Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This for the Department of Health and Social Services. So what is the department doing to recruit more Indigenous counsellors? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Monfwi. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the Member for raising this issue. The staffing shortages that we see across the NWT are particularly acute in the Tlicho region and Behchoko in particular.
There are vacancies for the manager of health services, the nurseincharge, two nurse practitioners, two public health nurses, five community health nurses, one clinical nurse educator, eight community social workers, two child and youth care counsellors, one child and youth care supervisor, two individual and family counsellors, and one trauma counsellor. In other words, I don't know who's working in Behchoko but you have a very large vacancy rate there.
We advertise these jobs on a territorywide basis. And we, as you know, preferentially hire P1s who have been who are Indigenous to the NWT. We also preferentially hire people who come out of the Indigenous Gateway Training program. So we put out the job competitions generally and hire Indigenous people preferentially. The caveat there is that they need to apply and to have the relevant experience. These, in some cases, are specialized positions which require specific training. Thank you.
Will the Minister and leadership team commit to visiting Tlicho region to discuss how to create more culture and communitybased solution for addiction, substance abuse, and mental health? Thank you.
Yes, thank you. The delivery of health and social services in the Tlicho region, as the Member knows, is handled by the Tlicho Community Services Agency. I have met with them once while in this role. Certainly interested in meeting with them again to discuss any of the issues that they are particularly concerned with. The TCSA is also part of the leadership council for the NTHSSA, and so I do see the chair, Ted Blondin, at those meetings, which I attend about once every three months. Thank you.
Thank you. Will the Minister commit to identifying where the Tlicho government can take authority over mental health program? Thank you.
Yes, thank you. I'm sure the Member appreciates that we want the initiative to come from the Tlicho government, and so we are interested in seeing any proposals they have that would expand their service delivery, would make it more culturally appropriate to their region, more specific to their region. We have the specific funds that the Tlicho government applies for, such as ontheland healing. But we're interested in seeing proposals for other services that we provide that the Tlicho government would like to provide instead. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Monfwi.
Thank you. Will the Minister commit to transferring the child and youth care counsellor program responsibilities to Tlicho government? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, at the recent bilateral with the Tlicho government, I indicated that we were interested in discussing this possibility. We would like to see a proposal so that we understand what it is that the TCSA would like to do with those positions. And of course that would include a discussion with ECE since the CYCC program is a joint initiative of our two departments. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
