Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am becoming increasingly annoyed with the decisions made in the Department of Health. During the Deh Cho Tribal Council meeting in Hay River on September 9 through 11, a motion was passed that program funds and PYs for community health representatives should be administered by the band councils. Mr. Speaker, this was done in the belief that Ms. Cournoyea's government is committed to community transfer. In fact, her implementation plan for reshaping northern governments talks about, "community ownership of programs and services which are controlled by local people." Six months later her Minister of Intergovernmental and Aboriginal Affairs stood in this House on September 15 and stated that, "It has been my view from the beginning that aboriginal people have the inherent right to govern themselves. That includes everything which the government has the capacity to govern, legislate on and, perhaps, more. That has been my approach."
That was not the approach taken by the Department of Health when they were asked to consider the community transfer of the community health representative position. Mr. Speaker, the department's response to Chief Landry of Fort Providence was patronizing and it slams the door on any departmental consideration for this initiative. It states that because community health representatives perform an important health education function they must be part of a team and that this can only be accomplished if the program is administered within the Mackenzie regional health services. This means within the Department of Health, Mr. Speaker, within Yellowknife.
How dare those departmental officials make these comments to a Dene chief. How dare they assume that if CHRs report to the band they will be less effective as health educators or a less important component of a health team. Mr. Speaker, Dene look after their community health needs including health promotion and education. For hundreds of years before there was a Department of Health or a centre square tower, or even a Government of Canada, it is time that ....