Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman we have heard on a number of occasions about work that has been done by previous governments, trying to make a difference when it comes to the health and social well-being of the residents of the Northwest Territories. This particular one was started in the 13th Assembly when Members of that Assembly requested the government look into health practices of the departments and boards in the Northwest Territories.
I think we have to do a little history on this process. For example, one of the terms of reference is to seek recommendations in four specific areas, one of those being governance.
If you look at the system that existed when the Government of the Northwest Territories was first created, there was a central agency that took care of health and social services for the entire Northwest Territories. Over the years, it has slowly devolved to communities and regions. For example, the health boards do a large portion of the delivery of the programs the department was once responsible for. One can always argue there is more work that needs to be done in that area to pursue the further devolution of responsibilities. We have to look at having community representatives, whether it is education boards or health boards, representing the department at the community and regional level.
Those areas still need to be worked on and approved. For example, on health boards, the majority of those positions are appointed by the Minister. There are numbers changing where communities are requesting to take over that responsibility and join with the district education authority, and have those positions elected. I think that is definitely a step in the right direction.
There is still much work to be done in that area if we are going to improve on it. We will need to work closely with the boards. For example, it was a problem to some degree in the 13th Assembly, when Members of the House would question the Health Minister about certain activities that were happening in a community or region. There were, at different times, a statement that this would have to be checked with the boards first before a response could be made.
In my past role as a Minister in that department, I know that at the end of the day, the buck stops with the Minister. This has to be clarified. What roles do departments play versus boards? We have given a fair amount of authority to communities and regions. Accountability also has to go with that. There is such an array of issues when it comes to something as big as heath and social services. I think we are going to have to take it step by step, but I believe some areas can be clarified early on and acted on because they have been raised again and again.
Governance is one of those areas. We are going to have to make clear to people some of the changes that have happened as an impact of devolution. For example, In the area of income support, communities have taken it on at one point but returned it back to this government because the negative decisions that had to be made at the community level were very stressful. There are pros and cons to this. As we slowly develop as the Northwest Territories and continue to pursue higher goals, we will come up with a system that is more appropriate for the people of the Northwest Territories.
We have to get on with it, we have to move forward. The title of this document is very clear, Our Communities, Our Decisions, Let's Get On With It. The Minister has even made comments in the area that it is a very appropriate title. I hope the department is going to move on a lot of these areas once we receive clarification on a number of issues.
There are areas in governance where they talk about moving the authority down. How do you do that in light of some of the concerns in the communities now, where that process is not working? How do you give authority down when at the end of the day, the buck stops at the Minister and the Minister has to respond to Members in this House? That is how many people feel. The last step in the process seems to come back to this House when there are concerns raised in the community and it is questioned in this House. One of the responses is that it has to be clarified with the board first before any formal response can be given. That is an area we are going to have to improve on.
Mr. Chairman, the roles of the boards and how you establish those health and social services boards is vital. For example, in my region there used to be 14 members on the health board, one representative from each community. That cost a lot to bring those people together to go through the business of the health board. One of the ways of changing was to try to use the aboriginal organizations, the Gwich'in organization, the Inuvialuit organization and the town councils of Inuvik and Norman Wells. We would try to use those organizations and do work to reduce the size of the board so the work can be done, and to use those organizations to spread the information. We have heard a number of times in this House that this is not the best process, as it continues to run into problems.
Information flow, as we heard, is a common theme, not only in the government, but specifically in the Department of Health and Social Services. The Minister herself has said the department can do better work in the area of getting information out to the public. Get out some of the positive news, which is very rare in the Department of Health and Social Services. We found on many occasions the news you hear coming from Health and Social Services is more of a somber nature. The name that was given to this department behind closed doors or in committee was the department of pain and suffering. That seems to be the issues you are dealing with. Every decision you make affects the lives of individuals in the Northwest Territories.
We have heard of the medical travel situation. I was a member of the committee when we first sat down and were told there could be savings in the area of medical travel. That was our very first budget. Unfortunately, six months out of the gate, we were informed that they did not meet the targets. They overspent six months into the budget. How do we clarify those? They thought they had the answer back then, and it did not work. I am aware the boards have done a study on medical travel. I would like to get a copy of that report.
We get into the area of programs and services that are delivered in communities and regions. We heard the Minister agreeing with a Member here on combining Education and Health and Social Services. We, as members of the Social Programs Committee, heard on a number of occasions the concerns raised because of legislation that is in place that prevents staff from Health and Social Services working with staff from the education department because of privacy of certain types of information. Although it is the same client working with one government, it seems legislation is set up, that says no, this information is particularly good for ourselves and we cannot share that. When in fact, the client is working with the same government. I think that needs to be looked at.
In the area of special needs, we heard the Minister agree there are 30 percent of classrooms with special needs. I believe Inuvik was the one where they had a specialist come up and do a series of tests in that area, mainly in FAS and FAE. Can the Minister inform us on whether or not that has actually been formally accepted? There was some difficulty with the previous government accepting that information. But we are hearing that number being used here. It would be good to know this is an accepted form of testing, because there were considerations and difficulties of getting that accepted.
A lot of the comments that come forward implied the tests that are out there are very expensive with unclear results. You will not start getting clear answers until you pull a birth mother into the picture and do some work there. I do not know if the department has gone that far. It would be nice to know and to clarify the situation because there is a definite need to get clear information out there. We need to say yes or no. Do we accept the situation with the tests that are out there so other regions can use that kind of test and get on with the job? As the report says, let us get on with it. I will leave that with the Minister. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.