Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final supplementary, Mr. Bouchard.

Although the review itself cost about $105,000, we do believe as a department, as do the other health and social services authorities, that there is a cost savings when a baby is born closer to home with a midwife. The exact savings I don’t have here but I can make

that available to the Member without a problem. There is definitely a savings from having a hospital birth under a doctor’s care.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Health. Why was the wellness worker position cut in Tsiigehtchic?

Thank you, Mr. Blake. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I must advise the Member that in the Beaufort-Delta Health and Social Services Authority there is no regular CEO at this time. We have an acting CEO from Hay River, followed by another acting CEO out of Yellowknife. This was done by review. Unfortunately, we were hoping that the position would have been extended until the review was complete, but as the term of this particular position expired before the review was completed, the individual position was cut prior to review. A review is being done of all the positions in the Beaufort-Delta.

How does the cutting of this position fit with the priority of this government to promote healthy and independent lifestyles?

I don’t believe it does fit. It’s a very unfortunate circumstance. As we were reviewing all of the positions for the betterment of the smaller communities when the review was incomplete as of the date when this specific position’s term had expired, the term was allowed to expire and the review was not complete. The review is being done on the positions and the positions that should be in Tsiigehtchic for the betterment of the community will be put in place.

At this time I have no further questions.

Thank you, Mr. Blake. The honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question today is for the Minister of Health and Social Services. It’s in reference to the leadership meeting that we had in January, again, where he did a presentation. There was a lot of really strong support for reinstating a board for the regional

health and social services authority. I just want to get an update as the Minister had agreed to look into this matter. I’d like to get an update from the Minister on what’s been done – the Minister of Health and Social Services – since the discussions back on January 10th . Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Moses. The Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Member is aware, we have a public administrator in place for the Beaufort-Delta Health and Social Services Authority. That’s not our desire. We would prefer to have a board; however, in consultation with the community, it was recommended that we fill the CEO position. At this time we have gone out for advertising to try to fill the CEO position. We want to fill the CEO position and then develop, again, and reappoint a board after we have a CEO position. Thank you.

With all due respect, in filling the CEO position there are a lot of people in the surrounding communities who just listened to the Member for the Mackenzie Delta and his issues that he has that need to be addressed, and I think they need to be addressed before a CEO is put into place, and that comes with a board. Can the Minister please provide me with a definite timeline as to when a board can be in place with the Beaufort-Delta Health Authority?

The Member is right; during our meetings of the Beaufort-Delta leadership and the Gwich’in, we had indicated that we were going to work on reappointing the board. I was not totally up to speed on why the board was removed initially, but there seemed to be a strong desire to have a board in place and the department will work with the Beaufort-Delta Health and Social Services Authority to appoint a full board in the Beaufort-Delta as soon as possible. Thank you.

I would just like to recognize that I do understand that the Minister has quite the workload becoming the new Minister of Health and Social Services, and I do also like to recognize that I’ll take into consideration that as soon as possible means that as early as tomorrow starting up some conversations, even just sending out some…opening up discussions with our leaders in the Beaufort-Delta region that will affect what’s been going on in that region for the last little while.

No further questions.

A comment. The Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Member’s comments. I will talk to the deputy minister and we will do a call for boards before the end of the session. Thank you.

The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services when the people in my communities are asking for support and help in dealing with the drug and alcohol programs, can the Minister tell this House and the people in the Sahtu when can they expect to see such types of programs being implemented in my regions that will support my people’s wishes and that possibly could work for them instead of looking at buildings that other regions have. When can the Minister put something concrete in this House to support my people?

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve given direction to the Department of Health and Social Services that we’re moving more into prevention. Prevention is a big part of addictions, mental health and addictions. We have already started moving in that direction. It’s the same resources that we have in other areas and we want to move them into programs that we think are successful. We want to fund the programs for a longer term and, hopefully, increase the amount of money we are putting towards the addictions in the communities right across the territory. Thank you.

The Minister said yesterday that the Nats'ejee K'eh treatment facility has about a 49 percent occupancy rate. Can the Minister look at that treatment program? I know the Deh Cho health services board operates that. Can he look at that as a way to increase the on-the-land treatment programs with the money that they’re not using in the other regions where the communities like Colville Lake say we want on-the-land treatment programs for the people? This is the people’s land and this is where they want to heal. Can the Minister look at that?