Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The ongoing concern of Quality Inn and patients having to be housed in this facility, it's been addressed by myself, my colleagues, the residents of the Northwest Territories, and the media. What is the Minister and her department doing to address this very important ongoing concern? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from the Mackenzie Delta. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker -- and thank you to the Member. You know, the issues with the boarding home, unfortunately, the increased travel that has happened, especially from the Beaufort Delta, I think in the last number it was almost 45, 50 percent increase in travel, which Keskorie who currently has the contract, their facility is unable to accommodate that. Even though they moved from that old facility to the new facility with more beds and more space, they still are unable to accommodate that. What they are doing, though, and they have been, is working with other hotels and they've been successful trying to get rooms in more other hotels as needed when the overcapacity is happening, but this is ongoing work. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I've been addressing this concern for quite some time, and it seems the Minister or department does not have the concrete answer. Maybe the answer's somewhere else; maybe it's in the communities or its residents. Will the Minister commit to follow suit with our neighboring territory Nunavut and take her department and hear the concerns of the communities and its residents of the Northwest Territories. Maybe the answer's out there. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member. And this issue is not new. If you think about the last government, I probably raised this on an ongoing scenario as well. And that's why, you know, we are not just doing a medical travel policy review. We are doing a medical travel -- a review of how we move patients and what is needed and taking into account all of the things that the Member has raised, many Members in this House have raised. This government and past governments, I think the one thing that we didn't expect was the issues that are arising around dental and that increase around that. There is ongoing negotiations right now with the department -- or with ISC on ensuring that we are being able to provide dental to those residents and coming up with ways to bring dental services back into the communities. However, this is ongoing and so the work is continuing. And like I said, in the short fix is that we do have Keskorie working with other hotels in Yellowknife trying to secure more than just the hotel that they have been able to secure. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Final supplementary. Member from Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'll leave my third question out, and I'll go back to my second question I asked. The question is the Minister willing to take her department out to the communities and get feedback from the communities and its residents? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I do commit to doing this as I also -- you know, with part of this medical travel piece, we are working -- you know, this is a conversation that comes up with -- at the Council of Leaders. It comes up in bilaterals with Indigenous governments. It comes up with constituents. So I have heard from many residents and these are all the things, as the Minister, that I'm taking in account while looking at the bigger -- the medical travel -- modernization of how we're moving patients in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member from Monfwi.
