Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As indicated during my Member’s statement, I believe that as a system we must own some responsibility for patients missing their appointments, especially when they are for appointments which take place several months from the time when patients are originally notified of the requirement for a procedure.

I’ve talked with some residents who have indicated that they have been told by their physician that they are being recommended for colon cancer screening but they don’t hear anything from Stanton for months. Could the Minister of Health and Social Services please tell me how long it usually takes for Stanton to receive referrals for colon cancer screening from individual physicians and how long it takes to transition those into actual appointments for our residents?

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Once a referral for a colonoscopy is made to Stanton, that referral is received immediately. It’s taken into account immediately and Stanton staff works to prioritize the list of referrals. It’s really important to note that people who need this procedure on an emergency basis get them.

A wait list for this sort of procedure is an issue all across the country. Stanton is not an exception and they are working to find efficiencies within the

system to make sure that the service is used as efficiently as possible.

Thank you to the Minister for that. I’m not sure that is always the case. I know there are a number of people who have emergency situations or blood has appeared in their samples to suggest that an appointment should happen within three months, as the department indicated in the newspaper several weeks ago. There are delays that are far longer than that. Given that there is such an extensive wait list for colon cancer screening, how does the system, and Stanton specifically, ensure that residents are regularly updated as to the status of their appointment? That is one of the problems that people are experiencing, is that, first off, they don’t hear anything for months that they have an appointment or anything from Stanton. Then they hear that they’ve got an appointment in 18 months. Then they hear nothing. What is the process that Stanton has put in to ensure that our residents are regularly updated so that they don’t miss these appointments which cost us, as a system, money in the long run?

I do agree with the Member, that missed appointments do cost the system. In fact, I had this discussion with the Beaufort-Delta leadership when I was there because that issue did come up. For lots of our procedures there are no-shows and obviously there is a cost to that. The system works to improve that.

With respect to the procedure that the Member is asking about, I have had personal situations in our family where we have had two or three procedures being done in the past six to eight years and I found the services okay. I have not talked or the Member has not brought to me any specific situations that I could look into. I don’t believe that Stanton could, nor do they have the resources to call people on the list every three months to just update on where the waiting list is. I think they are called when their procedure is booked. I can assure the Member that the system looks at the wait list because it is long. I am not denying that. It is as long as two years for colonoscopy right now. That’s the procedure; that’s the length of the wait list anywhere in Canada. They have to constantly look at the emergency situation and they are doing that.

Residents could die within two years. We need to make sure that people are getting these treatments as quickly as possible.

Just for the record, I think the individuals at Stanton performing the procedures are experts and are awesome at what they do and they deserve to be patted on the back. I’m not talking about the actual performance of the procedure; I’m talking about screening and getting the procedures to happen and scheduled on a regular basis.

I’m wondering if I could get the Minister to commit to having Stanton implement a monitoring and

reminder process that ensures that residents are regularly updated on the status of their colon cancer screening; something more than reminding them the day or two in advance of the actual appointment. It could be really important and a good gesture of our government to actually put in a system where we can make sure that we remind people on a regular basis so they don’t miss appointments. Missed appointments cost the system money.

Obviously that is part of the process. I will make sure that there is a reminder, as per the Member’s concern. I need to reiterate that we as a system take this situation very seriously. This is the reason why the government issued clinical guidelines. I don’t want people out there to think that people aren’t getting services that they desperately need. There are other measures being taken to make sure that people are screened for possible colon cancer. There are stool samples that are collected at the doctors’ offices. There is advice given about the dangers of this. Any man or woman over 50 is encouraged to take those tests. Those are being monitored closely to make sure that we don’t miss anybody. When they are referred to Stanton for colonoscopy, there is a system of people there to make sure that they are looking at the list constantly and that their resources are used as well as possible.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mr. Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister can reiterate it all she wants. The bottom line is that people are waiting an extended period of time. I’m asking her to get her department, and Stanton specifically, to find a way to expedite those times as much as they can and to work with our residents to remind them that their appointments are coming so that they don’t feel like they are left in the dark. Once again, I was wondering if I could get the Minister to commit to actually putting in a process that ensures that residents are regularly updated about the time and date of their colonoscopy as well as other cancer screenings that are required.

I don’t think I’m denying anything that the Member is saying. I believe we agree that our process has to do that. The staff at the hospital is doing the best they can to make sure that this procedure and other screenings for cancer and treatment are used as wisely as possible. There are people who do keep track of the files that they have in front of them.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. Michael McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’ve responded to a lot of different concerns that have been brought forward from the Members of this House, including licence plates and issuing of registration and having more transportation officers on the highways. This is not an issue that has been brought to my attention. This is the first I’m hearing of it. As far as I know, there has been no change to the quality or type of stickers that we’re using. I’d certainly have to follow up on that. It’s not an issue that I was aware of.

