Item 5, Oral Questions. Mr. Ningark.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In order to witness that women are not forgotten in this area of workers' compensation representation, I will ask the question directed to the Minister Responsible for the Status of Women.

Mr. Speaker, the Minister knows the council and the Women's Directorate have been making efforts to encourage adequate women representation on boards and agencies across the N.W.T. Will the Minister ask the council to look into the recent absence of women representation on Workers' Compensation Board? Thank you.

Ms. Cournoyea.

Yes, Mr. Speaker.

Item 5, Oral Questions. Mr. Gargan.

Mr. Patterson.

Mr. Speaker, the review of the workers' advisor position and the recommendations of the Standing Committee on Agencies, Boards and Commissions have resulted in the creation of a permanent position within the government for the workers' advisor. This was recommended by the Standing Committee on Agencies, Boards and Commissions since the workers' advisor had, up until recently, been an ad hoc, month-to-month contractual arrangement that was certainly less than satisfactory in view of the important role of that position.

Mr. Speaker, that review also resulted in a revised job description for the workers' advisor and I think maybe the best way to answer the Member's question would be to commit to providing Members with the revised job description of the workers' advisor which has been developed since the standing committee met. Thank you.

Item 5, Oral Questions. Supplementary, Mr. Gargan.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Although public information has been one of the stated responsibilities of the workers' advisor for some time, it is absolutely incredible that neither the board nor the Minister has set aside a specific budget for this purpose. Will the Minister indicate whether or not the arrangement has been made to provide adequate funding to support the public awareness mandate of the workers' advisor?

Mr. Patterson.

Mr. Speaker, up-to-date, the workers' advisor has been supported by a commitment of approximately $100,000 per year from the W.C.B. I am told by the present workers' advisor that there have not been requests for that person to travel to regions. There have been requests made to me and I have worked with W.C.B. staff to ensure that those requests for assistance in the regions have been dealt with and sometimes they have not been requests on appeals or matters that the workers' advisor would ordinarily address.

To answer the Member's question, the budget of approximately $100,000 has been provided to the workers' advisor and, as far as I know, there has not been a specific allocation from that budget to cover travel to the regions. However, the new job description does address that issue and I am also working actively with the board to have a funding agreement in place which will spell out more precisely the financial support to be given to that office and may identify a separate budget to deal with that particular concern. Thank you.

Item 5, Oral Questions. Item 6, Written Questions. Mr. Nerysoo.

Thank you. I am seeking unanimous consent to return back to Item 5, Oral Questions, please.

The honourable Member is seeking unanimous consent. Are there any nays? There are no nays. Please proceed, Mr. Nerysoo.

I did have my hand up there. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This question is for the Minister responsible for the Workers' Compensation Board. Mr. Speaker, the Standing Committee on Agencies, Boards and Commissions expressed concern, serious concern, about the failure of the W.C.B. to establish a profile outside Yellowknife. You know, the Standing Committee realized that the volume of claims generated from outside the Fort Smith Region would not justify the establishment of regional offices but the committee did recommend a novel approach which was subsequently supported by a motion of this House.

The committee recommended that the W.C.B. should establish agreements with the health and hospital boards to identify a health care official who could act as a regional resource person in dealing with Workers' Compensation matters. To date, this particular matter has not been dealt with, nor has the Minister made any announcements about steps they have taken to implement this recommendation. So, could the Minister indicate what action has taken place since the June, 1992 report that recommended that the W.C.B. should establish M.O.U.s with the regional health and hospital boards to provide resource and support of services to clients outside Yellowknife?

Mr. Patterson.

Mr. Speaker, the matter of a presence of the Workers' Compensation Board in the regions is of concern to me. I am pleased to inform the Assembly that I have actively been working with the Department of Safety and Public Services and the staff of the W.C.B. to develop a protocol which will allow the field presence of the Department of Safety to be better utilized in providing safety education and training in cooperation with the W.C.B. in the field. I recognize that I am avoiding the Member's specific question about protocol with regional health boards, but because of the rate increases, the increases in accident severity in the Northwest Territories in recent years, it has been recommended to me that safety training and education and improved safety inspections are a critical matter that must be dealt with even in advance of anything else. As far as the Department of Health is concerned, Mr. Speaker, I can tell the Member that the department's first priority is to work with the W.C.B. on the recommendation that there be northern based rehabilitation services provided for injured workers, and that we stop the expensive practice of sending injured workers to the south for this kind of treatment when we could probably offer this kind of service in the north. That has been actively worked on, Mr. Speaker. As far as the matter that the Member specifically referred to, I have no progress to report to date for the reasons I outlined. Thank you.

Supplementary, Mr. Nerysoo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It only seems natural that health or occupational therapy matters would be a matter dealt with by the Department of Health and not the Department of Safety and Public Services. I would like to ask the Minister if he, being responsible for both the Workers' Compensation Board and the Department of Health that surely the process for building these agreements should be easy to facilitate, so can he say clearly in this House why he has failed to take any significant action in responding to this important committee recommendation?

Mr. Patterson.

Mr. Speaker, I believe that the crisis regarding accident severity and the rates of the Workers' Compensation Board has been a predominant preoccupation of both myself and the board since the A.B.C. committee's report was laid down. As I said, the emphasis on safety and inspection, safety education and safety initiatives has been the prime focus because of the rates, cost and severity of accidents. I do not want to give the Member the idea that nothing is happening with regard to health. As I said, the department has been working actively with the W.C.B. on repatriating a rehabilitation service. That will save the board money. It is being worked on, Mr. Speaker. I just do not have any final result to report in the short months the matter has been under way.

Supplementary, Mr. Nerysoo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My one concern, Mr. Speaker, with regard to the matter of considering repatriating services or occupational health services and rehabilitative services is the notion that Yellowknife is the only area that is going to provide the service. I think I would categorically argue that if you are going to build other hospitals in the Northwest Territories, this government and this Minister should be utilizing those services. The closer to home for these patients the better it is. I want to ask the Minister if he is prepared to send out memos or letters to the health boards to ask for their advice as to how they might in a proactive matter respond to this particular recommendation?