Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, with the tragedies that have occurred recently in my riding, and this is questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services, can he please advise this House if there are any policies or procedures in place to address tragedies that occur in small communities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is no formal written policy; however, it is a common long-standing practice within the health and social services system that responding to a tragedy is a priority for the Government of the Northwest Territories. Recognizing that every situation is different, that every community has a different response, what we tend to do is work with the community leadership to find out what it is they expect or what they are hoping to get from the Department of Health and Social Services when a crisis arises, and providing that service as best we can and working with the community to make sure that we are meeting their needs. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I think the Minister kind of answered my second question, but I am going to ask it anyway so we can get a little bit further information. Mr. Speaker, when dealing with these tragedies, will the Minister explain what the department does to ensure that there are necessary supports that are available to the communities besides just talking to them?
There have been a number of tragedies in the Member's riding, and the Department of Health and Social Services has responded to each one of them, but in each case the response was different based on what the community told us they were looking for as far as supports. We recognize that smaller communities do not necessarily have access to all the supports that exist in some of the larger communities, and where appropriate and where desired by the communities, we have sent professionals from other communities in when those crises occur.
So we tailor based on need, we tailor based on expectations, and in some situations communities have indicated to us that, you know, they want to handle it on their own; others, they are like, we need some psychologists, psychiatrists, we need some support staff in there. In some situations we found that there is a particular professional out there in the Northwest Territories that the community really feels comfortable with, that they want to bring in. We supported those individuals coming in, but there is no one model, Mr. Speaker.
We work with the communities, we listen to the communities, and we tailor our response based on what we are hearing from them on what they would like to see and how they would like to see that delivered.
I thank the Minister for that answer. Then to the credit of the department in the regional health and social services, we have had a unique situation in the last couple of weeks here and they have done an amazing job with our tragedies, but in regard to dealing with these type of tragedies, can the Minister tell us if the department tries to utilize traditional acknowledge or healing in addressing these issues?
Absolutely. I will give an example. In Sahtu we had a situation where there was a tragedy in one of their communities and what was requested of us was to support a bunch of the youth to go out on the land in order to experience healing and get out of the community, which we supported fully because it was the right thing to do. It is what the community wanted. It is what the youth needed. Listening to the community is critical. We do those types of things.
Sometimes, we hear, we want something done on the land immediately. Sometimes we say, give us a couple of weeks to stabilize here. Then we want to do something on the land. We are open to whatever the communities are suggesting is necessary in these times of crisis. Like I said, it is about working with communities and listening to them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I would like to thank the Minister for the answer. It is great to hear that the department is working with the communities when these tragedies happen.
Mr. Speaker, when a tragedy occurs in the small communities, will the Minister advise us who the department contacts? Is it the leadership, the family, or is there just whomever they decide who needs to be contacted? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In times of crisis, it can be difficult sometimes to determine who the most appropriate person to communicate with, whether it is the family, or maybe the family may not be the appropriate person depending on the incident that has occurred.
As a general rule, we do try to communicate with leadership in the community to help us coordinate our activities in the community, but I say that with a caution that you have to be flexible. You have to recognize that there are times when family might be the most appropriate individuals to be in touch with for a multitude of reasons. As a general rule, we try to do our communications through the community leadership.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
