Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member spoke about an approach that we can do to involve local owners. It is an approach that we use sometimes but mostly through a public procurement process.
So in the terms of the RFP, it would allow sufficient time to schedule, to allow landlords to propose new building and longterm lease. This approach was used in several places, Mr. Speaker, including Hay River at the Hay River health and social service accommodation office building. It was used at the new Fort McPherson office building. And procurement is currently underway for the territorial fire centre in Fort Smith. All of these leases, Mr. Speaker, allow for local landlords to build new buildings and lease it back to the GNWT. So we're getting there. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Monfwi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is further to my Member's statement on treatment program that I did on October 20th. So it's for Minister of Health and Social Services.
Mr. Speaker, in the House on October 19th, 2022, the Premier noted that the Council of Leaders identified mental health and addiction and communitybased treatment as some of the primary issues for NWT residents. With that in mind, the Minister of Health committed to provide me with the number of NWT residents who have accessed treatment services since 2013. Have these statistics been provided? When does the Minister anticipate providing these statistics back to me? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Monfwi. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Member for the question. I do not have those responses here today, and I haven't been given a date they're available. But I will commit now to making sure she has them before the session is over. Thank you.
Thank you. Yes, what initiative does NTHSSA currently have to ensure they provide residents with culturally safe addiction services following the Auditor General's report? Thank you.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in response to the Office of the Auditor General's report, we created a work plan which details our response to each of the recommendations, and we accepted all the recommendations.
We have, as the Member may know, a whole division within the department called community culture and innovation that looks at culturally appropriate services. And to that end, they've done extensive training with staff. They ensure that there is when people do go south for facilitybased treatment that there is appropriate cultural safety provisions in place. So that's just a very scatter gun approach to the answer but I do want to assure the Member that it's top of mind. Thank you.
Yes, thank you. During oral questions on October 20th, I asked if the Minister Green would commit to reopening an addictionbased facility and treatment wellness centre in the Northwest Territories. And the Minister responded no. She said that this she said, "the simple reason that we don't have a treatment centre is because they don't work. We tried four times. The effort to provide one treatment centre for all the regions, languages, and culture has not been successful. People do not attend."
So can the Minister provide the number of residents who attended the previous treatment centre in the NWT?
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don't have with me information about how many people attended the four previous treatment centres that were offered in the NWT, but I will ask the department if they can produce that information.
I also want to say that we have had a preliminary conversation at the Council of Leaders about alternatives to one single facility for healing and treatment, which is what the Member asked for, to see if there's something that could be developed on a regional basis that would better meet the needs of both treatment closer to home and the particular languages and cultures of the NWT, each in a regional setting. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Colleagues, before we continue, could you please check your phones. I could hear it vibrating on silence. So if we could just put it to silent, it would be most helpful. Thank you.
Final supplementary. Member for Monfwi.
That all the questions I was going to ask. But can the Minister provide data to support the statement that "treatment centres do not work." Thank you.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the one facility that I am more familiar with is Nats'ejee K'eh.
Nats'ejee K'eh was never more than onethird full during the time that it was open, and the program cycled through 30 days for men and 30 for women. And so if you wanted to seek treatment and they were early into the opposite cycle, then you would have to wait potentially seven to eight weeks for intake. There was a problem attracting and keeping qualified staff. So what we found is that since we started contracting the southern facilitybased treatment, the number of people who are accepted into that and who are able to access it in a speedier way and a wider variety of options, including coed options as well specific to men and women, the number of people who are accessing the services more than doubled. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to go back to the extended care facilities and questions for the Minister of Health.
