Shane Thompson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize a number of constituents from my riding, Aggie Hardisty from Jean Marie, Catherine Belle-Sanguez from Jean Marie/Trout River Fort Simpson, as well as April Bell, who is now a corporal. Congratulations on your promotion. As well, Dang-Dang Gruben who is one of my youth ambassadors I used to work with. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the Minister for that answer. It looks like we are trying to do some good stuff and I applaud the department for that. Is the government looking at maybe working with Aurora College, looking at developing something in this area for the strategy?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today in my first set of questions the Minister of Health and Social Services talked about dental therapists and hygienists. I guess that leads me to this second set of questions I have today. In the height of dealing with dental therapy in that we used to have positions in there, can the Minister tell us how many dental therapy positions were in NWT at the height of it? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I again thank the Minister for his answer. I guess my concern is small communities that do not have staffing there, and that is something that we need to look into. Mr. Speaker, having a database upon which ministry program outcomes could be monitored would give us a better idea of what kind of programs are working for our residents. Does the Department of Health and Social Services currently have one in place? If it does not, does the department intend to look into implementing one?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today in my Member's statement I talked about mental illness and suicides in my region. My questions are to follow up to the Minister of Health and Social Services. Has there been any outreach to education institutions specializing in Health and Social Services programs for recommendations or potential training for healthcare professionals and residents of the GNWT aside from what we do presently? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In light of increased incidents of suicide in my riding, I would like to take the opportunity to address the importance of mental health awareness.

Mr. Speaker, in my riding and throughout the NWT, we have some amazing counsellors in our health systems and have beneficial services for those affected by mental health or mental illness, but what is evidently lacking is awareness in the communities. In my riding, between the months of January and September, there have been six suicides and at least 34 attempted suicides that I am aware of. Six suicides in 10 months is...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for that answer. I guess my concern, though, is: we are still not dealing with it. We have small communities that have this issue. I have been listening to people. They basically would like to see some dental therapists in the smaller communities, like Fort Providence, Fort Liard, some of these smaller communities, to give these residents from zero to 20 years old the opportunity to get this treatment. Will the Minister look at the smaller communities, at training the staff and getting people in these places? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It looks like the Minister had all my questions here and was able to answer them all. The answer to the question on how many communities are out there: basically, we have five communities that don't have dental therapists in place. Is the government seriously looking at trying to fill these vacant positions, and if they are, how are they looking at doing this?

Quyanainni, Mr. Speaker, and I again thank the Minister for his answer. Mr. Speaker, what measures are being taken to ensure that programs delivered by Health and Social Services in all communities are done correctly and adhere to all policies and procedures?

I thank the Minister for his answer. I guess my concern is regarding the mental health and mental wellness of our individuals, and I have to applaud the department and the staff who are there helping us. However, is the department looking at mental health resources like telepsychology and looking into for remote, small communities? Right now we do not have staff in there, so are we able to be looking at some of these options?