Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you, Minister, for your response. You know, those are the comments that I hear from my constituents in the community where there are different types of care when we have these healthcare cards. So what I hear is that the military is treated with that same healthcare card like everybody else, but they're treated a little bit different because of -- maybe because they're with the military here in Canada. And then you got the other one that is the GNWT employees that, you know, they pay into a better healthcare system. And then you got the -- you know, the basic healthcare card for everybody in the community. So what I mean by that, Mr. Minister, is that there's -- or Madam Minister, is that, you know, like, the GNWT gets a full meal coverage; they get their hotel coverage; the car rental coverage, etcetera. But then, you know, we got my members that are, you know -- that are just -- that don't pay into this GNWT plan, then they get the basic minimal coverage from health on the, say for example, the food. They get -- I don't know. They said they get a day -- I don't know. $20 a day or whatever it might be. But, again, it's just -- it's just a different type of service. And then so maybe if the Minister could help maybe clarify that so I understand it. Thank you.

Thank you. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Yes, thank you, Madam Chair. I just note that the supplementary health benefits of the budget is the place where the medical travel budget is located. Medical travel is for people who are referred south for service. That is the purpose of it. So if you're unable to obtain health care in the Northwest Territories, medical travel will get you to the south to get that care. I -- the healthcare cards are -- there is one kind of card for every NWT resident. I am not sure what the Member is referring to in saying that there are different cards f or people in different levels of government. I'm not sure what that's about. So if he can clarify that, maybe I can try answering it. Thank you.

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to talk a little bit about some of the issues I have in my riding. I've been -- as you know, I've been dealing with the majority of my calls are coming from my constituents are medical travel and housing. And this year has been overwhelming. I just wanted to share a story with you about a member -- a constituent member who went south from Fort Resolution to go visit family. And when he got south, they were there for a few days and then he had a massive heart attack. And he had to be hospitalized in Edmonton at the Royal Alex Hospital. And anyways, he got the care that he needed and that kind of thing and it worked out that, you know, he was able to recover enough to travel back to Fort Resolution.

But the thing is that the problem he ran into was, you know, the family made a request to see if he could get some medical travel assistance to get these guys to come back to Fort Resolution. And, you know, I've been working with the department to see what they could do to help and -- but, again, they only could go so far because of the policy. And at the end, you know, it's really disheartening because when we try to help and do as best we can and then we're bound by policies and then at the end when this family member -- when his wife couldn't get their way back to Edmonton -- from Edmonton to Fort Resolution, they were told that well, you got yourself down there, you got to get yourself back. And it's so troubling for me because it makes you really wonder, you know, this policy that we have in places is disturbing.

Having said that, though, you know, we do have a healthcare card. You know, we all could make an application to get a healthcare card and, you know. So sometimes you wonder why we have healthcare cards if this particular constituent in Fort Resolution has a healthcare card that's valid, who resides in Fort Resolution but just went all the way to Edmonton to visit family and has a massive heart attack, yes, the hospital paid -- sorry, the health card covered off his surgery and everything else but they wouldn't help with medical travel. That's one.

The other one is, you know, the healthcare card system here in the Northwest Territories, I think it's getting to the point now where, you know, level one healthcare card to me, the way I see it, is that in my mind is that we do have the military that is treated probably the top of the list in terms of healthcare card -- health services. And then you got GNWT employees who pay into the system to get these extra benefits. And then we got my constituents that just have the basic healthcare card that is left out and it's -- to me it's, you know, disturbing, and but at the same time I just want to maybe let the Minister know that if there's a way -- I'm not sure how far are we in this medical travel review, and maybe you could just update me on where things are at with that. Mahsi.

Thank you. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Yes, thank you. So the bed availability, that would be subject to triage like all of the health services. So if you have somebody detoxing from alcohol, that's a life and death situation. So the triage there, the triage score would be high versus somebody who would not be feeling the same effects of withdrawal.

I think that providing people with choices is the most important thing. When I toured the treatment centres in 2018, I came away having met people who were happy to be away from their community, their triggers, their -- you know, their colleagues who were kind of partners in misery. So I think that there are others, of course, who would prefer to stay here. So having choices is really important. And, you know, there have been some preliminary conversation with the NWT Council of Leaders about what a regional approach to this could look like. And some regions, as you know, have treatment facilities. Like, the Gwich'in have the Gwich'in healing camp.

So the community funds can be used to set up detox. If there was a group that was willing to take that on, it's possible to spend the money on that. I recognize that that's a difficult period for everybody between the commitment to sober up and actually doing it while they're waiting for some kind of external support. That is certainly a key time. So it would be worth trying that and maybe in your region because these funds are Indigenous government led that K'atlodeeche First Nation might be interested in trying something like that.

So I think there's a lot of scope here for new ideas and approaches to best meet the needs of people, and we've been trying to change along with the new approaches, for example, by funding the Northern Wellness Warriors Program, which brought 15 Indigenous northern people into the counselling workforce. And as you may know, they're going to have another group go into training this fall, and the training will be delivered in the North. So we need to keep working in this area knowing that the needs are great and that there are good approaches out here to try and help people. Thank you.