Mr. Speaker, construction costs for the extended care facility will likely move upwards with a sixyear delay. Will the Minister confirm if her department has considered this in their decision when delaying the project and any idea of what that cost may be? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the cost estimate that is currently available has a contingency built into it. But there's a very important "but." If the site changes and it is no longer going to be where the old HH Williams Hospital was and it's now going to be over near the new health centre, getting the land ready for the construction has not been factored into that cost and so those costs may, in fact, rise. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, with the delay, like, we're going to need beds for you know, for people who are going to be requiring them in the next six years. So, Mr. Speaker, will the Minister confirm what the plan is for the older portion of Woodland Manor as we will need well, we will need those beds. And my understanding from past discussions is that it will require major repairs, such as roofing, mechanical, and interior upgrades if we delay this project. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you for the question. My understanding is that there was an addition built on Woodland Manor and opened in 2018 to provide nine new rooms that were previously part of HH Williams Hospital, which was at that point being phased out. So there's the newer part and the older part. The older part has a life of approximately ten years remaining. And to verify that, we have asked the Department of Infrastructure to do a technical evaluation next spring on the existing Woodland Manor to confirm the useful life it has left.
Now, if the new longterm care is not attached to Woodland Manor, then likely the money will go to the new longterm care rather than to Woodland Manor. This is going to have to be resolved through the bed allocation because as the Member has said, we're looking at I think it's a 24bed facility for Hay River. So if we're going to take the current Woodland Manor offline, we would have to account for those residents plus the number that we've already committed to.
The last thing I'll say about this is that the current waitlist in Hay River is four. So it is, while a problem for those four families, not a problem that we can't solve with the current projection. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I understand that, you know, the waitlist, it might be short but in six years, you know, I might be on it. So, Mr. Speaker, if the project is delayed in 20272028, will the Minister confirm what additional funds will be provided to the Hay River Health and Social Services to expand home care supports and services while we are waiting for a facility? Thank you.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member better watch out or maybe by then I'll be a personal support worker helping him get in and out. So just pray that doesn't happen.
So what we've been able to do to supplement home care is provide funding for three additional positions in the last two years so that there is more staff available because, in fact, there are greater demands for that. The detail there is that's two home care nurses and a home support worker. The additional nursing position has enabled us to create more hours of service. So the service hours are now 8:30 to 4:30 seven days a week. We've also got the Paid Family Caregiver Program active in Hay River, and that is in place for this fiscal year and next. So we have a variety of supports that are available, and more are likely to come as we go further into implementing the home care review, which was completed in 2019. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister confirm if delaying the project to 20272028 will trigger a reevaluation of the number of beds required, possibly an increase from 24 up to 48 of 60? Thank you.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the reason that the bed evaluation was redone is because we had better information from ten years of data as well as better population projections. Following the reevaluation, we committed to further reevaluations every four years. So there is every possibility that the number will change. And we will build the facility to meet the need that we know of, the most recent need that we know of.
One of the reasons that Hay River bed size went down is because it turned out there was a greater need in Fort Smith so it made sense to build two longterm care facilities, one in Hay River and one in Fort Smith, so that people could continue to live as close to home as possible. We understand that that's a priority and that home care assists with that priority, which is part of our mandate.