I’d like to ask the Minister if perhaps, and I’m not sure when the new licence plates are coming in, but maybe we’ve ordered new stickers for new licence plates and we’re trying to use new stickers on old licence plates. I’d like to ask the Minister if that might be the case.

We are planning to introduce new licence plates sometime this summer. They are pretty impressive, from what I’ve seen. I’m not aware that we have changed our type of stickers. It’s an issue that will be of concern, of course, as we are going to be issuing new licence plates starting this summer. I will certainly commit to the Member that we will follow it up and see what the concern is, if that’s the case with a lot of people, if that is coming back to us. I personally have not had any problems, but having said that, we’ll follow up with the concern.

If these new stickers are actually intended for the new licence plates and are different than the ones previously and are causing our residents issues when they go to put them on their old licence plates, I’m wondering if the Minister will

commit to not charging residents $20 to get a new sticker if the one they get should be destroyed by trying to apply it to their plate.

I can see the cause for concern. If it is an issue that has been caused by ourselves as a department and we can find out what the root of it is, we will certainly try to make amends so that people are not burdened by something that is not their fault.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is directed to the Minister of Environment. It is in regard to my Member’s statement. The land claim agreements that have been settled have established an instrument for implementing regulatory bodies, whether it is land and water boards or environmental assessment review boards or management boards such as the wildlife boards to deal with wildlife and forestry. These boards play a fundamental role in regard to ensuring that conservation measures and the management of wildlife is done in such a way that it’s managed through a system, regardless if it’s regional bodies or a joint arrangement of bodies, regardless if it’s dealing with different herds. I’d just like to ask the Minister, knowing that the Bluenose-West herd was an issue in which the Sahtu, the Gwich’in and the Inuvialuit formulated a system that they all got together, they had public meetings, they had workshops, they were able to come up with some sort of a conservation plan, and they made recommendations to the Minister to consider those recommendations, then basically, once the Minister received those recommendations, then it was acted upon by the government. That was the process that I thought was in place to deal with this, but in regard to the Wek’eezhii board, it seemed like they haven’t really started the consultation process and haven’t been able to come up with a conservation plan that’s workable for them. So I’d just like to ask the Minister exactly when are these boards going to be able to have the authority that was given to them and be able to act on that authority before the Minister makes the decisions, which basically, in most cases, it’s a decision after the board recommends something forward to the Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister responsible for Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First, I’d like to thank the Member for his recitation of the history of the co-management

process and the support for that process which we, in fact, share. The Wek’eezhii process is in its first stages of getting up and running. In March they’re going to start hearing from interveners. The plan is to have a process agreement in place by the next hunting season. We have to deal with the Wek’eezhii process. We also have to engage and work with the Akaitcho and the Northwest Territories Metis so that we have a Bathurst management plan at the end of the day, similar to what the Member has talked about that took place between the Inuvialuit, the Gwich’in and the Sahtu. The big challenge, of course, in the North Slave is that the Tlicho Government is set. They had their lawmaking authorities clear, the mandate is clear. With the Akaitcho and the Northwest Territories Metis, it’s unsettled claims area and we have to navigate our way through those waters. But the intent is to have a plan in place before the start of the next hunting season. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, in regard to the Minister’s response, I believe the key word here is “conservation” and, more importantly, consultation and ensuring that the mechanisms that we use is a formal process, regardless to boards having some authorities, boards ensuring public input and boards ensuring that at the end of it all there will be some sort of a conservation measure recommended to the Minister. I think that’s the piece that we’re still waiting for. I know you mentioned that they’re hoping to have it by next fall. I’d like to ask the Minister exactly when will the conservation plan be, hopefully, on your desk so that you can formally either adapt it or suggest recommendations for change so that the process is not done independent by your department, it’s done unilaterally, the information being provided by those boards to yourself, as Minister and before it’s implemented it has to be agreed to by the parties. Thank you.

The intent, as I have indicated, is prior to the start of next hunting season, is to have an agreement that the Wek’eezhii process will hopefully be complete. As well, that we will have had a chance to have a broader discussion, both with the Tlicho, the Akaitcho and the Northwest Territories Metis as well as other stakeholders, about a Bathurst management plan that covers the whole range of the Bathurst and the North Slave. It’s going to be a challenging process, but that’s the date that we’re working towards. Thank you.