Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today I used the fictitious CBC TV show Arctic Air to depict an issue about emergency response. It has been a reality. In reality, this is actually happening in the Northwest Territories. With that, my question who won the coin toss is the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. Has there been a working group established? Have the fire chiefs been involved? Is there work to be done with the Northwest Territories Association of Communities and work with other departments such as Health and Social Services on creating some type of archway, some kind of health profession or a trade for emergency medical service providers providing some type of equality in our systems of emergency services throughout the Territories? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The honourable Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There had been a working group that had been established. MACA is part of the working group. Health and Social Services is part of a working group. We do have some assistant fire chiefs that are part of the working group. We are looking at the overall delivery of emergency services across the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, it is encouraging to hear that this is indeed a priority of the government and a priority of the department. Could the Minister indicate as to when the consolidated findings of this working group will be shared with committee here and the Members? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, the intent is to have something by December of this year that we could possibly share. Obviously, there is a lot of work that needs to go into this to make sure we get a product that best serves all the people of the Northwest Territories. By December of this year, we are hoping to have something that we can have a discussion with committee about. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, as indicated in my Member’s statement earlier today, some of the earlier planning back in 2009 projected this could cost the taxpayer or the government up to $6 million to perform. Can the Minister advise if this number has been looked at? Are we close to this number or is it too far down into the future to actually predict? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, $6.1 million was the initial figure that we used. Once we go through all the planning, the number may rise. We would have to look at all the options and then come back to committee with what probably is closer to a final figure and share that with them, and then we will determine what the next steps are going to be once we do that. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, very encouraging news. I think people listening out there feel that their needs are being met. Until such time as we have policies in place, we have budgets in place, there are communities out there that are in dire need. They need medical transport vehicles to avoid patients being transported in the back of quads, in the back of pickup trucks. Is there any appetite for this department or the government to look at the needs of individual communities, assess them, and do more good now than waiting for some projected budget in the future? Can we assist these communities in the near future? Thank you.
We do have some right now that we allocate to some communities that apply for it. It helps them with equipment mostly. We have to understand that there’s a huge liability issue in trying to provide emergency service in a lot of communities. If they’re not qualified, then that would put more residents at risk and put the communities or the individuals in a liability issue. So we have to explore all those options.
There is $200,000 now that is allocated to a number of communities. As the Member said, we only have three communities that have taken us up on it, but a lot of this is to help with some of the equipment they have in communities. Of course, we want all of our residents to be sure that they’ll be transported to health centres safely and the Member pointed out something that he saw on TV, which is actually not far from the truth. We’ve heard of cases of people being transported in the back of a vehicle, but that’s just the community responding to a situation. Instead of just waiting for something to happen, they make something happen.
So, again, there’s a huge liability issue and we have to recognize that. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
