Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Can you please explain what you mean by public administrator? We have CEOs, COOs, and so are you talking about those positions or that -- thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's very specific to health care administration. So it's a very technical skill about overseeing hospitals. Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, within the structure, we do have a CEO that oversees the NTHSSA. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my understanding is we do not have someone of that type of caliber in our system. Can the Minister confirm we have no one of that credentials of being a public health administrator or a PhD level person running the management of these types of authorities in our system currently today? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, we have credentialed staff within our authority running our authority. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member from Range Lake.
Mr. Speaker, several of my constituents were medivaced recently with life-threatening illnesses and were denied escorts because medical travel does not cover escorts for emergency circumstances, and reimbursements for their family members were denied. These escorts are vital in understanding the plan of care for their loved ones who were in an incapacitated state. But it's not policy to allow escorts for emergency medivac situations. I've raised this before. The Minister gave me some assurances that there would be a path forward. Now it appears that path has closed. Can the Minister commit to revisiting this policy, once again, because it's not working for the people I represent in this House. Thank you.
Member from Range Lake. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the medical travel policy is -- like, as I mentioned in this House many times, right now we're in the midst of reviewing this entire process of medical travel, of moving people within the Northwest Territories. It is a complex process. There are approximately about 1,800 medical travel cases annually requiring many, you know, logistics. So when we -- when we're looking at the different types -- so when people are moving -- going for appointments, insured service appointments, so doctor’s appointments, there's one way of doing that. If they're going for dental and they're covered by an insurance, there's another way of doing that. If they're medivaced, there is no process for in that medivac -- emergency medivac policy, there isn't an escort -- nonmedical escort because the patient is being moved with medical escorts. And so I understand what the Member is saying, is that there might be sometimes where an escort may go down to Edmonton, learn the plan of care, and then travel back with that Member but then those circumstances are case by case. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the Minister's doing this work but if they've -- and they've moved medical travel into the department so the Minister can really weigh on these things and it's not arm's length distance in the authorities. But what's the point of doing that if there's no exemptions that can be made? So can the Minister clarify what the exemption policy is for medical escorts, not for the people who are medivaced but for medical escorts. Thank you.
Again, Mr. Speaker, that move was just recently done to remove the people that are actually doing the medical travel process from not having to now be the ones to appeal -- work with an appeal or an exception on their own work. So that part has moved into the department. The Member is asking what good is that. Well, every case is case by case and then it's looked at, so there's not, like, a tick list of everything because it's new within the department, so there's not -- there's not a case -- there's not a line by line item as to what it is. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Would the Minister agree that being present for a plan of care for a loved one who is incapacitated would meet the criteria for an exemption? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Within the policy, there -- there are -- we do have the policy. So if there are decision-making, if there are -- there are exceptions to some of those policies. I can't speak to the specific case but like I said, every case is looked at individually because there's -- every time we get BFs, you know, there's more information, there's -- everything is so complex for every different person. It's not the same for every single person that's travelling. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister for Health and Social Services. Final supplementary. Member from Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can tell you my constituents are frustrated. I can tell you this family is very frustrated. I hope the Minister will bring something practical about how to improve the system. But one thing I'll say, the rates are far too low to cover the costs of today. When is the Minister going to adjust those rates to reflect the reality of today's costs? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I'm really glad that the Member has asked that because that has been asked in this House over and over and over again many times. The rates are to make things equitable in the territory. So the rates fall in line with all of our policies. Some of our policies that are federally funded, and we try to match what those rates are so that it's equitable across all residents with that. And, yes, times have changed, things cost more. That is in the review process. The one thing that I would like to highlight is if we -- you know, that's a decision that will have to be made once we have all of those in front of -- all of the recommendations in front of us with medical travel policies. Can we afford all the changes that we want for every person, every elder, all of the rates to be equivalent to what we've heard in this House many times to government rates that are negotiated through the collective agreement? You know, there's costs after costs. It's going to make the changes. And once we have all those recommendations and it's reviewed and recommendations put in front of us, we will have to make those decisions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member from the Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My follow-up to my statement here are questions to the Minister of Health and Social Services. My first question there, Mr. Speaker, is the Tulita Health Centre, can the Minister provide an update on the progress of that unit? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Sahtu. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm not sure if the Member wants me to answer it all in one question but the project has remobilized to the site and work has resumed this past summer, summer of 2024, with the completion date of 2026. This summer, due to low water and the no barges that we -- in order to not delay this project any further, that materials were expedited through air freight to the community so the work could continue. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank to the Minister for that progress update. Now we've got a date or a year. I seen the drawings and the colored designs. It's a very beautiful building with other features that the old facility didn't have.
