Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. During the summer our local paper ran a story about Allisdair Leishman, a young man who stabbed himself in the Stanton Territorial Hospital’s kitchen. Requiring the proper long-term care and concerned about the lack of physiotherapy care the young man wasn’t receiving, the mother, Mrs. Leishman from Kakisa, took to the paper.

In essence, in the article Mrs. Leishman alludes that her son was limited to two hours per month of physiotherapy care. Upon my office’s investigation, it was verified that the Stanton Hospital was fully

staffed with eight physiotherapists. It appears that only one physiotherapist provided care to in-patients. On top of that, according to long-term care requirements of the Stanton Hospital website, it clearly states that the average PT care is two hours a week, and not two hours a month, as cited in the article. I know I will have some general questions to the Minister on this one later today.

The overarching issue here today is not the Allisdair Leishman situation, although tragic and sad, but it does lend to the issue of priority care for rehabilitation patients. This situation does nothing more than prove that the current system is failing, forcing many patients to seek therapy outside the hospital and sometimes travelling down south for services.

Ultimately what we are seeing is the improper prioritization of non-acute outpatients versus care for hospitalized in-patients. We could address this simple principle. We could conceivably provide more services if we just prioritized fewer acute clients.

Case in point, even during filling out an outpatient services form for clients – which I will be tabling later today – one can clearly see that WSCC patients are given urgent status over in-patient care. Upon further investigation, this urgent status also affects patients of DND, RCMP and auto insurance, in which these classifications receive more urgent status than in-patients with long-term care needs.

What is the solution? I say the solution is relatively simple: Prioritize your patients. That is, make sure your long-term care in patients who need this care most are taken care of first, before we deal with less urgent outpatients.

I will be asking this simple question to the Minister of Health later today, and further to that, I hope that this exercise will propel a much more thorough review of the entire NWT rehabilitation prioritization tools, as these evidence-based tools are being used as standards in jurisdictions worldwide. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to talk about a fundraising initiative that has been most beneficial to Hay River through the Hay River Hospital Foundation.

The Hay River Hospital Foundation was established in January 2000 to assist with the mandate of Hay River Health and Social Services Authority. The role of the foundation was to support and assist the health authority in achieving its goal, with particular

emphasis on providing much needed funds for capital equipment or training needs for its residents.

Raising money is never easy and I’m always intrigued at how organizations take the time to think outside the box for their fundraising initiatives. Hay River Hospital Foundation is one such organization that is truly in that category. Aside from the regular services and programs, the Hay River Hospital Foundation holds an annual on-line auction that allows you a chance to bid on some great deals.

I’m excited to say that the Hay River Hospital Foundation is once again hosting their unique on-line auction. In fact, they started this auction on October 15th and it won’t last long, as it closes at

9:00 p.m. sharp this coming Monday, October 29th .

I’m hoping that the people of Hay River and even people from across the Territories – and we would never say no to money from Yellowknife – that people will go on-line and register to maybe try your luck at picking up some unique items from various Hay River merchants who have donated these items. It’s fun, it’s easy, and it’s for a good cause.

I would also like to thank the people who have worked so hard to make this auction happen. The organizers, local businesses and people who have contributed by donating auction items and their time. Special thanks to Evelyn Coleman, who is the auction coordinator and a foundation board member, and to all of the Hay River Hospital Foundation board members we say a very big thank you. I wish them all the best for a very successful event.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Member for Thebacha, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to take a brief opportunity to acknowledge and recognize the Pages from Fort Smith: young Mitchell Kearley and Jarod Tuckey, and the very hardworking mother of Mitchell, Ms. Melanie Kearley. Thank you for coming to Yellowknife and I hope they’ve enjoyed the experience.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Item 4, reports of standing and special committees. Item 5, returns to oral questions. Item 6, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. Robert McLeod.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. We’re pleased to have today up in the gallery the president of the Special Olympics NWT, Jane Arychuk. We also have Cappie Elkin, a board

member of Special Olympics NWT, Mr. Larry Elkin and Ms. Lynn Elkin. We also had Barb Kardash up in the gallery along with our very special guest Kelton Broome, an athlete for Northwest Territories, who probably had to head back off to school or go training for the next Olympics. Welcome to the gallery. Keep up the good work.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Monfwi, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize two Aurora College students who are here with us today. They are second year social work students in the Social Work Program. They are attending on behalf of their Social Work 469 Canadian Social Policy class. They are Kelly Bothamley and Jacq Brasseur. I’d also like to recognize Jane Arychuk, the interim president of the college.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to recognize the social work students from Aurora College, Kelly Bothamley and Jacqueline Brasseur, as well as their instructor, Susan Fitzpatrick, for the Social Work Program.

I’d also like to recognize the Page from Lutselk’e, Darian Marlowe.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. It gives me great pleasure and pride to recognize and welcome my daughters to the gallery. Ms. Diedra Villeneuve and Ms. Candace Lafferty-Villeneuve. I’m glad to have you here to see your hardworking MLA dad.

As well, my constituency assistant, also hard working, Ms. Pearl Norwegian.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I also would like to recognize the students taking the course on Canadian Social Welfare Policy, Kelly and Jacq. I would also like to recognize the instructor Susan Fitzpatrick, a resident of Weledeh.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s my understanding I have three constituents in the gallery and they all belong to the Elkin family, so I’m going to list them in order of importance. So first I’d like to recognize Cappie Elkin, followed by Lynn Elkin and – sorry, Larry – Larry Elkin.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to recognize one of our very hardworking Pages from the Frame Lake riding, Raya Laframboise, who has done great work for the last couple of weeks and I’m sure will continue over the next couple of weeks. I would also like to recognize the Special Olympics people behind me, athletes, coaches and supporters. Welcome to the Assembly.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. I’d like to welcome all visitors here in the gallery today. Thank you for taking an interest in our proceedings today. Thank you for coming.

Item 7, acknowledgements. Item 8, oral questions. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a few questions from my Member’s statement for the Minister of Health and Social Services. I would like to ask the Minister what the waiting time is for elders to get into the long-term care facility in Inuvik.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t know what the waiting time is for the long-term care in Inuvik. I don’t have the waiting list with me at this time.