the anecdotes that come with them so the real life experiences of people in communities. And so more outcomebased and not just outputbased as far as, you know, number of people that participate in workshop, number of workshops delivered, and so forth. And so I'm wondering if the Minister is willing to commit to sharing these evaluations with the Standing Committee on Social Development as they're available? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I agree with the Member about the types of evaluations we need do. Just because you deliver something doesn't mean it's working. So I will commit to share whatever we can share. I'm not familiar with the particulars of the type of information that will be used in these evaluations, and I don't want to overcommit and share sensitive information that really shouldn't be shared. But I want to make sure that there is oversight of the funds the GNWT are spending. And so there will be some information that will be sufficient for that purpose that I will share with the standing committee when it becomes available. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
