Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, during the last session, I made a statement on the need for support for families who have challenged children, whom they are looking after in their own homes.

Subsequent to that, I did receive a response from the Minister talking about special needs support for families. It mostly was about respite care. I thank the Minister for that response.

Subsequent to that, I have had two more constituents come to me who are actually both qualified trades people, very much needed in the labour market in Hay River, both with families in the east, both with children with special needs and would like to move to Hay River. Apparently they have contacted the powers that be and have even, I think, contacted the Minister's office and been told that there is no comparable support available for their children here in the Northwest Territories. I understand from one of them that it was even suggested that perhaps they should stay where they are because that is where the financial support and resources are for their children.

Mr. Speaker, these people also were able to identify that there were comparable services available for them in Alberta. I want to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services, are we not anywhere close to being on par with other jurisdictions in terms of the support that we provide to families with children with special needs? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would be interested to get the specifics from the Member in terms of the feedback that these folks apparently received, especially if it was from Health and Social Services officials. It is not our practice to discourage people from moving to the North.

Mr. Speaker, it is my understanding that the services we provide for a jurisdiction of our size are comparable. While they could always use more money, we do attempt to meet all the needs of all our residents to the best of our ability with the resources we do have. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one of these families was able to provide me with a list of what they had received in their home province. If I can just quickly list a few of them: one-on-one qualified day home assistant, four hours a day, seven days a week; special day care for autism, five hours per day, five days a week; in-home medical assessment, once a week; special dietary needs; speech therapy and pathology; and also, professional massage therapy. This is for a child with autism.

Do we have any of those things available for children with autism in the Northwest Territories? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member has me at a disadvantage. She is quoting from a letter and a document that I have not seen, listing services at a very fast pace. I do not want to deflect the question, but she does have information that I do not have before me.

Mr. Speaker, I know that there is an autism society in the Northwest Territories. It operates out of Yellowknife and it is run by a number of very dedicated, informed parents. The programs my colleague listed off quickly do not sound familiar to me. I know that the issue of autism is dealt with mainly by the families themselves. They work with the schools. They work with the health and social services authorities in their respective areas. The main impetus for the autism society is in Yellowknife, where they have a significant number of children with autism. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that is very reassuring and I am happy for the people in Yellowknife, but these are people who want to move to Hay River. These are people who are in areas of work that we need in the industry that operates out of Hay River. I think the reason why none of these services I listed off sound familiar to the Minister is because none of them are available to children with autism in the Northwest Territories. This is a barrier to us attracting qualified people to work here. It is also a barrier to the children who are born and raised here in the Northwest Territories who do not receive this kind of help.

Maybe the Minister could tell me, what is available now at the present time to children with autism in the Northwest Territories, and not just in Yellowknife? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when it comes to the school system, I know there are accommodations and resources supplied to the students, one-to-one special needs assistance. I know that the school system is responsive. Depending on the degree of the autism, there are other supports provided through the authorities that are in place, with social workers and the nurses that may be there, and the other special needs people that may be available in the communities.

Mr. Speaker, if the Member wants to address the specific concerns of the folks she mentioned, I would be glad to look at that. Is this a barrier to people moving to the North? In some cases, if the needs are beyond our capabilities, that very possibly may be the case. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have three constituents, and I would be happy to share the specifics of the information with the Minister, but I have three constituent families right now in Hay River who are either contemplating not moving their families to Hay River or leaving Hay River because of the lack of support and services. I will share that specific information with the Minister, but does the Minister not agree that the services provided to these children in the Northwest Territories should be on par with any other jurisdiction in Canada? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I certainly agree that our reach should exceed our grasp and that is an ideal that we strive for, and that is something every year that we try to put in the budget to keep increasing our resources to improve the level of service in all areas, to all of our constituents. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we currently have 21 adults in southern facilities for various reasons. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I understand it, each health and social services board is responsible for placing residents from their region in an assisted living situation, if one is needed. As I understand it, with our small population, it is difficult for them to sometimes find three or four residents to put into one setting so they can make the cost reasonable to run these places. Authorities are often forced to make southern placements. What is the department going to do to address this situation?

Thank you, Mr. Dent. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we are in the process of finalizing a draft on the Continuing Care Strategy, which I mentioned in this House a number of times. It has a number of components that relate to home and community care, supported living, independent living and facility living. We are also constantly monitoring the placements down south. I recognize, and I think the health and social services system recognizes, that there is a need to better coordinate our efforts when we place our residents in southern facilities, be they children or adults.

We are also taking the steps, through this strategy, to come up with a way that is agreeable to the authorities and to the department so that as a system, we can better coordinate our efforts the same way we are trying to improve our coordination in the areas of recruitment and retention of health professionals.

We are aware that this is an issue and we are aware that we have people down in southern jurisdictions. We also want to ensure that as we contemplate repatriation, while some may be down there because there is no room and some of them are there for some very specialized reasons, we do it carefully on a case-by-case basis. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Dent.