Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am unaware of where the Member got the $80,000 figure, as the long-term care rates don't have that. There is no threshold for financial hardship when it comes to fees for long-term care in the Northwest Territories. If long-term -- currently, the way the process works, if there's long-term care clients that can't afford the fees, they can apply -- you know, there's income support that they can apply through for room and board to help cover those costs. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, in this one instance here, I have to say here on the floor of this House that I agree with this Member. This has been a frustration of mine as a Minister. And the review that we have just completed has highlighted this, and I have directed my department to -- when these breaches are coming forward in investigations, that they need to be held at the highest standards. And that is one of the areas where, you know, I continue. Every time a privacy breach crosses my desk, it angers me. It angers me because we're trying to build trust in this healthcare system and we have our employees...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to welcome my grandmother Esther Semmler. And I also want to welcome Sue Look, Alice Charley, Annie Rose McNabb, Bella Husky, and Debbie Delancey. She wasn't my boss at MACA but I did work under her when I was at health and social services, and now she is the co-chair of the Council of Leaders health and social services working group. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, access to primary and community health care matters to people across the Northwest Territories. It affects whether someone can get help when they need it, how supported they feel when managing ongoing health needs, and whether care reflects who they are, where they live, and what matters to them. Most importantly, it can support residents on their health and wellness journey. Residents have told us they want health care that is easier to access, more connected, and culturally safe. Later today, at the appropriate time, I will table the primary and community health care framework...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, right now what I commit to is that I know within the assessment phase we are trying to make sure that people who are living outside the territory that are Tier 1 and Tier 2, those are the ones that we would be able to, you know, try to support. That's where we're thinking, but -- so everybody has to be reassessed to make sure that -- so even if there's, as the Member said, 12 residents from Behchoko or Tlicho region outside the territory, not all of them might be 1 or 2, so they may not all be able to be supported back in the territory. But what I can do is...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I -- you know, I appreciate this question being raised again, and I do agree that, as I said to the -- in the last questions that I was responding to on supportive living is that there are many of our residents that are living outside the territory because we currently haven't established places in the territory for that. And that is what -- and I know that work on the health sustainability unit should be coming available soon. Once that -- you know, that comes forward, then -- you know, then that gives us the decisions to figure out what we're going to do...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't currently have the timeline for the health sustainability unit, but I know it's No. 2, and I know it's going through its processes right now to -- and so hopefully -- I can't give a date, but I can commit to providing that information. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Supported Living Review that was completed is -- the department continued to work on that over the last few years and implement and work on developing the supportive living standards, and most recently established the admissions committee. But within the partnership with health sustainability unit, some of that work has kind of paused while the analysis is going on, and they're analyzing the out of territory programs to determine, you know, the cost of it because it continues to increase year after year, and determine some options for in-territory...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I stated, anyone who -- so the process for long-term care is that they're assessed by their practitioner, there's a care plan done, an application done for long-term care, and then it's reviewed by the territorial admissions, and then it's prioritized on hierarchy for the beds that are available in the Northwest Territories. And every single person, before they sign the agreement for long-term care, you know, they have the fees. And so in the Northwest Territories, that fee, I believe -- I believe it's $1,100. I'd have to get back to the Member on that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will take this back to my department. I will look at it, and I will have a conversation with them and maybe -- as well as the privacy commissioner. Some of these laws and there are these interpretations of them and so, you know, I hear the Member, and I agree. I've had many of my own constituents who've had this happen. I've had staff in the past, you know, when I was a manager, that I've had to deal with and go through the process with -- you know, with HR. But I believe that, you know, this is where I think we do need to make it stronger, and if I am...