Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's been a long week. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for Minister of ITI. Does the Minister have the financial capacity through her department or through Prosper NWT to fund community efforts to grow local gardens in this upcoming season? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Great Slave. Minister of ITI.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we certainly do. So ITI has multiple funding sources that can support community efforts to grow local gardens, and that includes this season. So one of our main pieces of funding, Mr. Speaker, is the sustainable Canadian agriculture partnership which we lovingly refer to as SCAP, and that is 7.6 and change -- $7.6 million and change over the next five years of the agreement to support agriculture and agro food sector of the Northwest Territories. I can also say that I was at the agro food conference before I left town last week -- or it could have been the week before -- they are all one long week at this point -- and CanNor also announced that they are contributing an additional $4 million to our agriculture sector this coming year. So there is lots going on in this area. We also have the northern food development program which is $425,000 annually to the sector, and lots of people also access SEED for this purpose as well. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There's a certain poetic loveliness about SEED money going for seeds. I will look forward to the Minister sharing that information with me directly so I can promote it.
Will the Minister commit to investigating ways to support more projects like the Inuvik Community Greenhouse throughout the NWT? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, absolutely. So since 2020, I can confirm that ITI has contributed over $700,000 to the Inuvik greenhouse, $54,000 of which this fiscal to support the purchase of plants, and we're constantly working with regional offices and communities to figure out what the community-driven initiatives are and how we at ITI can get behind them. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of ITI. Final supplementary. Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That's good news. So just as a friendly question, would the Minister like to engage with me in a friendly competition to see how much -- which of us can grow the most potatoes by weight this season? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, the easy answer is yes. But. But, I'd like to also challenge my Cabinet colleagues to participate with us. Thank you.
Good answer. I mean, thank you, Minister of ITI. Oral questions. Member from Deh Cho.
Yes, okay, thank you, Mr. Speaker. According to media reports, the total cost for the on-the-land camp outside of Yellowknife was more than $640,000 with most of the money coming from the federal government, save about $7,000 from the GNWT. Can the Minister confirm the total amount of funding the Department of Health and Social Services provided for this initiative. Thank you.
Thank you, Member from the Deh Cho. Minister of health and social services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, health provided zero dollars to this initiative. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Wow, okay. Is the department considering on-the-land camps as part of its transitional housing aftercare programming in other communities? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm going to just speak to the on-the-land camp a bit, I'm not going to delve into -- this falls under EIA so the -- although health didn't put money into it, there was federal dollars. This was all through -- for homelessness so that fell under EIA, to be clear.
As to the Member's question, there are currently -- health is not going to be putting any on-the-land camps anywhere in any of the communities. What we do do, though, is, we've heard loud and clear, and I've said this many times in the House, is that we are providing funding to Indigenous governments, to Indigenous groups who wish to provide aftercare, addictions, those types of programming in their community, in their regions, and therefore the community wellness and recovery funds that we do provide -- our addiction recovery fund that we do provide annually is about just over $3 million, and it's spread out amongst many of the regional governments. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Final supplementary. Member from the Deh Cho.
My next question is can the Minister commit to a feasibility study of cost of this type of on-the-land program as part of discharge from treatment planning for residents? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, health and social services is here as a partner to Indigenous governments, and that's why this funding is there. We as health and social services will provide mental health supports that are in -- within health and social services. We have created this fund so that way it's external to us as we -- and I've said it many times in this House, Mr. Speaker, that you don't want GNWT involved in on the land and any traditional programming. We will make it complicated. We will put standards in place. We will make it more expensive. These dollars can be used more efficiently in the communities by the Indigenous groups. We are here to support them to access these dollars. They can use the money to do a feasibility on what it's going to cost and do these types of things. This money is in there for their communities to do these things. So I will continue to stress to all of the MLAs that they reach out to their Indigenous governments and see how they're using these dollars. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Following up on my statement this morning -- or this afternoon, sorry, can the Minister provide us with an update or whether she's aware of the lack of accommodations in Yellowknife and, Mr. Speaker, how this may impact -- how this impacts people if they have medical travel.
