Jane Weyallon Armstrong

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...

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...

Thank you. Thank you for the information. Yes, I know well, the allseason road and the elders were saying that there is a route, an existing route, an old road from 20, 30 years ago. So they were saying that it's going to be a lot the planning, and it should be a lot easier. This is what they were saying. So it is possible. So I just wanted to ask if it's not part of the plan, can we put it make it part of the plan because with the high cost of living and the people are expressing frustration because with the fuel price going up and everything is flying in and diesel are being used for...

We know that when this access Whati transmission line goes through, we know that it's going to lower the cost of electricity in the community. So I know Gameti were expressing interest as well. They wanted to see if it is possible to extend the Whati transmission line on to Gameti and from there to the Snare Hydro. I did ask that question before. Is there any way that we can, you know, include Gameti, you know, to extend the Whati transmission line to Gameti and then, you know because they want to have they want to have the same benefit as Whati. So that was their interest. That's what they...

Thank you. With reference to Whati transmission line, the completion date is 20262027. Can we get an update and the estimate cost of the project? Thank you.

Well, that's good to know, that there is something in place so then this can be extended to other Indigenous organizations as well or Indigenous government.

What supports are place for single parents who require medical treatment in the south with young children who they can't leave behind? Can the Minister commit to making young children eligible travel companions for people travelling south for medical care? Thank you

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are about 6,000 Government of the Northwest Territories employees. Over 3,000 positions are located in Yellowknife. We can only assume roughly one out of four, or one out of five people, are employed by GNWT. In the Tlicho communities and other small communities, we see what limited GNWT jobs that the majority of residents are eligible for only those benefits covered by noninsured health benefits.

Minister Green, can you please explain why the GNWT provides healthcare service for employees that is different from the healthcare service provided by the nonGNWT...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, for the people in small communities with a Government of the Northwest Territories job, there is one level of healthcare service, and for nongovernment employees, there appears to be another level of healthcare services.

Mr. Speaker, we have two systems of medical travel in the NWT, one for GNWT workers (where hotels, car rentals, and daily food expenses are covered more than enough expenses) and another system for nonGNWT, people largely covered by noninsured health benefits. The healthcare service is considerably different for residents who receive healthcare...

Yes, thank you. Yes, I know that nothing can be done without consulting, you know, with any so you have to do a lot of there's lots involved, I am aware of that with planning to have this project, if it ever gets approved or, you know, if it ever gets on the agenda. So I am aware of that. And the deputy minister did mention North Slave region, you know. Here I keep saying it, we're not part of North Slave region. It would be nice, you know, just to identify the Tlicho region itself, then I would we would really know what is being, you know what are the projects that's going to be you know...

Yeah, thank you. I did say it before, we all know the mine will be closing soon and there's going to be an influx of mine workers without jobs. So we did say that and I note Tlicho government or Gameti were expressing interest in that as well to have allseason road. And so because there's going to be a lot of workers with class 4, class 3, or heavy equipment operator. So they did ask about that. So I just want to ask the Minister if that plan is in place as well, you know, for future discussions and if there's any studies done on it and how much would it cost.