Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Henry.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate that the Minister may not have that information available at his fingertips. Could I ask if the Minister would, through his department, assess the numbers of infant mortality rates in the Northwest Territories compared to the rest of Canada, and report back to the House, along with actions that his department are taking to try and reduce these figures? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Ng.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would be glad to report that back to the honourable Member and all the Members of this House. I can say that, with respect to some of the initiatives to try address generally, not just infant mortality rates, but some of the poorer health status indicators that we have, the Department of Health along with our partners in the social envelope are working on a number of initiatives and one of the major ones being early childhood intervention into trying to develop programs to provide funding at the community level to promote preventative measures that will hopefully lead to better overall health status indicators and better overall health of our constituents, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Oral questions. Mr. Erasmus.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is also to the Minister of Health and Social Services. It is concerning eye care in the NWT. Mr. Speaker, in my statement earlier, I forgot to mention that the only place to get your eyes checked in the north is Yellowknife. So, in other words we are servicing all NWT residents through our ophthalmology department here. I know the Minister does not wear glasses himself, so he has not had to go through this hair raising experience of getting a wrong diagnosis. I would like to ask the Minister if he could check into why there are so many people having wrong prescriptions, and if he could report back to this House. Thank you.

The Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Ng.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if there are concerns out there, and I agree with the honourable Member, if they are of that nature that he is alluding to, and there are specific complaints or concerns, I would be more than willing to take that up, and look into the matter and advise the honourable Member and the House accordingly of those problems and some corrective measures, if it were found that there were problems in dealing with issue, Mr. Speaker.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Erasmus.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will be getting people to submit the experiences they have gone through, just as information.

Mr. Ng.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will look forward to receiving those complaints and dealing with

them accordingly, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Oral questions. Mr. Roland.

The Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Ng.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I have indicated, we are proposing to withdraw the funds from the Alcohol and Drug Residential Treatment Program that is Delta House. I would repeat what I have said already, and I will say it again. If the Delta House board, or the community, finds some alternative arrangements that would be able to meet the funding that is currently within existing programs that we provide, whether it is through Health and Social Services or through other departments of this government, that I would be more than willing to assist them to finalize those arrangements, to try and meet the needs of trying to offset some of the impact of the withdrawal of funds from Delta House, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Roland.

Mr. Ng.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, once again, I would like to reiterate, for the record, that we are

not denying an accessibility of service to individuals that would need alcohol and drug treatment. I would say that the honourable Member has spoken to me about the possibility of holding a public meeting in the community of Inuvik to speak to the residents, and I am more than willing to do that. It is a matter of finding a suitable time that can accommodate myself and the honourable Member, given that, with the House sitting, there are a lot commitments here and with other activities that go on in respect to Nunavut leaders' meetings, and other leadership meetings, that take place over the course of the next few weeks, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Roland.

Mr. Ng.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will commit to attending a public meeting in Inuvik, and working with the honourable Member to try to find a suitable date. Thank you.