Mr. Speaker, my question today is for the Minister of Health and Social Services. It gets back to my Member’s statement, where I was speaking of children and children being our greatest resource.
We need to ensure, as a government, that we give parents the tools that are necessary to select and install car seats properly. As I mentioned in my statement, the number one cause of death among children in this country is car accidents. The safety of our children in this territory should be the priority of the government.
I would like to begin by asking the Minister: why is there not one site in the entire Northwest Territories where parents can go to ensure that they select and install a child’s car seat properly?
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Mr. Speaker, the government and the Department of Health and Social Services take safety issues very seriously. We do public promotion, and we distribute vests, injury prevention measures. In cooperation with MACA and Transportation we distribute helmets for safety. In fact, we have distributed about 125 car seats. We have community health reps at the community level who work with parents to show them and teach them how to use their children’s car seats safely.
The way these are made…. It’s a modern machine and a lot more user-friendly than they used to be. I understand that there is a person in Yellowknife who would like to have more opportunities to have the training. I’m looking to see if we could deliver this program in house, where anybody in Yellowknife who’s interested could come and learn.
Mr. Speaker, if it’s such a priority of the Minister’s department, I’m wondering why they keep putting off the funding to get the training. It’s not just in Yellowknife. The training would take place in Yellowknife and Inuvik with community based individuals so they could go back to the community and spread that knowledge to communities across the Northwest Territories. Trainers are hard to find, and that’s been identified. They have a trainer who’s set and ready to go to provide these courses: two in Yellowknife and one in Inuvik.
I’d like to ask the Minister if she will assure this House and the people of the Northwest Territories that she’ll come up with some funding to ensure that these training programs take place. Because a trainer is hard to find.
Mr. Speaker, I’m sure the Member is as aware as anyone else here that we need to be responsible with our dollars. We should be doing as much as possible within the budget we have, which is certainly the challenge that Health has.
When he asks why we are not providing funding…. Yes, we did not agree to fund a $30,000 proposal to have these two programs in Inuvik and Yellowknife, but that doesn’t mean that this program is not being delivered. What I said is that the community health reps in all of our regions are already engaged in working with parents with infants on how to use their car seats. In fact, the government distributes car seats.
Now, I appreciate that there is one lady in Yellowknife who is looking all over the place to get a trainer on how to use a car seat. I can see there’s some need in Yellowknife to accommodate that. Being fiscally responsible in the environment that we live in, I am looking at seeing how we can deliver this in house. That’s certainly part of the mandate of the department, and we are engaged in health promotion and safe practices and healthy living throughout the year. This will be part of the program.
Mr. Speaker, I can probably think of a number of things in the past year where the department has wasted $30,000 at the drop of a hat. I’ve discussed some of those issues with the Minister previously. What I’d like to get a better understanding of is, if we leave this up to the department…. We all know how slow government moves. The program might not ever happen. This is something that can happen, and it can have positive results for parents across the territory.
I want to ask the Minister — this has been in place for a year: why haven’t they funded a program like this to ensure the safe transport of our children in our territory?
Mr. Speaker, I don’t know if I’m making my point clearly here. The fact is I don’t think it’s prudent or responsible for the government to be funding a third party proposal at $30,000 to bring somebody in to do two training programs on how to use car seats if we can find resources from within.
What I’m telling the Member is that we have the entire health promotion section that works on injury prevention and how to use helmets safely. We rent out vests so as to prevent boating accidents, we distribute helmets for safe practices, and we do distribute car seats.
I think it’s not correct to say: why aren’t you funding this money? What I’m saying is that it is part of the mandate of the department. We work on safety throughout the year. I am working with the department to see, if there’s a need for this, how we can do this within. I believe we can do that without spending $30,000, which, I’m sure the Member would appreciate, is better fiscal management.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.
Mr. Speaker, by the time the department’s done with this in house thing, I’m sure it’s going to be more than $30,000, and that’s the issue that I take.
Yes, I’d like to see it done. I think they can do it with $30,000; I don’t think the department can do it with $30,000. Once they spend a year studying it and they hire two staff to look at it, it’s going to be much more than $30,000.
The big difference with this is that these people who are trained are going to go back into the communities. I’m wondering how the Minister can say that her in house solution is going to train people to go back out into the communities. They’re going to be trained to deliver this back home in their own communities. How is the department going to deliver on that?
Mr. Speaker, let me say it again. We have CHRs that we pay for every day. They work for us. They’re all over the communities. Part of their job is to distribute car seats, and we have distributed 125 car seats. They teach the parents how to use them. All I’m saying is that we are already doing that. We will continue to do that, and we don’t need to find extra funding for that.
Now, I’m just answering this issue that I think has come to the attention of the Member as well. We have had a proposal from a lady in Yellowknife who would like $30,000 to deliver this program. We e-mailed her back and said that we’re going to look into that and get back to you. She e-mailed me on September 26. I have not had a chance to get back with all this information. I don’t think it’s prudent for us to look at outside sources when we can do it within. We’re already doing it. We’re already protecting the safety of our babies and children.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
