Thank you, Madam Speaker. Okay, question for the Minister of Health and Social Services, that the department tracks the NWT health profile of its residents to understand public health issues that impact the whole population. The information gather is to provide decisionmakers the information they need to take actions. With that in mind, can the Minister provide an update on action taken in Tlicho region to address the poor health outcome in my region? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister for Health and Social Services.
Yes, thank you very much, Madam Speaker, and I appreciate the question from the Member for Monfwi.
The provision of Health and Social Services in the Tlicho region is delivered by the Tlicho Community Services agency. They create their own budget based on their own process, and they submit it to me for approval. I've recently received the budget for the next fiscal year. I haven't yet reviewed it. But I certainly will be doing so. What I suggest is that the Member speak to the board of the Tlicho Community Services agency about how to address the needs that she has in mind to improve the social determinants of health. Thank you.
Thank you for the answer. She is the Minister of Health and Social Services, so that's why I was addressing.
Can the Minister report on any progress achieved to reverse the poor health trends in the Tlicho region since the report was tabled over two years ago?
Yes, thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, this is an unusual occurrence, but I'm not sure which report the Member is referring to. But if she can tell me which report, then I can certainly come back to her with a response. Thank you.
Yes, thank you. That is the GNWT Health Status Report that was published in fall of 2019 which I tabled two days ago, and that's their own report that I am addressing. So that's why I'm asking what are they doing to fix the problem. Do they have any action plan? Do they have any what do they have? What are they doing to fix things in our region? Or not just in my region but in other regions as well, and which we heard from other Members addressing their issues.
So Madam Speaker, if the GNWT was to allocate their budget based on need, we should be seeing improvements in health outcomes over time, but this does not appear to be the case for people in my regions and other groups as well, because the problem have been addressing Members have been addressing the problems here.
Can the Minister explain how a budget to address health outcomes are allocated? How is the department assessing the needs of community and responding with appropriate levels of funding to address those needs? Thank you.
Yes, thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, we have a pot of money called the community initiatives fund. And what we ask communities to do is create their own wellness plan to identify the things they need in their community in order to be well and to be healthy. These wellness plans are on the Department of Health and Social Services website. They're funded annually. The funding can be carried over. The plans also are evergreen plans, meaning that they can change over time to meet the needs of the communities. And this year, we are going through an exercise where we are reaching out to each of the communities to have them assess their plan, whether it's working and if not, how it can be changed. Thank you.
Thank you. Final supplementary, Member for Monfwi.
Thank you. Does the GNWT have a specific and unique plan to address housing, crime, education, mental health, and addictions in my regions, in Tlicho regions? Thank you.
Yes, thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I'm not aware of a wholeofgovernment approach which would take in all the subject areas the Member mentioned, and we don't have a specific Tlicho plan. As a territorial department, we provide programs and services for the whole territory. We have quite a number of funds that are available by application from communities and Indigenous groups such as the ontheland healing fund, peer support, addictions and aftercare, suicide prevention, and so on. So there are a number of ways that communities can build up their own resources by making applications to these specific funds. And then in addition to that, of course, we spend the better part of our $600 million budget on healthcare that is for everyone. So that would include the health centres in the Member's communities as well as Stanton Hospital, the counselling programs I referenced earlier, specialist services, all the different components of health. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
