Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Health and Social Services.
I'm wondering if the Minister can speak to beyond helping somebody with any physical support that they need within an emergency centre, what is the protocol for responding to a mental health crisis or suicide attempt? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Member for Kam Lake for that question.
NTHSSA has a systemwide policy on suicide risk assessment. It's a 10page policy which is available online.
The policy clearly states that the staff need to assess the risk and complete a meaningful safety plan. The risk assessment determines the level of intervention which could be minimum, moderate, or high. If the suicidal incident involves the hospital, there's a discharge meeting and a plan for which there is a template. And if needed, a multidisciplinary community care plan is created. So this could include access to counselling, which is available same day although, as the Member noted, that's not seven days a week. Any mental health. And mature minors who have the capacity to understand and consent, don't have to involve their families in their hospital visit and their aftercare plan. But it would be good practice if that were the case so that there is a reliable person who can be part of this person's recovery. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can say that with the residents of the territory that I've had the opportunity to speak with that is not what has happened in their experience following a suicide attempt from a family member or from themselves. And so this is definitely a gap. And so I'm wondering if Health and Social Services tracks suicide attempts, and if they also track the response and the plan of care that is provided to each of those people who are travelling this journey because I will say that that is not the reality of the residents that I've had the opportunity to speak with. Thank you.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I certainly welcome the Member for Kam Lake to share specific cases with me to follow up. In terms of selfharm and suicidal ideation, information provided to the Member previously reveals that the number of selfharm or suicidal ideation incidents has, in fact, been developing over the years since 20162017, which is the first year in this fiveyear chart. Likewise, the number of people seeking counselling because of suicidal ideation, that is youth seeking counselling, has gone down as well.
That doesn't mean that there isn't a problem. There clearly is a problem with suicidal ideation, and we need to take that seriously. That's why we have made suicide prevention funding available to communities so that they can do their own suicide prevention training and awareness. Awareness and training. So that's where we're going with the prevention piece. And to reiterate what I said earlier, if the Member knows that the policy is not being followed, I encourage her to bring that to my attention on a casebycase basis so that we can figure out what the gaps are and how to address them. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is me standing in front of the Minister identifying a gap. These services are not being provided at the hospital. When people present at the hospital with suicide attempts, they are not given the supports that they need before they leave. Before they leave, they are asked if they are physically okay. They are put on a list to receive a call home from the community counsellor on the agenda of the or schedule of the community counsellor. They are not provided with an aftercare plan. They are not provided with a safety plan. They are not connected to the resources that Health and Social Services spends a lot of money making available to people, and they are not provided with a recipe for success.
We are not using the second chances that we are being given by residents adequately, and I'm identifying this gap right now. So will the Minister provide immediate direction to Health and Social Services to fill this gap, please. Thank you.
Thank you to the Member for her comments. I will take them into account.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. My next question was related to, hopefully, getting a yes to fill that gap.
Will the Minister be willing to table a solution, then, that she comes up with her department in the House so that everybody knows what's expected of one another and what kind of service they can expect in dangerous situations. Thank you.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I've heard the comments of the Member, and I will take them into account. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Monfwi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, last week the Minister of Justice shared that the RCMP has been tasked to focus on the MMIWG Calls for Justice and TRC Calls to Action.
I want to ask the Minister, can the Minister share some of the specific action the RCMP will take to address the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls calls for police services as part of that renewal? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Monfwi. Minister responsible for Justice.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So as everyone knows, the RCMP is a contractor. They are separate. I'm not privy to all of the operational details, and I don't have them on hand. So because of that, I will have to get back to the Member with a written response. Thank you.
Thank you. I'm aware they are federal jurisdiction but he is the Minister of Justice for our side.
Will there be a specific practices or policies implemented in regard to prevent police brutality and other forms of violence against Indigenous women? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, again, these are all very operational. I don't want to give partial answers. The Member's very good at soliciting information from Ministers through written questions and through these very complex oral questions. And so what I'm going to have to do is provide a written response once again. Thank you.
