This is page numbers 4527 - 4554 of the Hansard for the 16th Assembly, 4th Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was territories.

Topics

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Your final supplementary, Mr. Bromley.

Bob Bromley

Bob Bromley Weledeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Of course, I suspect they would be interested into entering quite a different relationship than the one that they are opting out of.

My final question is: what support is available to the unique and commendable and environmentally responsible business development that’s exemplified by Mr. Abbott so that small fisheries operations can get the support they need to realize their full potential? Thank you.

Bob McLeod

Bob McLeod Yellowknife South

Presently we have all of our tool kit of business programs that are available to a business like Mr. Abbott’s. For the other fishermen that have voted to have the Northwest Territories withdraw from FFMC, this government is committed to working with all of the fishermen to develop the fisheries and to develop and find further potential opportunities for fishermen of the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are addressed to the Minister for Health and Social Services. I would like to follow up on some of the concerns that I stated in my statement earlier. One of the real difficulties that I see with the proposed plan and the discussion paper that’s out there is the timeline for implementation of these proposed changes. I’d like to ask the Minister, the time that is out there is September 1, 2010, I’d like to know what that date is based on. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

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

Sandy Lee

Sandy Lee Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The way the policy is right now, the implementation is to be on September 1, 2010. Thank you.

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

I don’t believe I heard in there that the timeline is based on anything, so I’ll have to assume it’s based on nothing.

I have a question with regard to some of the things that are missing in the discussion paper that is out

there on proposed supplementary health benefit changes. I specifically feel that Members and the general public need to know how much these proposed changes will cost and I have not seen that anywhere to date. I agree with the need to provide coverage for NWT residents that don’t have supplementary health benefit coverage, but I have to ask the Minister for an estimate of what the cost of covering those who don’t already have it will be to this government. Thank you.

Sandy Lee

Sandy Lee Range Lake

I think we should remember that the extended health benefits we have are very generous and there are no suggestions made about reducing the benefits. The big issue of consultation is who accesses these benefits that are available. This is the discussion we want to have with the groups of people in the Territories who are eligible for those programs right now. So in the next coming two or three months, I think the information we have put out in a discussion paper gives a good starting point with really good information about what the program does, what does it cover, who benefits now, who is excluded. I believe the department has done an excellent job, along with support from others like Finance and the Stats Bureau, to give people the information they need in this very important dialogue. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

To the Minister, I don’t disagree that the information that has been presented is good information. It is a clear explanation of the current program. But, you know, in order for people to make a decision or to make comment on the program and the suggestions that are out there, they need to know the cost of the program and we need to be able to consider what it’s going to cost us, what it’s going to save us. That information is not available. I am concerned about the timeline. I am concerned about the amount of consultation. Particularly I’d like to know from the Minister about the stakeholder working group and how they are going to be involved. I am very concerned that there won’t be meetings with that working group to discuss and debate the changes. I would like to ask the Minister to outline for the House how this working group will be involved in the consultation as it goes forward over the next several months or year. Thank you.

Sandy Lee

Sandy Lee Range Lake

I believe I answered those questions in the Member’s previous questions. The stakeholder group, the public working group, will be involved in this process, so will all the other NGOs, health authorities, individuals. We are interested in talking to the public about what this program is.

The Member had a number of questions about how much it costs. That is all the information that will be answered at a town hall meeting. We have designed the discussion to be as open and widely conversational as possible. We are presenting the public with essential information for them to start

their discussions on and we will have a facilitator. We will have key people who will be at every meeting so they can keep good track of what the people are saying. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I reiterate my need for two meetings; one to get the info and a second one for people to provide their input. To the working group and how they will be involved, I appreciate they will be involved. I would like to know from the Minister how they will be involved. Are there scheduled meetings with the department and/or the Minister with this working group or are they simply expected to provide their input as a member of the general public? Thank you.

Sandy Lee

Sandy Lee Range Lake

The public working group met with the staff who have been working on this for the last number of months a number of times. As the Member indicated, they have had input into the discussion paper and all of the publications that have gone out. They like the information they got. They gave us feedback within 48 hours. What they suggested has been incorporated, and I expect that throughout this consultation process they will play an important role, as will the committee members, the Standing Committee on Social Programs, and any other NGOs that are interested in this process, as will the...(inaudible)...leadership council who I met with last Saturday who really support the information that we are putting out to the public, because they believe, and I believe the Members believe, that we need to make important decisions that speaks to the sustainability of a very important program to the Northwest Territories. I give a lot of credit to our people that they’re intelligent, they’re engaged, they understand the information and they’ll give us very good feedback. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

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

Jane Groenewegen

Jane Groenewegen Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today in my Member’s statement I talked about something that is not easy to talk about because it’s something that is in our communities, but it is a very insidious thing and it’s hard to get information about it. It’s hard to create awareness, because I personally have not heard of any public campaign to bring awareness of this issue of this Rohypnol or date rape drug. Mr. Speaker, I am going to direct my questions today to the Minister of Justice.

