Mr. Speaker, it’s possible that the Premier will respond consistently with the Minister’s remarks, that the committee has been consulted all along. I’m a member of the committee and I agree that I have been informed and/or told what the Minister’s plans are, but, frankly, I don’t feel consulted or that any advice I have provided has been remotely considered by the Minister or by Cabinet. Many of the public feel the same way.

Given that the 16th Assembly’s very own process

conventions are being ignored by the Minister of Health and Social Services, I don’t see how the Premier and Cabinet could possibly support these changes at this time.

Mr. Premier, let’s take the initiative back to the drawing board and work on the real problem. Let’s find a way to provide coverage to low income families without insurance. Let’s do the right thing. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to follow up again today in my Member’s statement about the topic I spoke of yesterday, and that is the protection in place for people in our Territory who require the services of a medical professional. Mr. Speaker, although this case I speak of may be isolated in that these things do not occur very often, it is still unchecked and has the potential of impacting and touching on very many lives. Because one physician doesn’t just see one patient, they see a group of patients.

But, Mr. Speaker, you would think that our government might have learned a valuable lesson. When there were questions raised in the past about the conduct of certain educators that were operating here in the Northwest Territories whose irregular circumstances occurred and these situations continued to exist and no intervention was made, for whatever reason, and this government and Nunavut government ended up being sued successfully by the people who were abused at the hand of that educator and had to pay millions of dollars in compensation. I use that as a parallel to this.

There are processes in place to allow people who come in contact with the medical system and who feel that their rights and the conduct of the physician has violated them in some way. There is a process in place. When I asked the Minister of Health and Social Services about this yesterday, she did not seem very aware of her duty and her responsibility as a Minister.

Mr. Speaker, the Minister, and only the Minister, has the ability to revoke the licence of a practising medical practitioner in the Northwest Territories. No one else can do that. No College of Physicians and Surgeons, no board of inquiry. The Minister and the Minister alone has that authority.

Mr. Speaker, there is a provision, as well, that once an inquiry is struck and allegations have been laid, there is a provision for the Minister to temporarily revoke that licence to practise until that matter is finished with and disposed of in some manner. In the case that I speak of, that was not done either.

Mr. Speaker, I fully recognize that there are quasi judicial processes in which we as politicians do not interfere. However, at some point, our responsibility needs to intersect with that process. I still do not understand why the results of this particular inquiry were not reported to this Minister and the findings in

that inquiry acted upon. I will have further questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services on this again today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to use my Member’s statement today to further talk about the transplant policy I raised before. The reason I want to talk about it is because certainly things aren’t going very well. I think our Territory, I believe in it very strongly and I believe in the passion people have who work here and develop policy, but as I talked about it before, we need respite for mothers or perhaps fathers that are sitting by their child’s side through these horrible processes, but we don’t have a policy that occasionally unites the family through those special visits.

I can tell you many times over, that when this particular family had the father flying down and the children in tow, that the little boy there sparkled in a way that the fire was back. I also talked about the time, at the time about a month or two months ago, about how we need a policy that, if dark days happen, when that phone call comes in the middle of the night, that we have a government that shows the empathy for the particular situation and unites the family if that flicker goes out for the final time.

Mr. Speaker, I am speaking today because the call did come this morning. Of course, they scurried as quickly as possible to put their affairs in order to get to Edmonton. It is a very difficult statement to talk about. This little boy is a wonderful little boy. I can tell you the last 10 weeks have been a significant blessing to have every extra minute with him around with his mother and his brother and sister and certainly his father. Many people in this community have come together through a fundraiser last night, on Saturday, to raise money. Even McDonald’s through the Ronald McDonald House, which is the pin I’m wearing right now... Sorry; local McDonald’s has raised money for the Edmonton Ronald McDonald House to donate so they can make sure that they can have families together through these trying times, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, every moment has been a gift. I will certainly be asking the Minister during question period today that although we know we can’t have broad, sweeping policy change just here and there, some days I really wish we could, but I will be asking the Minister, would she be willing to at least take a look at this to see if we can create a strategy over the long haul, if this is something we can do to make sure we can have families together as often

as possible during these difficult times. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is my pleasure today to welcome grade 5 and 6 students of the Ecole Boreale in Hay River here today with their teacher, Patrick Poisson, and their chaperone, Marie-Mathilde Tessier. Mr. Speaker, if I could have the Assembly’s indulgence, I would just like to quickly recognize the students, and if they could give a wave, their mom and dad might see them on TV. Jake Danielsen, Georgia Dawson, Jonathan Frise, William Frise, Cordell Gagnier, Ksydaig Henry, Lochlan Munro, Billy-Jack Warrington, Sherisse Bouchard, Brooklyn Harrison, Angela Roy, Nicholas Stainbrook, Kateryna Staszuk, Celina Carmen and Graham St. John.

