Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are to the Minister of Health and Social Services. I want to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services as to when she thinks that the people in Tulita can receive a resident social worker in the community.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The residents of Tulita do have social services being provided there. I can’t recall all of the details, but I do believe the person had moved to Tulita, but because either that person was promoted or there were some personal reasons. I would have to take the question under advisement and get more information on where that issue is. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, the Minister and I did tour the Sahtu and one of our stops was in Tulita. We did have a talk with the grand chief and people of Tulita and we were advised of the number of excuses why we did not have today a social worker in the community of Tulita. One of the suggestions was how can we work out a solution that we can have a social worker. We have not had one in that community for over three years. We need a permanent social worker in the community. I want to ask the Minister if she’s willing to look at some options in terms of how do we get one within the next couple of weeks.
We did tour all of the Sahtu communities and there were a number of issues like this, because Sahtu Health Authority have combined duties of different positions and they’ve had to move positions around to make sure that they are able to use their existing human resource services to provide the services necessary. So I will undertake to take this question about the permanent social worker in Tulita and acquire more information on it and get back to the Member in short order. Thank you.
I certainly look forward to the Minister getting back to me in short order. Would the Minister look at possible time frames as to when we can expect a social worker to be in Tulita, having all the excuses being exhausted? When can the people in Tulita get a social worker in the community? How soon can the Minister get back to me?
I will look into that as soon as possible and get back to the Member in the next few days. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Your final supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the community of Tulita has offered some solutions in terms of getting a social worker into the community. Will the Minister be open to those types of suggestions from the people of Tulita to get a social worker in there, in terms of the solutions of certainly that position, as soon as possible?
Yes, I will check my notes from that tour and I will review the situation again and I will look at all options to see what is available to us and the Sahtu authority, in consultation with the local leadership. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
