Agreed.
Thank you. Moving on to health and social programs beginning on page 203 with information items on page 209. Are there any questions? Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I'll just wait for you to restart the clock. Thank you so much.
So on page 206. (I need new glasses; I have an appointment). The family violence prevention fund is a contribution that the department makes I believe -- or receives, I should say, I think from wage, but maybe the Minister can just confirm.
Thank you. Minister of health.
I will turn that to over to deputy minister.
Deputy minister Cecchetto.
Thank you. So our budget for family violence is $1.3 million. And that is broken down, and so the piece that actually comes from wage is about $175,000 of that budget which is really -- that has been used to upgrade the crisis lines, for example, that are in the shelters, and the remaining of those -- that funding is coming from GNWT.
Thank you, deputy minister Cecchetto. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. So thank you for that explanation. And as the Minister knows, and I think all Members in this House know at this point, we do have the NWT Shelter Network asking for reinstatement of some funding, a pretty minimal amount of funding, but maybe the Minister could speak to why that funding is no longer in this budget. Thank you.
Thank you. Minister of health.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, this funding reduction was done as the shelter networks use this fund -- the amount that's allocated that was reduced was for bringing people, you know, from the -- like, the staff from the shelters into Yellowknife to do training. This past year, my understanding is that the online training has been completed now and so that those staff within all of the regions now could do the training that they -- this training through virtual means. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister of health. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Well, I'll leave that there for now. I might have a different opinion than the Minister, but we can get into that tomorrow.
So could the Minister explain, then, the breakdown of the family violence prevention fund, where the $1.1 million goes to. Thank you.
Thank you. Minister of health.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Okay, so family violence prevention, $274,000. National action plan to end gender-based violence, $782,000. And crisis hotlines responding to gender-based violence, $125,000. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Can the Minister please explain the $782,000, what does that support. Thank you.
Thank you. Minister of health.
Can I pass that on to the deputy minister, please. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Deputy minister Cecchetto.
Thank you, Madam Chair. So 500 of that fund is actually to provide shelter enhancement; 200 is actually to conduct a feasibility study about what are their infrastructure needs and therefore subsequent renovations; and, $82,000 of that is to expand the What Will It Take campaign with a focus on specifically to youth. Thank you.
Thank you. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm just going to change line items for right now on my last five minutes here. I note on page 206, there is also mention of wastewater surveillance. The funding from Public Health Agency of Canada has ceased. Can the Minister please speak to how we are funding wastewater surveillance moving forward. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Minister of health.
I'll pass that to the deputy minister. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Deputy minister Cecchetto.
So you're correct, that funding has ended, and it was specifically around COVID. It is important to note that we are continuing to do wastewater monitoring, for example respiratory illnesses, and I will need to -- we would need to get back to as to the source of that funding.
Thank you. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. And, yeah, I would appreciate that breakdown. I just want to highlight it because it is something that's very near and a dear to a lot of my constituents, became very important obviously, as the deputy minister mentioned, during COVID but we also have other novel illnesses -- or I guess maybe not novel illnesses but other airborne illnesses that are causing alarm bells in North America right now, so making sure that we have tracking capacity is really paramount to a lot of my constituents. So I'm happy that that's continuing in Yellowknife.
Can the Minister please speak to where else testing is occurring currently and if there are any plans for expansion. Thank you.
Thank you. Minister of health.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I just wanted to add with -- just further information -- and I know that as we're live here, I'm just pulling up more information on the wastewater. There currently is new funding, third-party funding, that will be continuing parts -- I think a part of this program ongoing. Where those communities are, I'll just pass it over to the deputy minister and she can speak to the communities that that's happening in right now currently. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Deputy minister Cecchetto.
Thank you, Madam Chair. The communities are Behchoko, Fort Simpson, Norman Wells, and Yellowknife, which actually collectively make up about 45 percent of the population. And we don't necessarily have plans at this moment in time to expand that to other communities and primarily that is also because of the limited funding in this area.
Thank you. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. That's a little bit concerning to me considering there are entire regions missing off that list, notably South Slave and the Delta. Is there anything that we can be doing to seek out further pots? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Minister of health.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, as, you know, I mean, our chief public health officer I think is the lead in this area and I know that there is lots of work going on, you know, within her office on this specifically. But I mean, we can bring back the question to what is the issues on why it's only in these. And I know it's restricted to funding but if there are other things than what the costs might be to expand that, we can find out that information and give that back to committee. Thank you.
Thank you. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, I appreciate that. I believe I might be done for this so I will cede my time to another Member. Thank you.
Thank you. Next, I have Inuvik Boot Lake.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I have to ask it now, so I'll start with the compensation and benefits on this side as well. So I note that in 2023-2024, 14,904, 14,690 in the main estimates, 904 in the actuals. Then, as been explained to me, 16,494 in the revised estimates likely due to the retro pay, but then I note again it's down to 14,668 in the main estimates for 2026 which is, again, a little less than it was in 2023-2024. Again, I'm just wondering if there is -- if I'm missing something here or if there were any positions decreased or if this is just -- or positions that were maybe not filled that were no longer budgeted for. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Minister of health.
Thank you, Madam Chair. So the changes in this line here are because of the sunset of the cost share agreements. There are the northern wellness agreement funding. So with that funding, because of the timing of the negotiating of that agreement, it wasn't done in time for these mains but there are -- there are increases in those areas. But for this budget, it shows a decrease because of the sunsetting. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Member for Boot Lake.
So no cuts to positions, then, and no positions that weren't -- that were vacant then, that aren't being filled; can I just get clarity on that.
Thank you. Minister of health.
Yes, you're correct.
Member for Inuvik Boot Lake.
Thank you. I'll just pivot to specialty services, Madam Chair. And I note in the comments what we know what specialty services refer to, and there's a lot of ologies in there that I likely can't pronounce, but that's great. And I note that it says treatment provided in the NWT. So does this mean going from $29 million to $36 million and now to $43 million that we are now providing more of these specialty services in the territory than we have previously where we had to pay that through -- likely through Alberta care or in other provinces; is that what we're doing? Are we ramping up all those ologies in the Northwest Territories, Madam Chair? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister of health.