Thank you, Member from Inuvik Boot Lake. There's kind of two questions in that there so I'm going to give the Minister ability to answer one or two. Thank you. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I -- as I've been recently briefed, it seems that Yellowknife is experiencing a rise in tourism right now and which is putting additional pressure on an already strained system. NTHSSA is working with its partners right now to identify solutions on this issue. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you. I'm glad the Minister's aware of that. I'm glad they're working on something, Mr. Speaker. But what is the -- is there a contingency plan -- and at risk of asking two questions -- and how is the Minister informing residents so they can make informed decisions? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Inuvik Boot Lake. There was two questions again. Minister of Health and Social Services, you may answer one or both. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, NTHSSA is working to secure alternative accommodations at this time, including the securing hotel rooms to hold every day for unexpected patient arrivals or discharges at the hospital. NTHSSA is also trying to use other contingency services to accommodate the overflow. There are also right now, as I was just recently briefed, so there's some work that's going on and asking for practitioners and staff to be considerate of booking nonurgent medical appointments to Yellowknife right now, working with Indigenous Service Canada to advise NIHB patients travelling for dental to consider booking nonurgent appointments and travel at another date, preferably in the summer when there's no northern lights. Work is also underway to develop some public communication to support residents to make decisions about booking nonurgent dental appointments.
One of the things that I will say is that as the Minister right now, we have many of our regional -- and I come from the same region as Denny, so we have many people who are getting on a plane, arriving here, and they may not have accommodations. So if you have dental appointments that are nonurgent of checkup, I would suggest, you know, it's -- spring break, if you're travelling, maybe rebook your appointments in places where you're travelling to. We know there's a big hockey tournament coming up in Whitehorse. Many Beaufort Delta residents head down there. Try getting a dental appointment in there. Because there may be risk that you may not have an accommodation when you arrive here, or it might be not up to the standard that you would like. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Colleagues, remember, no personal names, titles would be better. Thank you very much. Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If it happens, we live in the same community I guess. The Minister mentioned a communications plans. So is there any details on how that will roll out, how we're going to let people know in Inuvik that this is certainly happening and that they may want to consider doing, as the Minister stated, booking the nonurgent appointments at another time. Can there be a little more detail on what that communication plan will be, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I apologize, yes, we live in a small community and we know each other by first names.
Right now it's actually just in the works, and the teams are working on it. And what I'm hoping to have is something to share to all MLAs because dental is not just in our region; it's -- people are travelling from all regions and they will need accommodations. So it will go out to all MLAs. It will go out on my social media, and I encourage MLAs to do that as well. And as the plan comes up, I will share with the MLAs. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Did I hear somebody's name? Okay, I thought so. Please refrain from using personal names.
Oral questions. Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, first I'd just like to quickly seek unanimous consent to return to item 5 on the agenda.
The Member from Mackenzie Delta is requesting to move to item 5. Can we wait until after we finish the oral questions and then -- when we finish oral questions then we'll go to -- back to item 5. Thank you Member for Frame Lake, sorry.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of health.
Mr. Speaker, I think my statement spoke for itself so would repeat what I said. Mr. Speaker, will the Minister of health commit to defining and publicly communicating what access to health care will mean once we achieve the reforming primary care goal? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Frame Lake. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned yesterday there, I will be getting more of a briefing on the information that is -- there's lots of work going on right now and behind, and as we are ready to present to committee with a lot of this information and so when we -- once I have more of those details, I'll be able to share more of the framework and a lot of the details around this. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will take that as somewhat of a commitment that the Minister does want to go forward with what I was asking. I'll just continue with my questions, Mr. Speaker.
Will the Minister commit to establishing and publicly communicating the parameters and milestones that we'll need to achieve to maintain access to health care once we define it? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the strategic framework is currently being developed, as I mentioned yesterday. The -- developed to provide clear direction and performance benchmarks for this initiative and will be expected to be completed in 2025. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Final supplementary. Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker; I appreciate that. And I hope that as part of that, we will be establishing and publicly communicating a timeline for achievement of the overarching goals the Minister communicated yesterday. Can she just confirm that establishment of the framework will, indeed, come with a timeline for achievement of the overarching goals? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will have to go back to reviewing more of the documents more in detail, and I will have that information for committee when we are able to present to them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member from Monfwi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is continuing from my statement from March 3rd, adequate supports for seniors. So this is a question for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Mr. Speaker, can the Minister say whether the senior home heating subsidy program can be reviewed to better assist our elders? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Monfwi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the last evaluation and review of that program was done in the 19th Assembly when the previous Minister reviewed the income security programs. Thank you.
Okay, well, it needs to be revisited again so. I know that we need to, so. If not, then I wouldn't be here doing this statement and questions.
Can the income threshold levels and community zoning be re-examined to better reflect accurate costs of living in each community? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Certainly didn't want to get too far ahead of ourselves and know that I've had great conversations with the Member about this program, and also acknowledging that our buying power with our dollars these days is much different than it was before. And so previously committed to the Member to reviewing the income thresholds of the program to ensure that it is still meeting the need of seniors and also getting to the purpose of the program. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Member from Monfwi.
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister commit to conducting community engagement on the senior home heating subsidy program? Thank you.
