Thank you. To the motion. Mr. Gargan.

Mr. Chairman, Mr. Dent just referred to if an employee has a problem and he wants to deal with it because it is affecting his position, it's probably as a result of alcohol or something to that effect. There are programs within government for those employees who have those problems. They can go out and get treated for it.

My problem is that, again, we are feeding the bureaucracy. When I was referring to front line workers, I was referring to the nurses, home makers, people who look after shelters, alcohol and drug workers and those are the people that I'm more concerned about. Perhaps the health worker and social worker are affected indirectly, but the people who are directly affected are the ones that are not getting as much help. If anything, those are the target groups that should be getting it.

Thank you. I believe Mr. Whitford wants to add something after Mr. Dents replies to Mr. Gargan. Mr. Dent.

Thank you. Special committee member, Mr. Whitford.

Thank you. To the motion. Mr. Gargan.

Mr. Chairman, I don't know if this will help, but can I suggest an amendment to the motion?

Thank you. Do we agree? Yes, proceed Mr. Gargan.

Committee Motion To Amend Recommendation 17, Defeated

Just after hearing other Members, I think I understand what the intent of the motion is and the target group. I thought I would add to the motion, "An employee assistance program should be developed, and made available to health and social service front line workers such as home makers, safe shelter counsellors, alcohol and drug counsellors."

Thank you, Mr. Gargan. To the amendment to motion 16. Mr. Koe.

I am going to vote against that amendment because I believe the "health and front line social workers", as in the original motion, covers all the categories that Mr. Gargan is concerned about. The majority of our workers in health and social service areas are in categories that are funded by government. There are government agencies that get contributions. They are in our transitional houses, they are in the alcohol and drug centres, friendship centres, in day cares, wherever they are working. There may be community health workers and nurses.

Mr. Whitford has made the point that we heard in every community we went to that the majority of the people -- especially if there are one or two people on staff -- cannot even take time off. They can't leave the community because they are on 24-hour call. They can't take a day off or a weekend off, and it is especially hard. This government is very quick to recognize people who have drug or alcohol addiction problems. We send them to the different centres to get cured. But if you have stress or any type of mental problem they do not recognize it and assistance is slow to be made available to these people.

This is why we are saying, "Let's get on with it. Let's look at our workers out there and let's help them." Mahsi.

The proposed amendment is in order. Mr. Zoe.

Yes, Mr. Zoe. Mr. Zoe.

Thank you, Mr. Zoe. To the proposed amendment. Mr. Arvaluk.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. To add to Mr. Koe's statement a little bit, what we don't need is any addition to the bureaucracy on the approach we have been taking in trying to make some improvement to the front line workers. I think Mr. Patterson talked about that a year ago in Iqaluit, in how poorly they are treated in comparison to other civil servants. In that case, I will not be voting for the amendment.

Thank you, Mr. Arvaluk. To the amendment. Mr. Dent.

Thank you. To the motion. Mr. Gargan.

Mr. Chairman, it's fairly obvious that this Dr. Wezelman who wrote, interprets from the workers...his wife is a social worker. I would think front line workers would mean different things to that to everyone in the north. For this doctor, it means a social worker. Maybe for the nurses, it means the nurses. For the communities, it may be mean something else. The whole purpose of our thoughts would be clear and definite that these are the people who we're suggesting are identified as front line workers. The way it's written right now, leaves this open for interpretation.

If the motion is defeated, it really doesn't bother me that much, but it might bother the alcohol worker, Lady Spencer, the home maker, the alcohol counsellor or the school counsellor. No one has copies of these in the communities. In order for clarification, I would think that adding something like this would put to rest my fears, as well as fears of the community, of exactly what we mean by that.

Thank you. To the proposed amendment. Mr. Dent.