Mahsi, Mr.

Speaker. I

think it is important to have that documentation. If there are changes, whether it be in housing, certainly the message will be relayed to the communities. The superintendents are working together. They do work under the boards. So all the boards will be notified, and all the staff will be fully informed of the changes that are coming, whether it be this fall or next year. There will still be a clear message on the specifics and also on the long-term strategy to deal with the housing crunch.

Thank you, Mr.

Lafferty. The

honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask questions of the Minister of Health and Social Services on the dental surgery, again, today.

I’d like to thank the Minister for coming to Hay River and taking the time out of her schedule to meet with the Hay River Dental Clinic — with the staff and the dentist there. The dentist in Hay River has been there for over 30 years — Dr. James Tennant. Hay River has been performing dental surgery for as long as I can remember. Obviously, for this backlog to have developed, there must have been a departure from that practice. I’m assuming that it had to do with the dispute with NIHB.

I’d like to thank the Minister for recognizing that while this financial issue needs to be settled, there are children who need to have this dental surgery.

I’d like to ask the Minister for clarity on this issue. Is she aware of any other dental practice in the Northwest Territories that is interested in undertaking dental surgery, other than Hay River?

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We do have the largest number of dentists in Yellowknife, and they would perform that procedure. But I do not have any other access proposal on the table to deliver this service, other than the one I received in Hay River during my recent visit.

Does the Minister consider it would be feasible, both logistically and financially, to have Hay River designated as a centre of program delivery for this need for dental surgery — to deal with not just the backlog that’s been referred to from the South Slave but also for the entire Northwest Territories?

I see that as a possibility for a number of reasons. One is that there have been — I should also state the reason why — dental surgeries, especially for children, being done in Hay River and Stanton. They’d have to make internal forces to stop those, because all authorities are under a deficit operating situation. This is one of those non-insured services. When compared to insured services, priority has to be given to the insured service.

In looking at the cost of doing these procedures in the Inuvik Hospital, Hay River Hospital and Stanton Hospital, Hay River Hospital’s cost is comparable to Stanton. It does cost a little bit more to do it there than Stanton, but we need to consider the fact that Stanton is running a constant overtime deficit, and they have lots of demands in that facility. I think, as a territorial government, if we’re looking at where the services can be offered…. If we have a situation where a community outside of Yellowknife could offer a service at a comparable cost and at a comparable level, and if it means an economic

spin-off in those communities, I think we should definitely consider that.

To the issue of prevention — which is still in keeping with the whole reason why we’re ending at this number of children who need dental surgery — how are we making out as a department and as a government in dealing with contracting dental hygienists who can work in the communities to educate and make parents aware of the kinds of things to avoid, to improve their children’s dental health?

Oral health and dental health issues, for children especially, are a huge issue for us. In my recent tours of Deh Cho region, in six communities, that was the most mentioned issue and one that surprised me. That’s something that I’m learning as the Minister.

In talking to the department, obviously, we have made a concerted effort to educate the people, especially parents with young children, that there are things that should not be fed in a bottle, which really impact children’s teeth and have a lasting impact.

Another thing is there are children who are born with what’s known as soft teeth. There are children with conditions such as FASD who, no matter at what age, even as young teenagers, need to be put to sleep to have dental surgery performed. There are a number of reasons why people in general, but especially young children, need to be put to sleep to have simple procedures, whereas this would not be required for adults.

Thank you, Ms.

Lee. Final

supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr.

Speaker.

Again, in keeping with the idea of prevention, so that we don’t have so many children ending up with this dire need for dental surgery — quite a major intervention, really, to have to get a general anaesthetic and have surgery — how are we doing on the uptake on contracts or positions? I’m not sure if everything is delivered by contract or if there are actual GNWT positions for dental hygienists. How are we doing in terms of vacancy, or uptake on contracts, to deliver these programs in the community? Would encouraging young people to pursue careers in this area to serve the North be something the department is working on?