Thank you. Can the Minister share some of the specific actions that the RCMP will take to address to develop a healthier relationship based on respect with Indigenous people? Thank you.
Thank you. Once again, Mr. Speaker, with a bit of head's up I might have been able to come up with some of these answers and get these very specific operational details from the RCMP. But I will have to get back to the Member. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Monfwi.
Okay, as our representative.
Are RCMP officers given cultural awareness and sensitivity training before they enter the communities? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That is part of the RCMP training. As well, Gdivision, the RCMP in the Northwest Territories, have requirements for new members to engage with the community once they become part of that community, to meet with elders, to participate in community events. And there's a number of other things that a number of other things that happen in the territory in response to the MMIWG and TRC that the department is the lead on, not necessarily the RCMP. The community safety officer pilot project, the there are community justice programs which we've had for a number of decades now, the community policing action plans, and the First Nation Inuit policing program, which emphasizes community policing as opposed to more traditional policing. So there are a number of things that are happening. And, you know, with the written responses that I'll be providing the Member, she will have all of the information that she requires. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Right now across every jurisdiction in Canada a process is occurring where jurisdictions have gotten advance copies of National Building Code 2020, and many are reviewing and deciding whether they want to implement it, whether they want to make any exemptions. As I stated in my statement, many have already taken parts of it, such as the sections on mass timber, and implemented them.
And my question for the Minister of MACA is whether we are doing any of this work, whether this is work that the GNWT does at all, or simply do we just go to the Fire Prevention Act regulations and change 2015 to 2020 when that comes into force? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the NWT is currently using the 2015 National Building Standards or the National Building Code. The code permits construction of mass timber buildings up to six stories. The 2020 edition that the Member's talking about was released in March of 2022, and the fire marshal's office has up to two years, or until 2024, to adopt it. But I'm happy here to say it to this here in the House and for the people out there that the fire marshal's office will be adopting it in the first quarter of the 2023 fiscal year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That's news to me. I'm glad to hear that we will be adopting NBC 2020.
I guess my understanding though, is we don't actually adopt it wholesale; we just adopt the small section of it that applies to fire prevention and then the fire marshal approves that. The rest of it is kind of left up to municipalities.
Also in one of the exemptions that a number of jurisdictions are exploring is whether buildings of four to six stories need two stairwells. I know this is a highly technical exemption but a number of jurisdictions have said that if you get rid of the second stairwell requirement, you see the nature of cities change, you see more buildings built in a different style. I'm just wondering if this is something at all that we have considered? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the NBC 2015 requires at least two exits, and there must be arranged so that they are clear, visible, identifiable, and accessible.
For public safety reasons, we cannot facilitate a single means of exit, the current adoption or adopted code, as well as the 2020 code, requires two exits to ensure that at least one exit is available during emergency evacuation if one is blocked due to fire or smoke. I do not want to be the Minister that has only one exit and we have a fatality going out there. So we are going to follow the code as it is and follow the recommendations as it will have to. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I guess this gets to kind of the heart of implementing building codes, as I can assure the Minister there are buildings all across this territory with one exit, and there are buildings all around this territory that don't meet the code because they were built a long time ago. And, you know, it's whether how we enforce those standards.
One of the specific standards beyond the National Building Code I'd like is the Canadian Safety Association Standard B561, also very technical. But the Human Rights Commission has said that in order to prevent a building from a discrimination case for not being accessible, this is the standard that we should adopt. The territory should be designing buildings to be accessible for disability standards.
I'm wondering if the department is looking into any work to be done so we could adopt that accessibility standard. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the standard's already in place in the NWT as referenced in the current adopted edition of the National Building Code 2015. Many additional changes are incorporated in the 2020 edition of the NBC to further improve the accessibility design. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Oral questions. Member for Tu NedheWiilideh.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I want to follow up my questions to the Minister of Health and Social Services concerning standards of care being offered in small communities.
On May 31st, 2022, the Minister stated I had the opportunity to go to six different NWT communities, and you had a lot to say about healthcare and delivery to them.
