Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the acceptable wait times and reducing wait times is an issue that all jurisdictions are facing; in fact, working together with the other jurisdictions and the federal government to try to come up with a program that would reduce wait times people face throughout our systems. As for the Northwest Territories, I don't have the specifics and I'd have to get some detail on that, then I can provide that to the Member. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Yes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If the Northwest Territories doesn't have a policy that states quite clearly what acceptable levels of wait times are, then I'd suggest we get one immediately. Because my constituent has been suffering for three years, the Department of Health and Social Services' answer to that is to put him on another wait list to make him wait another two years. it's completely unacceptable, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, precedent has been set in other provinces across this country where if an individual has to seek medical attention outside the country they do so. When they come back, the cost of the medical treatment for that individual is covered by the province. I'd like to ask the Minister, could he have his staff at Health and Social

Services look into this practice that takes place in other provinces? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we already follow a similar pattern and process that other jurisdictions do. If a service is not available in our jurisdiction in the Northwest Territories, then we would set up a process where an individual can receive those services out of our jurisdiction. The majority of patients that move from the Territories, if we can't provide a service, would go through Alberta, sometimes into B.C. or other jurisdictions. As well, if there are not services available in Canada we would look at providing that service outside of Canada and being covered by our health care system. That is all within the system that is in place, and, again, the approvals have to be made and referrals made by the doctors. In this case it's not like the individual's been out there without seeing a doctor. There's been numerous visits, numerous levels of checks. Unfortunately the wait times in some of these other facilities are high because they are very specific in nature and they're a high level of specialty, and it's something that we continue to try to work with and come up with a solution. There have been solutions made; unfortunately not to the satisfaction of this individual. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister what steps he, as the Minister of Health and Social Services, can take for my constituent so that he doesn't have to continue to be on a wait list for a program in Calgary so that he can get some treatment. I'd also like to ask the Minister if in fact he can sit down with his staff at Health and Social Services to come up with a more effective game plan for the treatment of this individual. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. A couple of questions there. The Minister may answer one or both. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as the process works for referrals from one doctor to another, one jurisdiction to another, it requires having a doctor in our jurisdiction make that referral. As Minister, the process as established through our professionals is something that I would endorse. As for the department meeting, myself sitting down with the department to look at this specific case, I've begun that process to look at this. Ultimately again, as I stated earlier in another round of questions, I would work with the professionals in this field to see what we can do. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This individual's been in pain and suffering for three years. He's in the process of going to India, all the way to India, to get treatment for a condition in his back. Mr. Speaker, I want the Minister to make a commitment. It's been three years and I think it's an acceptable level of service if that individual has to take that step to go to India when he comes back that this government cover the medical portion of his visit to India so that he can get the help that he obviously can't get here in Canada. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, our process for dealing with patients who cannot receive care in Canada is one that's laid out. It's used by other jurisdictions as well. In this case there are programs available in Canada that can be accessed and I'm not willing to go into a blow-by-blow scenario of what's been done in this specific case. Much has been done and we will continue to work with this case to try and bring some conclusion to it. But, as Minister, I will not intervene and direct our medical staff to send individuals to different countries and so on. I will still be using the established practice that is in place but, as I already committed previously, I will sit down with the department to see what we can do in this case to try and help expedite that. But it's not a case of not being referred. We have had doctors in our jurisdiction make the necessary referrals to try and help this patient along. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Villeneuve.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. My questions are to the Minister responsible for Human Resources with respect to the Human Resources amalgamation. Just as I was stating in my Member's statement today, Mr. Speaker, my first question to the Minister is, the affirmative action policy since it was first mandated in 1989, there was a policy in there to put together an affirmative action advisory committee, which was an objective, independent committee that had a gender balance and a racial balance to oversee the operations of the affirmative action policy. I think if that committee was implemented when it was supposed to be implemented, Mr. Speaker, we wouldn't be here today talking about human resource equity or employment equity in the government. I think the percentage of indigenous aboriginal employees in the government hasn't changed over the past 10 years. It's been pretty constant and it's actually on the decline. The percentage of indigenous in management has also declined slightly over the past five years anyway.

I just want to ask the Minister, is there any appetite for the Human Resources department to set up an employment equity advisory committee that oversees the operations of the Human Resources department to ensure that the policies in that department are being followed up and that

the representative workforce that this government is committed to establish is being worked on? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. The honourable Minister responsible for Human Resources, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Being relatively new to the file, I know that I've talked to my colleague, the previous Minister, about the status of this and I understand that he'd gone to the standing committee with a proposal for moving to an employment equity process, but the committee isn't in favour of that. So clearly we're in a position where we have to take a look at the affirmative action plan and see if we can come up with something that Members of this House are supportive of, if we're going to make any changes. As things stand right now, the affirmative action policy is the one that governs the operations of this government and I will certainly look to work with Members of this House to see what we can do to improve on its results. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Villeneuve.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't recall the committee, I don't know if it was AOC or maybe the Social Programs committee wasn't in total favour of it, but I know the affirmative action policy as it stands today calls for an affirmative action advisory committee to oversee the affirmative action policy and make sure that the government is committed to developing a public service that is representative of the population of the NWT; namely, women in management and indigenous aboriginals in government, in the public service. So I just don't see what's wrong with having a totally independent, objective body to oversee the operations of our Human Resources department are to ensure that the government is building our public service that is totally representative of the population. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Not sure if I heard a question. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I was saying, the government had looked at the affirmative action policy and had agreed that it wasn't delivering on the results that were expected from it and had looked at other options, including moving to an employment equity position. That proposal was taken to the standing committee and proposed. We haven't actually heard formally back from the committee, but we had the sense that there wasn't support for it. If there's not support for a change in the policy, then we are looking at the existing policy. If there's a committee that's called for in the existing policy and that's what we're going to continue with, then I'll take a look at the policy and make sure that we're living up to its terms. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Villeneuve.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Okay. Well, let's review the policy again and we'll go over what was mandated in that policy. I'm pretty clear that there was an advisory committee that was supposed to be established. That's all I'm saying. I don't see why we would sway from having an objective body to oversee the operations like that. Just with respect to Yellowknife alone, the population of Yellowknife comprises of roughly 51 percent of aboriginal population here and the public service here in Yellowknife only comprises 14 percent of indigenous aboriginals in the public service in a community which comprises 51 percent aboriginals, Mr. Speaker. That's probably why there's a lot of people out there that are always, you know, especially aboriginal northerners who are saying they're not getting the consideration that's based on their merit or experience or their education...