My next question to the Minister is with this new modern facility, will there be additional staff opportunities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, what will happen is the current staff will transition into the new building. There hasn't been any planning on new staff, but what I will say is that we are in the process -- in the early processes of looking at our health centres and the model of how we provide health services in our communities, in our small communities and so, you know, that's going to take some time and analysis to look through because, you know, what happens in some small communities is not the same in the other. Some communities are bigger. So at this point, no. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thanks to the Minister for those two replies. It gives a better knowledge on the schedule of the construction.
My last question is that will the Minister work with my office for the additional materials that were there and got deteriorated, call it old stock. I've been getting some inquiries that local people are interested in the old material. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker I will talk to my department, and I will talk to the Minister of Infrastructure. I'm not sure how that process and what materials are there and if they're no longer useable, but I can follow up on that material and what's the plan for it and get back to the Member. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member's statement, I spoke about the issues entrepreneurs are having in Inuvik in processing applications and so on and so forth online. I referenced the 2020 red tape reduction group. My questions for the Minister of Finance is this red tape reduction group proactively addressing these issues to address and streamline the application processes and, if so, how? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Member from Inuvik Boot Lake. Minister of finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the red tape reduction working group was always set up to be an opportunity and a repository where anyone can direct them to an issue of red tape. So there's an email set up. There's an opportunity, @email, it's quite simple. They receive information about people who are running into, frankly, exactly the types of situations the Member mentioned earlier and then they will action them and they will investigate them and can coordinate across departments to find solutions. And I can say it actually hasn't been as fruitful as I would think it should be for the number of times I hear people say there's red tape out there. So, you know, I appreciate being able to sneak that email address in. I really do hope people can use it, but I can certainly say I intend to follow up on the items I heard earlier in the Member's statement. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister. And, yes, oftentimes people have complaints and they'll bring them to their MLA or they'll bring them to their community leadership but have an opportunity to bring them to a website or an email like the email said, and unfortunately, don't do that. So we need to find a way to be a little more proactive.
Having said that, Mr. Speaker, does the Minister know how many files or how many policies have been reviewed based on the information that has been collected by the red tape review? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So since November of 2023, when I believe that's when the email went live, there have been three matters formally submitted all regarding different GNWT processes. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the comment about being more proactive. We do -- we did also go through the process earlier this year in seeking suggestions about more efficiency and specifically directing that to the public service and in that regard received over 1,800 suggestions about finding efficiency from about 900 individuals with different ones raised by different people. So there certainly is -- there are different ways to bring this out there and to get people involved and don't want to lose track of finding a better way that we can get the ideas that are out there and the issues that people are running into in front of this group. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I know that, you know, this issue runs throughout several departments, this is not just a Department of Finance obviously, and I, you know, appreciate that I'm speaking with the Minister of Finance. But I guess -- and I don't know if this question, Mr. Speaker, is even able to be answered but when you're looking at a terms of reference or looking at putting together this red tape review, does it kind of take into consideration other items like the innovative -- innovation action plan that ITI has and different things like that to kind of look at the terms of reference, I guess if you will, on the types of information we're looking to address here, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, no, the red tape reduction working group really was meant to be focused on when a business or an individual runs into an issue and says, you know, I'm unable to get a license in an orderly fashion, I have to pay -- go to multiple departments in order to do something, I, you know, sought permissions or an opportunity, I can't get it done. This was an opportunity to say okay look, take that to the working group. They will cross those different departmental lines. Sometimes it's divisions within a department and they will -- they'll action that. But other elements of, you know, innovation action plan and such is a different element of what's going on. To the extent that there's barriers or blocks between different silos, again that certainly would -- could come to the working group, they could potentially get involved, but it really was meant to be something looking at how we are servicing the residents and businesses in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Finance. Oral questions. Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are also for the Minister of Finance. I am eagerly awaiting the 2023-2024 Public Service Annual Report, which is a really nerdy thing to say. Can the Minister sneak peek a preview and tell us if the exits by reason shows an increase or decrease in resignations? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Great Slave. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I've had a sneak peek. I can tell you that it's going to be tabled here in the House next week so certainly don't want to give too much away. But in the theme of a teaser, let's say that the number of exits by resignations is down from 523 down to 480 in 2023-2024. The number of exits down -- and generally down overall from 951 in 2022-2023 to 810 overall in 2023-2024. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That's some tentatively possibly good news. When it was last mentioned in the 2022-2023 annual report, the leadership development program was on a hiatus since July of 2020 and an expected new option was to launch this year, Mr. Speaker. So can the Minister tell me the status of this program? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There were some delays in getting this program back up and running to the caliber or quality that we were hoping for. I am pleased to say that we partnered with Aurora College and that there is now the leadership development program. It started just this month. Again, pleased to also say it is fully subscribed for level one which is currently running. Level two starts in January of 2025, and that will continue until August 2025. I don't know where that is at in terms of if it's interest level but, again, very happy to see that the first round is fully subscribed. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, a little bit of tentative good news there. Unfortunately, I was let down by the 2024 Employee Satisfaction Action Plan that was released with the 2023 survey results. It's vague. It doesn't speak deeply to tangible improvements probably because it start with "we need to build a plan." So how does the Minister wish to address employee morale based on the eight actions in that plan but also beyond them? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to be quite frank that building morale and changing morale and changing culture are more difficult than simply the action plan or the specific action item in any particular framework. It is really about creating cultures of change and showing the culture of change within the public service. So I do want to acknowledge that it is critical that the public service return to a place of good morale. It's been a difficult few years in the territory for a number of reasons, and that will no doubt affect people's state of well-being in the workplace as well as elsewhere.
Now that said, the implementation plan aspect of the action plan is underway. It's meant to be concrete measures whereby we can achieve some of those more aspirational goals as they might be described. And we're doing that in concert with -- with the employee advisory committee really to hopefully keep that connection flowing so that we're not just doing surveys but we're actually, even in between the different surveys, maintaining the connection to the employees who are filling out those surveys to check in as we develop the implementations which will hopefully get us to a better place with morale. Thank you.
Minister of Finance. Final supplementary. Member from Great Slave.
Yeah, I know -- thank you, Mr. Speaker -- it is a tricky one and an even trickier one is increasing Indigenous representation in the public service, Mr. Speaker. I know this side of the House is very keen on seeing how we can do a better job of that. The survey does not distinguish between Indigenous and non-Indigenous employees so I have to assume that Indigenous employees are struggling with low morale too.
So what specific actions will the Minister propose to take to ensure Indigenous employees feel valued, heard, and supported in this organization above and beyond what's contemplated in the Indigenous Recruitment and Retention Plan? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, this has the ring of a Minister's statement. There's so much that really needs to be said in this space. The territory has a population that is not reflected in the public service right now and arguably never has been, so we need to get to a place where that changes. I can only imagine that that impedes people's morale. That would make certainly sense to me if you don't feel -- see yourself reflected around you or in the services that you are receiving as a resident. So I want to reflect that first as just understanding the gravity and importance of this.
It also -- if we can get to a place of increasing meaningfully the diversity in the public service with the diversity that's present in this territory, that makes for better workplaces. It in and of itself improves culture.
So those are a lot of things without being a concrete answer, Mr. Speaker, and I'm mindful of the time given the complexity of what's being asked. We do now have online or published the reporting back in on the targeting in the Indigenous Recruitment and Retention Framework, which is really a very targeted document that's meant to change where we're at, to change who's employed, to really focus very specifically by department, by division, and by level who's employed. So I would ask folks to take a look at them. You know, it's going to take some time to turn those numbers around but we aren't going to do it if we aren't being held to account, so I want to be -- I want folks to go look at those numbers and to see where we're at and to raise those questions because that will hopefully show that we're trying to be responsive and trying to be honest with the problem that we have in front of us. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Finance. Oral questions. Member from Mackenzie Delta.
