Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister for that information. I would look forward to seeing the bonus information, whatever it is, hopefully by department or by division.

I’d like to just ask the Minister, the report from a year ago suggested that legislation might be required. I’d like to know from the Minister whether or not he feels legislation is required to make sure that this happens every year. If this Minister is not around, will Ministers coming behind him take the same proactive approach? So do we need legislation, do we need a policy, do we need regulations? Thank you.

Thank you. I don’t believe we do. I think now that it’s posted, I think that will become standard practice. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve got some questions today for the Minister of Health in regard to his Minister’s statement on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission support. In his statement he makes reference to what we fund addictions counselors, on-the-land programs and treatment centres for residents. I’d like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services what centres he’s referring to. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m referring to the one treatment centre we have in the Northwest Territories, Nats’ejee K’eh, and then, when required, people are sent to treatment centres in the South also.

Thank you. Can the Minister provide us with the numbers of out-of-territory patients, clients that are constantly going to treatment centres down south and how many different treatment centres down south is he referring to? Thank you.

Thank you. I don’t have that information with me here, but I can provide that information to the Member. That’s the number of different treatment centres and the number of people attending those treatment centres. No problem. Thank you.

Thank you. Throughout the term of this Assembly, at the beginning I was asking questions in regard to the waiting list of members that need counselling, and in reference to the Minister’s statement, Inuvik specifically, there’s a three-month waiting list for anybody to get counselling, and with the TRC event even more are happening. So I was wondering if the Minister or his department has addressed this issue in Inuvik and if he’s seeing any growing trend in the communities that hosted a TRC event this past year. Thank you.

Thank you. Aside from what is already in the budget for community counselling, we are trying to now work with our department and within our department to develop wellness plans with all of the communities. Also, tomorrow there will be a Mental Health and Addictions Action Plan released. We’re going to use that plan over the next three years to try to address the backlog that was created by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s work, and then also having the federal government really not having enough resources at the communities to address all of the issues that came about from people trying to address their long-term issues due to the residential school. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is an issue that I’ve been seeing even before I got into the House as a Member. But continuing on, I see some good work also by the Minister of Justice in terms of the NSCC facility. Is the Minister working with the Minister of Justice to help him develop these counselling programs for the inmates? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the program at the North Slave Correctional Centre is not yet developed, but anything that this department can do to assist Justice in the development of counselling and the work inside the correctional centres, we are prepared to do. Thank you.

The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. During my Member’s statement today, I talked about the need for regulation and certainly legislation for the areas of chiropractic and massage therapy. There are a number of groups out there that have this request, such as naturopaths as well. There seems to be some consensus built around chiropractic and massage therapists that legislation could come in and we could develop some regulations to provide some public assurance that the government is watching and making sure that our citizens are protected. My question is to the Minister of Health and Social Services. What is the status of any potential new legislation and regulation to the areas that I have highlighted already? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Department of Health and Social Services is developing an umbrella health and social services professionals act that will regulate a number of professions under one statute. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, that is good news. From the Minister I would like to find out which professionals or particular areas is he studying and considering for inclusion in this particular bill. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, some of the ones – this may not be all of them – that we are looking at are licenced practical nurses, psychologists, medical service providers, and also we are hearing lots of information, getting a lot of information from naturopaths. So there could be quite a few of them under one umbrella. We have

hired some legal people to look at it. We have a contract with them throughout this year and next year to make sure that we are doing this right and that we are not infringing on anybody’s legal rights. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I want to specifically note and highlight the fact that the Minister didn’t mention chiropractic or massage therapists. I am not suggesting it isn’t in his list before him. With that said, would the Minister be willing to provide a detailed list as to whom they have spent time consulting with and when? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I’m sure that isn’t a problem. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The next big question to this is: Will there be any type of public discussion or development of any type of decision paper to move forward on this particular initiative? If there will be, when can we expect some detail on that particular initiative? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, once the legislative proposal is developed and we share that, we will go through the regular process. We will assume that this one will require a considerable amount of consultation.