Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In communities there are very few resources in terms of trying to develop programs and at least sustain and maintain them so that we help each other. The questions I have are for the Minister. It is a known reality that detox centres are very far and few between. At the community level, when people take that very ultimate step, the big step for them is a cry for help, asking for help.

Can the Health Minister describe what typically happens when someone goes to the nursing station and says they want to quit drinking? Mahsi.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Although within the health system we don’t actually have designated beds for people to detoxify, we do have beds so that an individual that is saying that he is ready now to quit and needs to go through detox, then the health centre should be getting in touch with the authority to advise if there are any beds available for that specific individual.

Each case is different. If this person does go into the health centre needing detoxification and is ready to go, then I think it is incumbent upon the health centre to go through their authority and try to find them a bed in one of the hospitals to be able to allow him to detox. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, we have treatment centres, of course, in the NWT. We have very limited access to detox centres, especially at ground level. How do we track the success rate of our alcohol and drug treatment programs? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, one of the things that we found as a bit of a gap in the one treatment centre we have, was determining whether or not we were being successful. We recognize that there are various measurements that can be used to determine the success of treatment. People will be contacted after one year and see if they still remain clean and sober. Then if they start drinking after 13 months, is that considered to be a success story or do we contact them after five years? And if they drink after six years, would that be considered a success story? It’s difficult to determine success unless we’re saying that the individual has stopped drinking or stopped using drugs and has stopped drinking and using drugs for the rest of their lives, essentially, if they felt that there was enough of an issue that they had to go through treatment. It is a very difficult thing to really determine because we don’t know at which point we’re going to make the measurement. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I think my colleagues would agree with me that the measurement that we use on this side of this House is to have more success stories of people being able to arrive at a point where they enjoy sobriety. It is 85 percent of crimes committed that are related to alcohol or drugs. What is Health’s role in ensuring that treatment is available for inmates in the correctional facilities? Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, treatment is available to individuals that are incarcerated, but the success, again, is difficult to determine.

Sometimes individuals will go to treatment, go through their incarceration without any issues, any indications, and once they get out, then at what point do we measure them?

It’s difficult to determine success. You see it. There are successes. There is no question about it. There are a lot of people out there who have successfully quit drinking or have successfully quit using drugs. Again, how they affiliate with the treatment centre that is sitting on the Hay River Reserve is something that we still need to get a closer look at. We are looking at that in the idea of when we are trying to revamp programs in Nats’ejee K’eh. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Nadli.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At the outset of the 17th Assembly, something that I remember

very clearly is that there was a very strong, common theme that we wanted to undertake programs and services that dealt upon preventative steps to ensure that people were leading healthy lifestyles. At the same time, we wanted to ensure that the health care system was in the position to provide information to people so that, in the long run, they would lead healthier lives. What is Health doing to make sure that young people in school understand the impacts of the dangers of alcohol abuse? Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, that work is, again, a difficult type of work. It is not common to talk about alcohol and other addictions such as cigarette smoke and so on in the lower grades. What we need to do is we have to determine at what point that we need to go into the schools, at what age category do we need to target when we start talking about Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and alcoholism, smoking and so on. Sometimes there are some issues with approaching children that are too young in the school with these types of programs. We have to determine at what point we go into the schools.

As far as school programs that go directly into addictions, we know that there are cigarette programs. Don’t be a Butthead is an example. As far as alcohol and other drugs in the school, I don’t have that information, but I don’t think there are other programs pertaining to alcohol and drugs in the schools. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I certainly hope I don’t hurt anyone’s feelings when I

say this, but this government is addicted to the status quo. I am telling you, all we hear is this bunk message over and over again that they don’t want to do anything.

I want to hear today, what has the Minister of Health and Social Services done by way of submission by providing a plan for infrastructure such as a treatment or a detox centre to the FMB, that’s the Financial Management Board, and what can he tell this House today and show this House today that he is working on this particular problem? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is nothing in the capital plan for new treatment centres, new detox centres, as most people in the House know. We have made a decision at the beginning of this government that any infrastructure needed for addictions, treatment of addictions, would be from current infrastructure, existing infrastructure that’s owned by the government and we’re still on that task. We haven’t changed in the first year of this government to all of a sudden make a decision that we’re going to set aside other capital issues or plans that have been on the books for several years and then replace it with treatment centres and detox centres. Thank you.

When we talk about holding the budget line, that’s nothing but malarkey. Everybody in this building would support a treatment centre option submitted to the FMB.

Why isn’t the Minister of Health and Social Services demanding the Financial Management Board approve that submission to build a treatment centre in the Northwest Territories? Thank you.

Again, I’ve got to go back to the fiscal strategy of this government, that we are headed in a direction where we’re going to take a look at some fiscal responsibility, fiscal strategy within the first couple of years, and then within the last couple of years, the House knows that we’re planning on expanding our infrastructure budget. At that point, if this is what we determine is the best use of our dollars, that the best way to address this issue is to put people inside a treatment centre or put six people inside a detox centre and that is the best strategy for alcohol and drugs, then I’ll go down that path. Thank you.

I’m tired of the Health Minister defending the Finance Minister’s job. I’m sorry. When will the Minister stop this bunkum message and finally say he’s going to fight at the Financial Management Board table and demand a treatment centre gets built here in the Northwest Territories, whether it’s in Inuvik, whether it’s in Yellowknife or

Norman Wells that we get this job done? Thank you.

Thank you. First, it’s existing infrastructure. If we’re going to build a treatment centre, if we’re going to develop a treatment centre, rather, we’re going to use existing infrastructure. There is no plan at this point to put a treatment centre anywhere. Number two, the treatment centre we do have is not used to full capacity. We’re going to try to use that treatment centre to its maximum capacity before we add more treatment centres. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This Minister is defending his little committees to run around. We’ve studied this problem to death.

What does the Minister of Health and Social Services think that this committee is going to tell him that we don’t have binders, cases and truckloads of paper that is going to be new? So what does he think that’s going to be new delivered by this committee on the need of a treatment centre in the Northwest Territories, as I said, whether it’s in Inuvik, Yellowknife, Hay River or even Norman Wells?

Thank you. It may not be a tremendous departure from what we already know, but we are going to have buy-in, and in order to get buy-in, it’s a way to move forward on this issue. If the communities come up with a solution themselves, they’re going to be committed to making sure that the solutions that they’re recommending to this forum will work. That’s what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to consult with the people, get the people to tell us what they think the issues are. Yes, we may have done a bunch of reports, I don’t know of a bunch of reports being done sitting on the shelves and things like that, I know there’s been some health reports done, but the thing is, I don’t think individuals have gone to the communities and documented what the communities want to do in order to address this issue. That’s what I’m trying to do. I’m trying to get the communities to tell us. It’s been long enough that this government and other governments have always told the communities this is the way we’re going to address your issue. So it’s time for them to tell us how they want their issue addressed. Thank you.

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I just want to follow up on the need for a

professional treatment centre here in the Northwest Territories, and I’m with my colleagues, I think that’s one of the things that we have been hearing from our constituents as well. I don’t know why the Minister has to hear it again.

So I’d like to ask the Minister what kind of strategy or plan does he have for giving us a modern addictions treatment facility that includes detoxification. Thank you.

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