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you, Madam Chair. And I apologize to the Minister, I might have embellished a bit there when I said good luck. So I apologize for that. But, you know, it is tough for, you know, people who are looking for detox when there are no dedicated beds. They are put in the health centre and they may -- they may or they may not be provided a bed. But they need that support, especially when they decide it's -- you know, they want to be there. And some of them will go in, I know, and they will maybe last a day and they'll get out again and go right back to what they were doing.

The other thing that I noticed as well and -- is that -- and I think that would really benefit people who are looking at detoxes. We need probably additional -- or more Indigenous people, you know, providing services to those that are looking for it. Because I find that, you know, even with myself, you know, when I'm dealing with the people that are, you know, on the street or homeless, I think that, you know, I'm hoping and I sense that they feel comfortable with me and they actually kind of listen to me probably a little more than they would to somebody else. So I think it's important that, you know, we take that cultural aspect into play when we're trying to provide these services.

But, you know -- and I understand we have -- you know, we -- you know, not having a treatment centre here -- and I know that even if we had one, like the Minister said, there'd only be a certain number of beds. We're trying to accommodate everybody, and it won't happen. So we have to do something different, and that's in providing the beds down south. I've got no problem with that. I know some of the people I talk to like to go south, and you know, it's away from everything; it's away from, you know, some of the people they know. And I know others don't want to go. But at the end of the day, we do have access to detox beds in the south and treatment centres. We also have -- we have -- you know, we have access to programs as well in the territories and, you know, we try and encourage people to go to those. But I think at the end of the day, it's that -- it's that period between detoxing and waiting to get out.

Like, I had talked to one guy the other day and I know he's going to -- he says he's going to treatment. And -- but he says he's going to drink as much as he can until he actually goes. And -- but when he comes back he says he's going to be -- that's it, he's finished. And I'm hoping because I told I'd keep him, you know -- I'd make sure that, you know, I would push him not to drink anymore. So it's just that -- it's just those lapse -- those lapse in time or the -- you know, the time in between, you know, actually getting into a bed, detoxing, and then waiting for your time to get into a facility. And that's -- that's kind of where that relapse happens and other issues come up and they have time to think about it, they feel a little bit better and they feel like they don't need it. So I think somehow we've got to -- we've got to close that gap in time and try to get people out sooner than later. Thank you.

Thank you. Member for Hay River South.

Yes, thank you. I'd like to answer a number of different points the Member made. So starting with the wait times, the average wait time for a bed in a southern treatment facility is 23 days. We don't contract dedicated beds. 23 days is, in most cases, less time than people waited to get into Nats'ejee K'eh because Nats'ejee K'eh ran one month of women, one of men, one month of women, one month of men. So if you applied -- let's say you're a woman and you applied on week two, you would be waiting six weeks to get into Nats'ejee K'eh. So the wait times, if anything, are better than they used to be.

Nobody goes into a health centre and says they want to detox and told to go home and good luck to you. That is not a thing. Not every person detoxing requires a bed. For example, people who are detoxing from opioids need opioid antagonist therapy. And there are 50 plus people in Hay River taking that therapy. So it's a replacement for the opioid, and more in Yellowknife, another 50 in Yellowknife who are doing that.

So the detox required really depends on the substance that the person is addicted to. But nobody gets told good luck. That would not be an appropriate response from the healthcare staff. The other thing I want to mention is that we had a request for proposals out to have communities develop aftercare programs, specifically transitional housing programs for people to live in when they come back from treatment.

We had responses from four communities, including Hay River. The models are due by the end of this month. They're be reviewed, and then the models will be funded as pilots in the next round of business plan planning. That's my understanding. So we are trying to provide a robust approach, knowing that this is an area that people are having concerned about, especially where it is literally a life and death situation as it is with the poisoned drug supply in Hay River.

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to go and talk a bit about addictions recovery. In Hay River, you know, we know that we've had a number of people who have passed away due to overdoses, and then we've had some from the community who also passed away that they weren't in the community at the time. So we probably had at least ten. And it's -- you know, it's a big issue and it continues on because personally, like I've taken people to the health centre to, you know, to look for detox services. But, again, like the deputy minister said, there's no dedicated beds. You may not have a doctor or a physician on staff and so they're basically just told to go home and maybe come back later. And that's a big issue.

The other problem that we're having as well is that, you know, we talk about treatment, and we just don't have -- we don't have the facility here. We do have facilities down south. But the wait time, that's the part that's -- that is the killer, I guess, is people, you know, in between -- actually if they're lucky enough to detox and then by the time they go to treatment, they probably relapsed a number of times. And then that's the other issue. You know, we have no place for people who might think they're going to relapse, nowhere to go and get support for a day or two.

So I'd like to just ask the Minister how many treatment beds do we have available in the south for northern people? Are there a dedicated number of beds in treatment centres down south, or are we just put on a waitlist like everybody else? Thank you.

Thank you. Member for Hay River South.