Mr. Speaker, no, that statement was not meant to suggest that there are changes to boards of management. What we are trying to do is tighten the provisions in our contribution agreements that we have more

rigorous accountability back and forth between the authorities and the departments.

Also, I should make it clear to the Member that I presented this Foundation for Change Action Plan to the Standing Committee on Social Programs as preliminary discussion and we will continue to update the members in committees so there will be no surprises, changes or anything like that happening. We just wanted to start the discussion. Thank you.

I thank the Minister and I do appreciate that it is an ongoing document -- the Foundation for Change -- and that the committee has been involved in it. Maybe, you know, now that the Minister couldn’t see the light before, maybe she does see the light.

I wanted to ask the Minister: When the Foundation for Change was produced, were there consultations with stakeholders in the health and social services community at the time that the document was developed? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, just to be clear, I looked for the light to come on, I just couldn’t see it because the sun was on it.

---Laughter

I know...It’s Friday. Mr. Speaker, in terms of the Foundation for Change Action Plan, it is a rolling document, it’s a consultative document and we’re talking with the Members. I know our officials have been discussing the plan with the CEOs. I’ve invited chairs of all of the authorities to come to Yellowknife so we can have more in-depth dialogue on that document. On June 13th we’re going to have

a meeting with all of the chairs. We plan on consulting widely, but we have just begun that process. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to start my questions by thanking the Minister of Health and Social Services for her recent visit to Hay River and the opening of the assisted living facility in Hay River. It is a wonderful addition to our community and to the North, in fact, because it will serve clients on a territorial basis and it is a much appreciated and added infrastructure and presence in our community.

Mr. Speaker, in attracting or screening, I suppose, the applicants for the clients who will be cared for in that facility, an interesting question has arisen. When someone who lives in the Northwest Territories goes to Alberta prior to us having

specialized services to meet their needs, and they are there for a number of years, what has happened in some instances is that, in fact, they have become Alberta residents by virtue of the length of time that they have stayed there and the support services and financial support they have received from the Alberta government. Now, when those clients may wish to apply to be repatriated to the Northwest Territories where they are from, this is the glitch: they’re no long considered NWT residents. How does the department plan to deal with that issue? Thank you.

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

Mr. Speaker, I’m not sure if that’s entirely the case, because I think all jurisdictions try to make sure that the residents that they take in from elsewhere remain the residents of the jurisdictions they come from so that they could bill. For example, we have lots of residents with a long time in Alberta, the Alberta government makes sure that they continue to be considered as an NWT resident even though some of them have been there 5, 10, 15 years. We have residents in Nunavut in our facilities who remain Nunavut residents and we bill them. I think we are looking at every possible resident we have in Alberta or elsewhere who could be moved to that facility. We are also looking at, and we know of residents in surrounding areas who are exploring, they want to come and meet, they want to look at the staff, they want to see how they could visit. So there’s lot of work being done to review all possible residents’ cases that could be considered suitable for that facility.

Mr. Speaker, I know of two specific cases in my constituency. One came to light a number of years ago where a young person had been in a specialized care facility in Alberta and when they turned 18, in fact, the Alberta government did assume responsibility for their care and deemed them to be Alberta residents. So I have known of this happening and I know of one other specific case where a client from the Northwest Territories, who has been in Red Deer, has become an NWT resident. So what I would like from the Minister is assurance that in the screening criteria, credibility and weight will be placed on the fact that these people were born and raised and have family, like, all those kinds of things will come into place, and it will not be solely based on residency in the case where they’ve been away for a number of years. Thank you.

Yes, I understand the Member’s point. I think there are exceptional cases on each side. We are not just looking at the residency status of that particular person. We’re a small community, we know of our residents even

though they’ve been away for a very long time from some of our communities. We know where the families are, we know whose families they belong to, which regions. So we are looking at it, because we do want to repatriate as many of our residents as possible no matter how long they’ve been away, even if they become residents of another province. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are to the Minister of Health and Social Services and are in follow up to my Member’s statement. I just want to start off by, once again, applauding the Minister and her department for forming the partnership with the RNANTNU and the Aurora College to implement the PLAR process for nurse practitioners. I think it’s great.

Having said that, I’m curious whether the department has developed a process to ensure that all of the northern nurses who successfully complete this NT PLAR are offered nurse practitioner positions within the NWT upon registration as nurse practitioners. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I thank the Member for the question. Yes, the NPs and the practice of incorporating the NPs into our system is a key part of the Foundation of Change Action Plan that I’ve spoken about, and we will do everything we can to offer the new potential graduates that will be coming out, the new NPs that are coming out of the system, to be employed in our NWT entire system. Thank you.

