Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Bell.

Mr. Speaker, thank you. They all get visits from RCMP members from the larger communities and the regional centres, but there are 13 communities that currently do not have detachments. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That is unacceptable in this day and age; 13 communities without RCMP officers. Not acceptable today in the Northwest Territories. Can the Minister work really hard with this Cabinet to get extra dollars to put community safety officers, community justice peace officers, special constables? That's crazy to talk about not having any special constables in the Northwest Territories. That's what saved the lives of the RCMP officers and they say there's no more justification for it? That's crazy. I ask the Minister again, go to his Cabinet, ask for some real dollars for the RCMP officers for those communities, 13 of them.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The challenge with providing officers and having a permanent presence in all our communities is that, as Members know, we need two in each community now. That's the labour standard. We think community constables, or whatever the program will become, makes a lot of sense and will be well used in the Northwest Territories. We'll continue to lobby the federal government in that regard. It's not about, at this point, coming up with more money from this government for officers. The feds pay the tab when it comes to capital. We are looking at capital for Sachs Harbour. We think we have a federal commitment there. So we're moving, Mr. Speaker, but we will continue to send the message that community safety officers make sense in the North, but they do have to be relevant and they do have to have some powers and be useful for our smallest communities. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Final supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I certainly support the Minister. I know he's been working very hard with his federal government of the Liberal government and now the Conservative government, and also in the last three years in this Assembly in terms of getting RCMP officers in our communities in the Northwest Territories. I again urge him and press him. There's a strong need to have officers in our communities. You know, we have to get creative. Get those communities that have no officers. Thirteen communities in the Northwest Territories. All the money will be in the North. It's a crying shame that we have this today in society here. We need officers in our communities. It's unacceptable, Mr. Speaker. Again, I ask the Minister to really press hard with his counterpart and this Cabinet to get some money, get the RCMP officers in our communities. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I agree with the Minister on this point.

I agree with the Member.

---Applause

A promotion. I agree with the Member, Mr. Speaker. I share his concern. It is of highest priority that we are able to establish some detachments in our smallest communities. There are communities that are very remote. It's difficult to provide and ensure safety. We know that there are weather concerns. So, yes, Mr. Speaker, it's a priority. We will continue to make sure the federal government understands that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. A couple of questions there. The Minister can answer one or both. Honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the majority of the recommendations were followed up on. I've asked the department to dig out the last report that was done in terms of reporting on that particular consultant's documents. I'd just like to point out as well that, yes, there are some issues that continue to be of great concern at Stanton, but we've also made significant investments and progress in the services there and I don't believe that they are the same, as extreme as they were back in 2001. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if the Minister had the opportunity to attend my constituency meeting two weeks ago, he'd understand that the scenarios and the level of concern at Stanton Hospital is, in fact, probably worse than it was in 2001, 2002, and something, Mr. Speaker, needs to be done. I'd like to ask the Minister, there's been some talk of a staffing review. We did an operational review in 2002. Recently, in April of this year, we've gone and done another staffing review of the same facility. I'm just wondering where exactly is this phantom staffing review. I've heard rumours that there's a draft of it somewhere. Where is it and what are you going to do to address the staffing issues at Stanton Hospital? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when we did a review of all hospital facilities across the Northwest Territories, we worked with Dr. Peache and the medical association to look at do we have the appropriate mix of doctors, not only Stanton but in all the other health facilities that have doctors. As we were doing that, it quickly became clear that we also needed a similar kind of review done with the nursing complement as well in Inuvik, Yellowknife, Fort Smith, Hay River and Simpson. So that review is looking at all those particular facilities to make sure that the mix is right for the type of services provided, for the type of shift work coverage that's required, and for the level of care that's provided in the different communities. There is a draft that has been done. It was reviewed and there were some gaps to the point where it was felt that it wasn't appropriate to release it until we had a complete document, and that work is now in its final stages. I have now just received a copy of the initial rough draft. I haven't had a chance to look at it yet, but the intention is to have that done by next month. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My colleague, Ms. Lee, made a point that it's not just the front-line nursing staff here. We're talking about maintenance, we're talking about laundry, we're talking about cleanliness, the janitorial, we're talking about top to bottom. There's something wrong at Stanton Hospital. The Minister has been the Minister of Health of Social Services for five years. Some of these problems, to me, are very systemic. Why can't something be done with the morale at this hospital and this institution that provides such a valuable service to this community and this territory? Why is it taking five years and why are we going to have to do another study? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there's also a lot of things that are right in Stanton, and I think there is a lot of good work being done. I've committed to the Member from Range Lake that we will set up a process where there can be consultation with the front-line workers to get feedback unit by unit on issues that may be out there. We are addressing a lot of the issues. For example, the janitorial contract has recently been rewritten and the standards increased. That is in the works. So we continue to work on this on a regular basis. This is not only a staffing review that's taking place in Stanton, but we're looking to make sure we have the adequate staffing complements in all the places that have hospitals and doctors, and it is a fairly complex undertaking. But like a lot of the work that was done with the facilities review, it's very important to get that work done in terms of how we define beds, the number of acute care beds, the number of community service beds, and we're doing all that work and it has lead to a lot of the decisions that have been made to tie in the long-term care as well as the development of what health services and hospital services are provided in the various communities. Thank you.