Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Minister Lee.

Mr. Chairman, as we indicated before, this is relatively new and it is being used in different ways by different authorities. It all depends on the service requirements, the interest even on the part of the people on the ground. I have visited different centres where, for Inuvik for example, they couldn’t say enough about this machine and how much it has helped them. The picture is quite buried all across. It is like any time you introduce a new technology into your service delivery, the uptake and the use is different depending on the regions and the places. I don’t have updated information on exactly what the use is on that, but we will obviously be monitoring and evaluate to make sure that device and that tool is used as much as possible. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, I am wondering if the Minister knows which two units have been in use the longest. I am referring to outside the Stanton Territorial Hospital. What type of services have primarily been focused in on and how many hours were they in use? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Ms. Meade.

Mr. Chairman, I didn’t really hear much about how they have been used and how many hours they have been used. I would also like to reiterate that question in that context as well as what specific services have we noticed a trend emerging from our usage on this type of product. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Minister Lee.

Mr. Chairman, I understand his question. I don’t think we can get him that level of detail, in that I don’t think that right now we are keeping, okay, how many hours are we using this. The tools are out there. We are trying to provide the support and training so that more people will use it. As I stated earlier, we will be evaluating and monitoring this program and we will give an update and promise that to MLA Yakeleya too. I will give him a profile of where the machines are right now, where we are going to get more out of and what kind of services are being provided through these tools. Thank you.

I thank the Minister for that answer. Would that also include some updates as to where the status of training of individuals would be on that particular list? In other words, if all 14 units are farmed out, are all regions that have received this equipment that they have someone

trained and qualified in order to be able to run the unit? Furthermore, would information be available to cite that we have people on board to help deal with problems so they can work with our informatics teams to make sure these things are up and running, that type of information? In other words, do we have qualified people to run these things? Would that be part of your information package?

Yes, Mr. Chairman. I can say we have qualified people running this. I will make a commitment to give him more information on how the services are delivered, where they are, what they are being used for and how the training needs are met. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. I have next on the list Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. If I can, I wanted to talk about the orthodontist physician in Inuvik. I am wondering if it is okay to do it under this page or should we go back to page 8-16?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. I think it would be appropriate to go back to page 8-17 for that. For that, I will need unanimous consent of committee. Do I have unanimous consent to go back to page 8-17?

---Unanimous consent granted.

So be it, Mr. Krutko. Page 8-17.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, colleagues. An issue that has come to my attention, especially for residents out of Inuvik and the Beaufort-Delta region, apparently they won’t have an orthodontist in Inuvik. Apparently there are a lot of children who require dental care, braces and whatnot. Without having an orthodontist in the region, a lot of them are having to expend a lot of their own dollars to fly their children to Yellowknife so that they can be seen by an orthodontist here in Yellowknife. As a department which is responsible for primary care, especially in the different regions, especially dental, it is important especially for younger people. I ran into a lady at Wal-Mart, in which her son was with her. Apparently his jaw is locked up because he didn’t see an orthodontist for so long that he has problems eating now. When it comes to that situation, I think that we do have to do everything we can to ensure that the orthodontists and those types of providers are provided in those regions so the parents don’t have to bear that extra cost of having to go elsewhere. So I’d just like to ask the Minister in regard to the orthodontist position in Inuvik: what’s the department doing to try and ensure that they make sure these programs are being delivered, especially when it comes to oral health and dealing with the orthodontist position for Inuvik? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Minister Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I know the Member is good, but I don’t know how he got dental care into primary care, but, anyway, I’d be happy to answer him with the information. This dental issue in general comes up everywhere I travel. It is a big issue for our community people, but it’s important for people to know that dental care is not a responsibility of the GNWT. It is not an insured service. It is the federal government that provides dental care to our aboriginal peoples. The non-aboriginal people in the Territories, they get dental coverage by their own insurance. Dental care is not part of health care.

Now, the GNWT does provide support to dental services in our regions. The problem we’ve been having is almost every authority, and that includes Inuvik, have had difficulties getting a contractor to provide dental service in Inuvik and the Member is right that there have been some parents with young children who need orthodontic services and other dental services and they’ve not been able to get them for the last little bit. I’m happy to note that a new contract has been signed and we do have new dental services being provided in Inuvik. So hopefully the lady that he was talking to at Wal-Mart and some other people that have been contacting us will be able to be processed as soon as possible. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Lee. I think the window we had into this was through the oral health provision under this directorate division. Anything further, Mr. Krutko?

I’d just like to thank the Minister for that and I think that news maybe should go out by way of a press release, because I think there’s a lot of other people out there that would like to hear that announcement and know that action is being taken in this area. So maybe you’ve got a good news story tomorrow. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Committee, we started on page 8-17. I find that we’re still there. Activity summary, program delivery support, operations expenditure summary, $31.936 million. Does committee agree?

Thank you, committee. Page 8-18, activity summary, program delivery support, grants and contributions, contributions, $15.039 million. Agreed?

Thank you. Page 8-19, information item, program delivery support, active positions. Agreed?