Lesa Semmler

thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, yes, to the Member, I do have a list, and I don't want to read out a whole page of things, so I will promise to give that list to the Member.

When it comes to overnight respite, the resources that would be required to provide overnight respite services will be explored; however -- as part of this work, but they will require new resources and dollars to do that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't have a timeline as to when this will be completed or operational. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned, you know, today we might be able to come up with a number and that would meet today, and then we get something else that happens and the numbers change. You know, if we are -- like, I look at our priorities in this government and working on our accessing health care doesn't just mean fixing the issues that we have at our territorial hospital and our -- you know, and in our capital. They mean fixing some of our issues in our regional centres. You know, we have our own issues in the regional centres as MLAs from those communities are fully aware. And then...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, and I do recall the plan that was presented -- I think it was even presented to the community. At the time, the numbers of the day, the beds that were needed for long-term care placement in the Northwest Territories were very high, and then they relooked at it because of the cry for many residents outside in the small communities wanting care closer to home, and it made a priority of the last two governments is to being able to, you know, age in place gracefully. And I mean, that was a priority of the 19th Assembly. And so there was much more work done on...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the health sustainability unit falls under the executive office under the Premier. What I can say is there is work being done within that unit to be able to look at what the core services are that we are funded for and are we adequately funded for those services through all the funding that we get. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the team consists -- when investigations happen, they are done by social workers. Social workers' experience -- are experienced in conducting investigations of this nature and once the investigation steps are completed, you know, they will do the process that they have to do. If there's a criminal process that they have to report, they have a duty to report then they will do that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document: 2023-2024 Annual Report Director of Child and Family Services. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this has come up many times in the House, and NTHSSA's policy was put in place to protect the health and safety of all staff. Under the Northwest Territories Safety Act, the employer is required to take all responsible measures to ensure the health and safety of their employees. And nurses in the health centre may do home care and home care assessments during the day that are scheduled, but they are not first responders, Mr. Speaker. They're not the ones that run out to the emergencies. They are trained to do services within their health centre with the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, home care provides -- in all of our communities, we have home support workers and they provide bathing and making meals, nursing services for wound care and health checks, help with organization, and taking medication. In some communities, they provide palliative care for those who are dying and want to be close to home and family members. They loan out equipment, such as bathroom equipment and walkers. They do provide respite care to help out in the home so caregivers can get a break. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am unaware of how many children are on the waitlist in the Tlicho region. But what I can do is I can commit to getting those numbers. I also would like to highlight that, you know, the waitlist, yes -- however there is a waitlist, our speech and language pathologists that we do have are seeing -- and what they're doing is they're triaging so they're seeing youth under 5 and then youth between 16 -- 6 and 17 who have severe needs, so safety issues -- so speech-language is not just for speech but it's also for swallowing, so if there -- we're utilizing the...