Can the Minister tell us which communities she visited, and what issues she heard from the residents? And Mr. Speaker, I don't need specifics, just a broad policy recommendation that represents the privacy of the healthcare clients. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Tu NedheWiilideh. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.
Yes, thank you. I was honoured, Mr. Speaker, to tour your communities Fort McPherson, Tsiigehtchic, Aklavik.
I attended a constituency meeting with my colleague from Inuvik Boot Lake. I went to the Fort Smith Medical Centre and met with regional wellness council. I went to Norman Wells, and I met with the regional wellness council there and toured the longterm care. And I met with the Yellowknife regional wellness council which includes a representative from Fort Resolution.
The issues were what I would define as case management, which means that people had specific concerns about their own interactions with the healthcare system. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank Minister Green for your answer.
The Minister has also said that the CEO of the Yellowknife Health and Social Services region has been to Fort Resolution a couple of times this month and has opened channels of communications with the leadership there.
Can the Minister elaborate on the number of visits and if they had an opportunity to meet with the Chief Louis Balsillie and president Arthur Beck. Mahsi.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I'm going to need to get back to the Member with details of when those visits happened by the COO of the Yellowknife region to the community of Fort Resolution. I know they happened in May, but I can't be more specific than that.
And I would also like to say that with respect to meeting Arthur Beck and Chief Balsillie, I haven't met Chief Balsillie. I have met Arthur Beck at various bilaterals that we've had. Thank you.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker, and mahsi to Minister Julie Green for your answer. Can the Minister tell us what she means by stating the communication channels have been established with Fort Resolution leadership. Does this mean that a plan to address the needs of community is in development? Mahsi.
Yes, thank you. I found in my notes here that the chief operating officer was there May 2nd to the 5th. She met with community members, the mayor, the staff at the health centre, to look at ways that communication could be improved within the community and between the community and the health and social services authority.
The service levels are a concern. I've mentioned this previously. We're very short of nurses, and that applies to Fort Resolution as it does to other places. Finding staff is done on a systemwide basis. So we don't have a plan that single out particular communities. We need to provide healthcare across the NWT. So everyone is considered at the same time.
I am pleased to hear that the community has taken advantage of the community suicide prevention agreement in the last fiscal year and received $41,000 to bring about that service, and that the Chief has been holding a sixweek wellness camp and followup work shops. That's great. And I really appreciate communities applying for the community funds that we have available so that they can provide service directly to their residents according to their own needs and values. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Tu NedheWiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister reassure this House that the health centres and personnel and RCMP Members in Fort Resolution and Lutselk'e, and other small communities, establish a meaningful and clear protocol process to understand their powers and responsibilities in the case of emergencies for the enforcement under the Mental Health Act. The community members and leadership should know exactly what to do and to whom to call for help in the case of emergency to enforce the Mental Health Act. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Yes, thank you. Mr. Speaker, it's my understanding that there is a nurse on call, and so I would suggest that the first call be to the health centre. 911 is available throughout the NWT as an emergency service that can provide links to other emergency services. I think the RCMP are 24/7 as well.
So I think, if I understand the Member correctly, the services that he's referencing are available 24/7, and I would suggest that Members call their local service first, service providers before, trying 911. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister of MACA confirm when we can expect to see SOAs for accommodations in Hay River? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Minister responsible for MACA.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the RFP for apartments, hotels, and B and Bs was just done on Monday. We're working procurement, and we're trying to work as fast as we can to try and get that standard offer out there for accommodations. As soon as we get it, we will make sure that Members are aware of it as well as the contractors who have submitted to the bid. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier in the week the Minister said we'd be seeing the standard list of values of items that'll be available for those that had damage.
Can the Minister confirm when that standard list will be available? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier that we were working on this and it's just getting finalized with the deputy minister who will be sending it to our office. And once that is done, within probably 24 hours, we'll have that information out to the pathfinders, the MLAs that are affected which is, you know, Deh Cho, Hay River North, Hay River South. So we will make sure that they have that information to them as well as the pathfinders as well as the insurance companies that we have had reach out to us. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
