Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, follow-up to my Member's statement. I have a couple of questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services. I'd like to ask the Minister: what policies are in place to guide health authorities and communities through these kinds of abrupt transitions like moving a resident mental health worker? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I appreciated the Member's statement today. I thought it was quite good and I think it hit a number of the points. I think one of the key points there is that, ultimately, our staff do have the ability to leave positions as they might to pursue other jobs.
As far as transition, the more time we have the more transition we can provide to ensure that services aren't impacted. The particular case the Member is referring to, I don't have the details so I don't know exactly what happened in the community with respect to that position.
How will the department act to improve regularity and consistency in mental health services provided to our small communities like those in the Mackenzie Delta?
I've had an opportunity to travel around the Northwest Territories and meet leaders from across the territories, and when I meet them I do talk to them about how we can work better together to recruit and retain local people in jobs. I'm a big fan of local people for local work.
Having said that, a number of the healthcare professions, we certainly have a challenge finding individuals with the appropriate skills, which means we have to explore things in new creative ways. With respect to providing mental health services, we are working with the community of Deline to develop a pilot where we can train and prepare local people to provide these types of counselling supports for the local people. I apologize. We have been delayed on that project. Deline has been quite busy since they moved forward with their self-government. We are still eager and still trying to find a way to move forward on that. That is the type of thing we think we can do better in communities across the Northwest Territories, to train local people to help with local issues.
The Minister answered a part of my next question, but I will ask it anyway. The department is working on the mental health action plan focused on children and youth. How will the department's planning account for the need for regular and consistent services in our small communities?
There is a significant amount of work being done on this, and there is a framework that is being developed that sort of outlines the parameters of what the youth mental health and addictions action plan will look like. I don't want to presuppose the outcomes, but the types of things the Member is talking about are the types of things we are attempting to incorporate within the plan, to bring services close to the people throughout the Northwest Territories and make sure that they have access. I can't say exactly what the model is going to look like at this point because we haven't finalized that work, but as we finish that work, I am prepared to come to committee to have further discussions on exactly these types of issues.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