I would like to thank the Minister for that response. I just would like just a touch of clarity on that. Has the department actually put in, sort of, proactive steps to ensure that they actually roll into NP jobs rather than go back to their old nursing jobs? It would be kind of a waste of money to invest all that time and effort financially into these individuals and not actually guarantee them some sort of NP position upon successful completion of their training and studies. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

If I remember correctly, even the previous NPs were offered jobs, it’s just were not necessarily what they wanted or the places they wanted.

I can advise the Member and the House, Mr. Speaker, that we have currently about 25.5 NP positions across the NWT. There are 11 vacancies and they are spread all over the Territories. There are three from Yellowknife, one in Fort McPherson, one in Inuvik, one in Tuktoyaktuk, one in Fort Liard, one in Fort Simpson, two in Norman Wells, one in Behchoko. Some of these NPs that are being trained right now, at least seven of them are CHN, so they can have a place that they came from and it is my hope that they will choose to go back there. In fact, some of these positions are being held vacant waiting for them to come back. For seven NPs that we’re going to have, we have 11 vacancies and, hopefully, we can match them up. We will do everything we can to keep them here. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask my question to the Minister of Transportation in terms of the Food Mail Program. Mr. Speaker, the review has been completed and I would like to thank the Minister for his support in terms of this ongoing issue. I would like to ask the Minister: Now that the interim review has been completed, is he going to work with the Department of Indian Affairs in terms of engaging the communities that most need this type of program being implemented into the communities? How are we, as people in our small communities, going to engage in further discussions to improve the Food Mail Program?

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. Michael McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is an issue that has been raised by the Member on a number of occasions requesting that this whole area of food mail, the subsidy program be reviewed and looked at. There has been ongoing concern regarding the delivery, regarding some of the costs that were becoming a problem. The federal government has responded by having a consultant and a number of people look at the issue. They’ve come forward with a number of recommendations and these recommendations will be brought forward for discussion.

In the last session we were also requested to have the discussion with the federal government regarding a presentation to committee. We have undertaken that. I’ve talked to the Minister of Indian Affairs about the possibilities of having some of his staff come forward and he had agreed that he would look into the situation and suggest that to his staff to come forward. We have not heard yet.

So there are a number of recommendations and the committee, the group that is heading this up will undertake to have the discussions with the appropriate people. I am assuming that we will have some feedback that we will respond to. Thank you.

Again, I want to let people know in the Northwest Territories that the Minister of Transportation has been really helpful in terms of getting this issue in the forefront of the federal government. The review has been long overdue.

Upon reading it, Mr. Speaker, I found some very interesting reading, especially the recommendations that were laid out in terms of eliminating the personal food orders in this program here. I strongly object to this issue here. I would like to ask the Minister in terms of him communicating with his counterparts in terms of what type of discussions can this committee have in our small communities that rely on the Food Mail Program and also have some benefits of using the personal food mail orders that they use from time to time? What type of commitment can the Minister give in terms of having this committee go to the communities in the Sahtu that benefit from the Food Mail Program, especially the personal food orders?

Mr. Speaker, this is not a program a community involves us as part of their committee. We have, of course, a real interest as to the findings and the recommendations. There has been some very good work, I think, brought forward. The consultant’s report clearly identified that some changes are needed. There are challenges coming forward. There is a federal Food Mail Program review team that has been put together. They will be contacting the northern consumers and also stakeholders in the northern communities to consult and provide some feedback. That is their responsibility. We certainly can, if the Member has any issues and would like us to formally provide some feedback to this consultant report. We would certainly do that. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the committee has also identified in one of the recommendations as to the possibility of the involvement of a provincial/territorial government in terms of taking over the Food Mail Program. However, that is going to have to be analyzed very carefully in terms of this recommendation. The Minister has offered some type of involvement. I think it is the onus of this government to look at all 11 communities who are benefiting from the Food Mail Program in terms of putting together conditions in terms of this government here in terms of how some of the recommendations can be implemented into the Food Mail Program.

I would ask the Minister, Mr. Speaker, in terms of laying out some options as to how he has made the

offer to involve in our position forward through the Department of Indian Affairs in terms of the report and recommendations and how this government can be engaged and implemented in some of the recommendations. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the Member requested a review of the program and has many times and on many occasions suggested that there are changes required. That is taking place. It is being headed up by a review team. They have come forward with a number of changes and suggestions. We are not in a position to always come forward and intervene in that process. There is a process that is straightforward that the committee can be involved in and respond directly. I think that it may be more disruptive for us as a department to start our own process to have feedback, to have committees and stakeholders take part and respond to us. We would be open to any suggestions the Member may have. However, this is really a program that is being headed up by INAC. It is their program. They have a process. We would like to see it unfold with as little disruption from our government as possible. Having said that, there are areas that we probably will be providing our own feedback as it affects our government. Thank you.

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