I would like to take this opportunity to recognize two constituents in the gallery from my riding. My constituents are Liz Wright and also with her is Roxanne Koe who is chaperoning a few Pages here from my riding. Welcome to the House. I thank you for procedures and for the other people.

In front of the other people in the gallery that haven’t been recognized, welcome to the House and watching the procedures. Welcome.

Item 6, acknowledgements. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today I spoke on the issue of housing programs for seniors in Tu Nedhe. I would like to follow up my statement with questions to the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister tell me if there is a plan in place to inspect and upgrade seniors’ homeownership units in Lutselk’e and Fort Resolution? Thank you.

The Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation, Mr. Robert McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. All these programs are application based and we have decided that those that are applying for homeownership repairs, especially the seniors, we are willing to go to their units and do an

inspection. That is all part of the application process. Also, if interpreters are required, we would be willing to provide interpreters so they’re understanding all the parts of the application and the information that is required. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, in his response to my first question, the Minister indicated that they would be conducting a door-to-door approach in the delivery of housing programs to seniors in Tu Nedhe. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, we will go to the units of those that express an interest in applying for one of the homeownership programs, especially the seniors. We will go to their units and do the inspection. That’s all part of the process, and also, as I mentioned to the Member earlier, we would be willing to provide translation so they’re understanding. So those that are interested in going through the application process would let our district office know and then they would make a point of making it to their units. Thank you.

Many of the elders have land lease and land tax arrears. Does the Housing Corporation have some sort of plan to work with the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs or even maybe the municipality, to deal with this issue and still be able to assist the elders with their housing issues? Is there a number in which, or an amount that can be provided to seniors if they have land lease issues, land lease arrears or tax arrears, for an example? Thank you.

Thank you. The land tax arrears and any arrears in general are always a detriment to those that are applying for assistance. It slows up the process. A lot of folks out there have been able to clear off their arrears, knowing that this would help their application for the housing programs. So it would be awfully difficult for us to get into giving out the programs, administering the programs with people carrying arrears. So we try and encourage all those that are applying, to take care of their land and tax arrears, especially, and any other arrears they may have because it would slow down their application process. Thank you.

Final supplementary, Mr. Beaulieu.

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. This is a rather serious issue. In communities where we have access by winter road or access by barge, an issue such as land tax, mortgage arrears, lease arrears on the land or anything, holds up the process and it goes beyond the point where they’re able to send materials in to assist the elder. So can the Minister commit to me today that if these issues are something that can be set aside or can be dealt with in another light, that they could proceed with assisting the seniors? I don’t think seniors have huge arrears. If they could proceed with assisting

the seniors and deal with any of these land tax, land lease arrears at a later date. Thank you.

Thank you. We’re always willing to do what we can to help seniors. I have to speak again on the arrears, the tax arrears. We do like to try to get those cleared up before we proceed. Our intake this year is going to be in August and September. So that will give us more time to have all these issues dealt with before the barges, and some of it may be because the municipal governments are not getting back to them quick enough or the band governments may not be giving them a letter quick enough. So all these issues we have to deal with, but we’re always open to doing whatever we can to make the process a little easier for seniors. Thank you.

The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I asked an awful lot of questions in my statement and I’d like to go back to some of those questions and ask some of them of the Minister of Health and Social Services, to try and get some answers to some of those questions.

In order to try and, again, get some clarity for my constituents, I’d like to ask the Minister why such a divisive Supplementary Health Benefits Policy, dated September 2007, is being implemented. Thank you.

The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I have explained in our presentations and in answers to questions, Mr. Speaker, I believe this policy will enable access to those people who are excluded from the policy right now. We have a group of non-aboriginal people who are excluded from having basic coverage of dental and eye care, and, Mr. Speaker, I don’t believe this is divisive in any way. It is a Supplementary Extended Health Benefits Program to those who need it. Thank you.