(Translation) Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Another question to the same Minister responsible for Health and Social Services. For the last 30 or 40 years, Inuit in the communities have gone to Montreal, Toronto as well as Quebec for medical reasons. A lot of Inuit have passed away while they were in these cities. I wonder if the Department of Health and Social Services might be able to be in a position of support in having these bodies shipped back to their original communities, these remains from the cities I have mentioned? Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (Translation ends)
Debates of Oct. 23rd, 1997
Topics
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 90
Tommy Enuaraq Baffin Central
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 90
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 90
Kelvin Ng Kitikmeot
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This government did not assume responsibilities for Health and Social Services until 1988 with the health transfer agreement from the federal government. I cannot speak on past individuals that may have been deceased outside their home communities, 30 or 40 years ago. It was a different government's responsibility in respect to the medical services for those individuals. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 90
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 90
Tommy Enuaraq Baffin Central
(Translation) Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for your answer, Mr. Minister. My last question will be with regard to the Baffin House in Montreal. This Baffin House is used by a lot of people from the Baffin region. My question is, who would be responsible for managing it? Would it be the Baffin Health Board or would it be run by your department here in Yellowknife? Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (Translation ends)
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 90
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 90
Kelvin Ng Kitikmeot
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman the Baffin Regional Health and Social Services Board have responsibility for Baffin House. Thank you.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 90
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 90
Jane Groenewegen Hay River
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We have heard a lot over the last few days and weeks, about the increasing responsibility of community and regional health boards with respect to health services. Given all that responsibility that is undertaken at that level, can the Minister identify for me some of the initiatives the department works on, the department has retained, that they continue to do. It leaves one wondering what the department does if everything is devolved to the regional and communities level. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 90
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 90
Kelvin Ng Kitikmeot
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, we provide right now a lot of the support mechanisms, cross board wise throughout the territories, provide some of the planning in support of the boards as well and would undertake a lot of the initiatives of support issues that boards themselves could not undertake. If there are specific examples, that is particularly in the area of recent initiative, I think, is the human resource requirements. We are trying to staff up some of the position vacancies, particularly in the human resources support area, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 90
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 90
Jane Groenewegen Hay River
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Quite a number of issues have come up in the House over the past two years which I am interested in knowing what progress has been made on them, and we have asked the questions and from time to time we get answers but they are items, which I would assume the department themselves would undertake. Things like coverage for chiropractic services, repatriation of northerners who are in southern institutions, whether they be health facilities or institutions for the mentally challenged or troubled children, those types of repatriation. Another one that has been recently in the media is the entire issue of midwifery. These are the kinds of things that come up from time to time, but we have not heard what happens to them. We bring them up, we have ideas and we present them in the House. Are there ongoing efforts within the department to examine and address some of these ideas that are suggested? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 90
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 90
Kelvin Ng Kitikmeot
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I can say generally that they are. We have to recognize there are different priorities placed on different initiatives. We have a limited amount of human resources as well within the department, and right now the focus has been on trying to finalize some of the relationships in respect to boards and delivery of services and ourselves as a ministry function, preparing for division and the establishment of two departments. Quite frankly, trying to establish the monitoring,
evaluation facets of the department with respect to the board because of recent developments, as a result of some of the decisions of boards that have caused some concern amongst some of the constituents. Thank you.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 91
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
October 22nd, 1997
Page 91
Jane Groenewegen Hay River
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Some of the things the Minister has outlined for us sounds like they are very technical tasks. They sound like they are tasks, as he suggested, related to process, division, assigning of duties, monitoring and those sorts of things. As a Minister, I know he is well aware, given his portfolios, we have major pressing social problems in the Northwest Territories. I have to wonder, who is on the front line of these concerns? If it is not the department, if it is not the bureaucracy at the headquarters and regional levels, I have to wonder who is driving the matching of resources to these serious social problems which we talk about quite frequently. Who does the Minister see that responsibility lying with? Thank you.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 91
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 91
Kelvin Ng Kitikmeot
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, it would lay with the Department of Health and Social Services in a ministry function, I think. That is what we have had to do quite frankly as I indicated in my opening comments is try to maintain first of all that there is some stability in the system in respect to funding for Health and Social Services boards in the area of treatment first with the programs that we had given that we had to undergo some changes in that scheme of things. But as we did that and tried to identify and having, after stabilizing that the funding and certainty out there and the treatment programs, tried to look at areas for reinvestment towards preventative programs that will show some long term improvements towards improving social conditions throughout the Northwest Territories; we cannot do this in isolation of other social envelope partners, as we know. That is why there is the social envelope within this government where we have to include the planning of the Department Education, Culture and Employment; the Department of Justice and the Housing Corporation in respect to their programs as well that lead to the overall improvements of social conditions in general, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 91
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 91
Jane Groenewegen Hay River
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Minister's portfolios are very much people portfolios. We are talking about some various serious human needs here in the Northwest Territories when we look at Justice and at Health and Social Services. We are not talking about roads, pipelines or airports. We are talking about very personal, human needs. There is something that I have always kind of wondered about when I look at various departments, and that is where is the passion and the compassion for the needs that are out there. I do not expect the Minister or the deputy Minister to carry all this themselves, but when I look at the needs in the Northwest Territories, I feel very strongly about them. As I said, these are very much people portfolios. How does the Minister feel about his role, his portfolios and his responsibilities? Thank you.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 91
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 91
Kelvin Ng Kitikmeot
Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Obviously, I take my role quite seriously in that I know there are people departments as the Member suggests and any decisions that are made on our programs impact people no matter which spectrum of category they may be whether they are low income, high income or middle income; no matter what ethnic origin they have. I think in trying to address the issue about direct liaison with the issue of how you recognize the compassion and the needs at a local level. I think in devolving the program delivery responsibilities to the regional level where you have a community representation on those regional boards, direct input from the community on how the programs are structured and delivered, and you have a point of contact in the community from the public at large directly to the board of management. That makes an impact on the programs and how receptive and flexible those programs are in recognizing the needs of the constituents that they serve. Thank you.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 91
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 91
Jane Groenewegen Hay River
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I believe that we need to raise the awareness of the issues that we can become accustomed to that plague our people in the Northwest Territories. I think we need to bring those out to the front and get people thinking, talking and working at all levels to address those needs. With respect to that, we do see some territorial-wide campaigns that are initiated by the various departments. I think of such things as some of the advertising that takes place on television and radio with respect to HIV, the recent video on FAS/FAE and anti-smoking advertising which I assume is partially funded by the Department of Health and Social Services. I have heard Members of this House asking for such a broad-based campaign with respect to breast cancer screening. Could the Minister identify for me what some of those territorial-wide initiatives and priorities are that the department is working on right now? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.