Mr. Speaker, this is one area that suffers from problems with recruiting and retaining not only dental hygienists but dental therapists and contract service for dentists.

In Deh Cho region, even though they have a budget allocated for dentists’ visits, they have not been able to fill their contract. There were no operators in

the NWT who could take that on or were interested. They are paying for services from a dentist in Quebec, so they’re hoping to reinstate that.

We currently have only 34 per cent of 11 dental therapist positions filled. There are huge numbers of vacancies, and it’s not an area that lots of people are going into. It’s one that we need to continue to work on, because dental therapists are the ones who provide dental care in many of our communities where there are no dentists.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr.

Bromley. The

honourable

Minister responsible for Education,

Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr.

Speaker.

Certainly there are avenues that these individuals can turn to. There is our department, Education, Culture and Employment, the income support avenue; Health and Social Services, the counselling area; and through INAC, in the Greenstone Building, there is a representative out there as well. So we do have these.

Also, Mr. Speaker, there is an NWT interagency committee that’s been formed to deal with those individuals who are submitting their applications now, during the hard times that people are going through once they receive their payments. That committee will be meeting this fall to deal specifically with the outcome of the announcement and also with what’s happening to date.

Thank you for those comments from the Minister. I believe the Minister missed my question. It’s not really about counselling and so on. I’m aware of those many programs that are going on and the excellent, desperately needed services there.

What I’m asking the Minister is: is there an educational centre, a centre that is dedicated to profiling this part of our history so that school classes and the public — sort of in the way of a museum, say — could attend and learn about this part of our history and develop the context necessary for understanding the situation of many people in Canada?

Mr. Speaker, that was one of the questions raised by the Member for Nahendeh, I do believe. Part of the program has been delivered, I believe, in the past through northern studies and also the aboriginal curriculum programs that we do offer here in the Northwest Territories.

There is some curriculum that we utilize from the south, the First Nations schools out there. We do utilize those services here in the North, as well, to deliver to the students the impact of residential schools and going through the process.

So we do deliver. It may not be particularly our curriculum per se, but we are identifying that as part of the curriculum that we deliver through the Alberta jurisdiction.

Thank you for the comments from the Minister. That’s excellent to hear, very good to hear that there is some profile for this issue in our educational system.

Mr.

Speaker, my constituents and people are

contacting me, expressing an interest in a centre that’s dedicated to this that’s available to schools and the public as well. Would the Minister commit to working with partners to seek the resources that would develop an educational centre or even, for example, dedicate a room in the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre or some other museum-type facility in the Northwest Territories that would provide this service and profile this part of our history to the public?

Mr. Speaker, certainly that’s one of the areas I believe the committee that I just referred to — the interagency committee — will be discussing.

Also, it’s not only them; there are other parties that are involved. Dene Nation, of course, has been a key player in the process of the announcement of the Prime Minister’s statement, and also other agencies. So it’s not only us as the education area. There’s Health and Social Services, and there are NGOs in the community.

So we need to come together and highlight this important milestone that just occurred. The Member’s referring to a centre, whether it be a museum or other facility. I’m sure that will be the

key discussion, perhaps this fall. There will be ongoing discussion in that particular area.

I’m sure the Members may be involved in that area, and they’re certainly welcome to attend as well.

Thank you, Mr.

Lafferty. Final

supplementary, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thanks again for those comments. Will the Minister commit to taking a lead role in bringing this subject to the table of that interagency committee, in his role on that committee?

Mr. Speaker, we’ve been involved with the process of filling out the applications for the residential schools. Again, we need to work with the Dene Nation. If we as the ECE take the lead role, I need to consult with them. Certainly we’ll play a role in this process, whether it be the lead role or…. I need to get their consensus as well.

Like I said, Dene Nation played a huge role, and also the Assembly of First Nations. We at the GNWT will continue to work with them and provide any support that we possibly can. We’ll definitely be involved in that process. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr.

Lafferty. The

honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.