I also just want to mention, for those people who are on waiting lists anywhere in the territory that has a longterm care facility, there are respite beds available that families can book if they need a longer-term break. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's become a bit of a tradition for me to ask about the Fort Good Hope Seniors Home every session, which has proven that not all traditions are good, but it's been 20 months since the Minister opened that facility. And my question for the Minister of Housing is when can we expect it to actually open? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister responsible for Housing NWT.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for the question. We did end up with a lot of different contractual situations, I guess, within talks with the fire marshal as well too which caused a huge significant delay. Housing NWT is aiming for April 1st of 2023 of this year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. You know, admittedly I've been asking about this for quite a while now, and I'm still not really sure what occurred here. You know, initially I thought it was just our usual fight with the fire marshal but it's clear there's some larger contractual issues or contracting issues. Can the Minister just try and, you know, in simple terms explain to me what exactly has occurred here? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Member as well too that, you know, this nineplex is actually in my riding. I've had further conversations with the leadership as well too because they're quite anxious for this building to open immediately. But we have been informing leadership as well too as we progress and try to get this building opened. We did have a lot of deficiencies within the building and I just would like to follow up with the Member as well too. I don't know if it's I don't feel that it's appropriate to be speaking about that because we did have some issues with the previous contractor. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yeah, I think at some point the public record probably needs to clarify what exactly occurred here and maybe that's once we've opened the building and it's all finally said and done, there's perhaps some lessons to be learned. But, you know, I imagine that since it's been so long this is not going to be cheap. Does the Minister have an estimate of what we expect this all to additionally cost us? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Member for the question as well too, as this seniors complex is a priority in the community of Fort Good Hope as well too, and we do have elders who are eagerly waiting to be moved into this facility. But right now I don't have a tallied-up number of what this is actually costing us right now. I'd have to follow up with the Member. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Monfwi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is going out to a question for Minister of Health and Social Services. If a previous treatment centre did not work in the NWT, what has the GNWT learned from this? Did the GNWT consider that GNWT was not implementing the treatment program effectively rather than suggesting addiction treatment facilities do not work. I would like to hear from Minister of Health and Social Services her thought on this. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Monfwi. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, what I've learned in the two years that I've been in this role is that people want options when it comes to achieving their sobriety. They want the option of being on the land, in the community. In order to protect their privacy and not to engage with people who are also from the NWT, they want the option to go to different places. So what I've learned is that choice is really important. Telling people they have one place and only one place and one way to go for treatment has not been successful. And just as a matter of clarification, Nats'ejee K'eh was operated by a nonprofit organization, not by the GNWT, although the GNWT of course funded the cost of people to attend. Thank you.
What has the GNWT learned to do differently in regards to addiction treatment based on past experiences already tried and how will the GNWT approach treatment program differently? Thank you.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm not able to speak in a very informed way about the content of treatment programs. I am not in a position to deliver them, I'm not in a position to need them fortunately, so I can't give any detail to that question. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
The Child and Youth Care Counselling Initiative is one of the Government of the Northwest Territories' programs intended to increase mental health supports for children and youth. The initiative was administered by the Department of Education, Culture and Employment until its multiphased multiyear transition to the Department of Health and Social Services.
In its action plan, in response to the 2020 Auditor General's report recommendations, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment committed to improving mental health counselling services to children and youth to improve JK to 12 student outcomes in the Northwest Territories by supporting the regions with 42 child and youth care counsellors and seven clinical supervisors. (Action Plan page 21 commitment 4.6).
I submit the following questions to the Minister of ECE:
Can the Minister explain what engagement or consultation the Department of Education, Culture and Employment conducted with counsellors already working in the school system prior to implementing the new child youth care counsellor positions?
Can the Minister detail the qualifications typically accepted for child and youth care counsellors in place in our school system?
Do school principals get to evaluate the child and youth care counsellors?
Is there a way for school administrators to speak formally to the effectiveness of this program operating in the schools? And,
What evaluative feedback mechanisms are in place to assess the effectiveness of the child and youth care counsellor’s program?
My second set is for the Minister of Health and Social Services.
The Child and Youth Care Counselling Initiative is one of the Government of the Northwest Territories' programs intended to increase mental health supports for children and youth. The initiative was administered by the Department of Education, Culture and Employment until its multiphased multiyear transition to the Department of Health and Social Services.
I submit the following questions to the Minister of Health and Social Services:
Can the Minister explain how the Department of Health and Social Services prepared for the new child youth care counsellor positions; for example, did the department consult with existing child youth care counsellors and were other programs consulted on the integration into the department's existing activities?
Can the Minister explain the turnover rate for child and youth care counsellors?
Can the Minister describe how the child and youth care counsellors work with school administration?
Can the Minister describe how the Department of Health and Social Services works with school administrators to evaluate the effectiveness of the program? And,
Has there been any reporting or results produced from the child and youth care counsellor program?
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document: Energy Initiatives Report 20212022. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Tabling of documents. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.
