Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Not to sound uncompassionate about the issue of families who suffer and grieve with members who have cancer and eventually succumb to cancer, so that Members don’t think that I’m uncaring, I was 27 years old when my mother died of cancer. She was 57 years old. Ten years ago, when I was the Minister of Health, our cancer rates in the Northwest Territories, believe it or not, were less than the national average. We know everybody, we come from small communities, so it seems like it’s higher sometimes. If we are going to put out new statistics on cancer rates in the Northwest Territories, surely we need to do that with a backdrop of how much we smoke, how much we drink, what our diets look like, how much we exercise, and hereditary factors are also huge in getting cancer. If we’re going to put out statistics, we have to be real as a government, as well, and include information on those statistics as a backdrop to our cancer rates. Does the Minister of Health and Social Services agree that that can be done?
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The cancer rates across the Territories of the various cancers, like colorectal cancer is at 24 percent, breast cancer is at 17 percent, prostate is at 14 percent and lung cancer is at 10 percent. Some of those cancers obviously are tied to lifestyle; some are tied to other factors. It could be water, as Mr. Yakeleya indicated. The intention is that when we do put a report out, it will cover all of the cancers across the territory and if smoking is a big factor in the cancer rates across the Territories, then, yes, it will be indicated in the report.
When we do put out statistics as a government on this, I’m saying is it is a standard practice to also include in those statistics the kinds of indicators as I have listed in my previous question, or does that information, as Mr. Beaulieu listed the different types of cancer in the Northwest Territories and so on, come out as a package so that people get the picture or is this something that is just listed without, absent of those other indicators?
The entire department is trying to get more into prevention and when we put out reports and it’s necessary to indicate that the cause of this cancer is this or the human behaviour here is causing this type of cancer, then that can be something that we are working on. Whether or not the causes of each of the types of cancer are going to be specifically indicated in the cancer report that we’re going to be bringing out in 2012, I haven’t seen the report so I don’t know if that information will be there. But, yes, we are trying to get the message out. That’s the idea, is to get the message out to people that smoking does cause cancer. I think that’s very clear and our intention is to point out those factors each time we’re dealing with the issue of cancer or other sicknesses like diabetes.
Some people are going to get sick regardless of how hard they try to be healthy and how good their habits are, but there is also a huge element for personal responsibility and a lot of people out there in the public don’t like it when we as a government talk about personal responsibility. They don’t want to hear about it. When I was Health Minister I went to a community that sat there, gathered, told me about their water source, how it was no good, and I think every single person in the meeting drank three cans of Coke while we were in this meeting. They talked to me about diabetes and water source and how horrible it was. We have got to get clear messages so that people know we have choices to make. I’m not saying I’m perfect and I’m not saying any of us are perfect, but is there a way that we can spend more money to enhance the message about personal choices?
There is a way and we are working with the various health authorities across the Territories. We’re going to work with the boards, the public administrators, the CEOs of all of the health and social services across the territory to get that message out. To get the message out that says these are some of the causes of the sicknesses that are occurring across the territory. That’s why when we say we’re moving into prevention, with prevention is promotion and communication with people in the Northwest Territories.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