Mr. Speaker, the thing that makes this so difficult is the combination of factors that allow this crime to

be perpetrated on innocent victims without much opportunity to respond to it. Mr. Speaker, a lot of people who may be the victim of such a thing aren’t aware of what they should do in order to protect evidence. Sometimes, Mr. Speaker, days go by, reducing the quality of the evidence if they did know what to do with it. Mr. Speaker, the other thing is, it’s extremely difficult for the victim to articulate what happened because the effect of the drug actually makes them unable to relate that to the authorities. Mr Speaker, of course, anytime something like this happens, it’s very difficult for the victim to talk about it, because quite often under the influence of this drug, the victims are assaulted in some way.

So, Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister of Justice does he have any way of finding out throughout law enforcement authorities exactly how prevalent this is, understanding that quite often these cases never come to the conclusion of people being successfully prosecuted in the courts. But just through the enforcement authorities in the Northwest Territories, would we be able to get a sense of how common this particular crime is committed? Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister of Justice, Mr. Lafferty.

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Minister of Justice

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I am glad the Member is raising this key point of interest. It is important to the Justice department working along with the RCMP “G” Division. We have a Victim Services Program in the communities. That’s just one step, Mr. Speaker. Also we are trying to create some awareness in the communities. We have various websites through Health and Social Services and our Department of Justice linking to various programming that is available throughout the Northwest Territories, but we continue to improve in our program. We have community justice programs, as well, that could be related. Not only that, Mr. Speaker, we need to start from a young age, as well, in schools. One good factor is those individuals are going to be involved in programs such as Going Miles, which builds self-esteem, and a new campaign called Not Us!, which is going to be happening at the end of March in Hay River. So those are the things that we need to be fully aware of and it is awareness that we continue to push in the communities. Mahsi.

Jane Groenewegen

Jane Groenewegen Hay River South

A lot of the awareness that is out there right now is to try to make young people aware of the dangers of drugs, and they are drugs that people sell to them that these people take. But, Mr. Speaker, this date rape drug is something quite different in the fact that a person could just be innocently at a social function or at a public establishment and could have this put right into their drink. Mr. Speaker, so this is a little bit different; the awareness on this. The Minister

mentions victims services. I would like to know are the victims services committees in the communities specifically aware of the signs, symptoms and affects of this particular problem? Thank you.

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Minister of Justice

This particular area, whether it be date rape drugs or other drugs, I wouldn’t say most of the communities are aware of it, but some communities are aware. They are somewhat aware of this particular drug that’s out there and other Ecstasy drugs and other hardcore drugs out there. It is a common concern for our Department of Justice, so we continue to work closely with “G” Division. Mr. Speaker, we have a new commanding officer who is very dedicated to community involvement, community initiatives. He’s been in a small community as well, so he’s fully aware of what’s happening in the community. We need to have our hands on the drugs that are coming in. I think we’re doing that in the South Slave with the dog handler and in other areas. But we do have particular programs in place that are trying to assist with those victims as well.

Jane Groenewegen

Jane Groenewegen Hay River South

Is the Minister aware, in his role as Minister of Education as well, of any campaign in the schools to warn children, young people, of the threat of being drugged by someone else? I understand that we talk to young people about the negative effect of taking drugs and what can happen to them, but how do we teach them to protect themselves from somebody who would drug them and subsequently hurt them and assault them in some way?

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Minister of Justice

I’m glad the Member is raising that issue about the schools. It is a key factor in the schools. We have workshop facilitators who come out every now and then to highlight the use of drugs and the implications; what to look out for. Even myself as a parent, I have five kids in all schools and we talk to them about the use of drugs, to stay away from certain people, certain resources. I think this is an important factor that we continue to push in the schools, the public awareness. Especially with “G” Division, the committees that we have in place, Justice and so forth.

This is a top priority for us in the schools as both the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment and Minister of Justice. This is a priority for us.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Jane Groenewegen

Jane Groenewegen Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Education if this government would be amenable or open to the idea of funding some kind of awareness campaign and, hand in hand with that, a support group. My fear is that these incidents happen in isolation and no one ever knows anybody else that it happened to. They have absolutely no support. The isolation from an event

like this and the fallout throughout the rest of their life thinking about this is one of the most damaging things. Certainly the act of violence or assault is very, very difficult too, but the fact that they don’t have that support. Would this government be interested in instigating any kind of a support group for people who feel that they may have been affected or know they have been affected by being drugged by someone else?

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Minister of Justice

This is a particular area of interest for us. We are open to what the Member can share with us and the public-at-large on how we can improve in our programming. We did commit up to $100,000 last budget to focus on the drug campaign. That’s why we’re driving this awareness in Hay River next month. That’s just one milestone that we’re doing. There are others that the Member is referring to that we can certainly look at. I think the input from the public is greater interest for us, as well, to initiate certain initiatives.