Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are going to be for the Minister of Health and Social Services again in regard to the regional wellness councils. Mr. Speaker, it's great to hear that the councils move their meetings to communities in a region, and it's been very helpful. Unfortunately, there seems to be a lack of community awareness of the meetings. Can the Minister advise us what the council does to advertise their meetings and how do they encourage public involvement in these meetings? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will answer the question, but before I do so I just want to take this opportunity to apologize to the Member. Yesterday he asked me some questions on the regional wellness council and gave me an example, and I responded that I had responded by way of email. It turns out that email was in my draft account and I had never actually hit "send," so I am embarrassed, and I really apologize for giving that wrong information. This morning, I did send the Member an email with the correct information. So I do apologize for the confusion and the frustration that response yesterday may have caused.
When it comes to regional wellness councils, they are required to make sure that the public has timely notice of the date and times of meetings. Advertisement for regional wellness council meetings is usually organized by the regional wellness council through the authority that they are responsible for, so it may look different in every region and community, depending on what the best means of getting that information out is. I know in some cases it's posters. In some cases they have gone to local radio. There really is no one method for getting that information out. I do hear that there may be some concerns. I will certainly talk to the department and get them to work with the authorities to see if there are better mechanisms to get information out to support our regional wellness council to make sure that these meetings are well-attended.
Before I go on to my next question, I appreciate the Minister for the correction in our communication. These things happen all the time, so I greatly appreciate him making that announcement here.
My next question is: do the regional wellness councils have agendas that have spots to allow public involvement in the meetings? If not, will the Minister and the department work with the NWT Health and Social Services and have it as a standard part of their agenda?
The regional wellness councils approve their agendas for every meeting, so there is an opportunity to make amendments. Typically, the meetings do not have activities to have sections for public input, but that does not mean they can't. So, if the regional wellness council wants to open the floor to take questions or comments, that is certainly something they could do on a one-up basis. I am not sure that it would occur on every agenda. It's really up to the regional wellness councils. We do not want to be too prescriptive on what they are discussing. We want to hear from them.
Having said that, Mr. Speaker, attending the regional wellness council meetings is not the only way to get information. We anticipate and we expect that the regional wellness council members are going to be hearing from their community members, people in their communities, in and outside of those meetings. So there are lots of opportunities for them to get input from their communities and filter it into the system so that we can make good decisions.
I thank the Minister for his answer. Yes, it's important if we are going to be having these meetings in communities that there is some avenue for people to participate in it, and I thank the Minister for that. So I will be able to share that with my constituents and talk to the regional councils about that, and I appreciate that each agenda and each organization has different ways of different things. My next question is: are stats such as walk-ins, medevacs, training, and development plans shared with the regional wellness council members when asked and, if not, why?
It's my expectation that those will be shared when requested by the regional wellness councils.
Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I greatly appreciate that answer. I look forward to working with the regional councils because they have been asking me for that information, so I greatly appreciate the Minister with his answer. My final question is: can the Minister explain why the council is not able to hold meetings without having a chairperson in attendance? Do they not have a vice chairperson identified when they do this process?
Mr. Speaker, I attended a meeting with the leadership council in the spring, and one of the issues that the board members actually brought to my attention was that in our current setup there was no possibility for deputy chairs of the regional wellness council, which meant it was sometimes difficult to hold meetings. Two things have to happen. There has to be the chair, and there has, and there has to be quorum.
At that meeting, I actually directed that the Department of Health and Social Services work with the territorial authority to amend that so that we can actually have deputy chairs appointed. I also asked the board members to work with the members to select the deputy chair from within their own ranks. I understand that a number of the Regional Wellness Councils have already identified individuals to be deputy chairs. Others haven't at this point, but they certainly have the authority to select and appoint a deputy chair. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
