This is page numbers 3229 – 3260 of the Hansard for the 17th Assembly, 4th Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was communities.

Topics

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.

Closure Of Nats’ejee K’eh Treatment Centre
Members’ Statements

October 29th, 2013

Robert Bouchard

Robert Bouchard Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I applaud all the Members here talking about drugs and alcohol, addictions and facilities. This summer we definitely were frustrated with the process that was in place from the closure of the only drug and alcohol facility in the Northwest Territories. This affected three MLAs, the Member for Deh Cho and the two main Members from Hay River.

There were six positions at K’atlodeeche and eight from Hay River. Those people were in the community. Those were people that were given very short notice that their jobs were done. There are 14 families that have been affected by this closure, and that’s not answering any of the addictions issues that we have in the Northwest Territories, as my colleagues just mentioned.

I have no problem and I don’t disagree that in some instances on-the-land programs work. Youth definitely need support. The difficulty is how this information was given to us. We sit here as MLAs on a steady basis going to meeting after meeting, discussing issues a year in advance of what we’re going to do, and we get notice a week before the actual closure of the facility was going to happen.

The three MLAs that were affected have been asked on a daily basis for the last three or four months since the closure, where were you guys in supporting this. Did you guys support this? Why didn’t you guys say something to the community? Because we got sideswiped. The department, the Minister sideswiped us. You know, shame on the government for doing this to us. My colleagues here in Social Programs have spent hours discussing this and they were told last minute as well.

I understand that the closure is complete, but this government has to come up with a solution. What is going to happen to that facility? Is that facility going to be mothballed and another facility that’s closed throughout the Territories is never used when we’re sending people from the Northwest Territories to the South again? Don’t we have a solution that we can do in house, in the Northwest Territories? We promote this as business, we promote this on a steady basis that we want to do things in the North. Why didn’t the department, when they decided to

close this facility, have a solution for the use of that facility?

The problem is larger than that. What is happening with other addictions like cocaine, solvents and prescription drugs? The department has no solutions, yet they’re willing to close the facility as a kneejerk reaction.

It’s a shame for the government to do this and I do not appreciate it. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.

Frederick Blake Jr.

Frederick Blake Jr. Mackenzie Delta

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This Assembly needs to prioritize the importance of our community members who wish to take programs to help themselves and their families to live a healthier lifestyle. The recent shutdown of the Nats’ejee K’eh Centre in Hay River has caused great concern for Northerners. As a result, clients are now looking at similar programs in the South.

Clients who wish to lead sober lives and who wish to go for treatment and counselling services should be given the highest priority. Rather, they are told to stay sober for one month and then we’ll send you to treatment. In most cases, some clients need help as soon as possible and have a hard time leading that one-month sobriety.

My concern is that we lose too many of our people to alcohol and drugs, and if we can help them when they need that extra support, we should be looking at alternative methods and getting them the help that they wish to receive.

I’d like to go back in history. In the late ‘70s there was an alcohol centre established in Fort McPherson. The founding members took it upon themselves to go through an alcohol and drug treatment program in Alberta and went on to get further training so that they, in turn, could help members of their community. The success rate of the community programs that were offered in the 1980s is extremely high. We have many of our community members in each of our ridings that have 20, 30 and 40 years of sobriety. Similar programs are being practised in some of our communities through various funding organizations, but we all know funds are limited and come with criteria. We need to sit down and analyse what’s working and what’s not working.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Blake. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. Mr. Menicoche.

Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery
Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery

Kevin A. Menicoche

Kevin A. Menicoche Nahendeh

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. It gives me great pleasure to recognize in this House again, my partner, Lucyanne, step-daughter Brittany Jewel, and a big special welcome to my daughter, Deidra Villeneuve.

Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery
Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Blake.

Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery
Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery

Frederick Blake Jr.

Frederick Blake Jr. Mackenzie Delta

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to recognize Lucyanne and Brittany Kendo, originally from Tsiigehtchic.

Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery
Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Blake. I would like to welcome everybody here today. Thank you for taking the time and taking in our proceedings here today in the House.

Item 6, acknowledgements. Mr. Yakeleya.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

50

TH

Norman Yakeleya

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to recognize two distinguished couples, Andrew John and Marie Therese Kenny and John and Camilla Tutcho, who celebrated their 50

th wedding anniversaries on September 23

rd in Deline.

These two couples are well respected throughout the Sahtu communities and the North for their traditional knowledge and traditional contributions to our youth.

On behalf of the Sahtu, I’d like to congratulate them and wish them a continuous lifetime of happiness. Mahsi cho to their children and grandchildren.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Item 7, oral questions. The Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Kevin A. Menicoche

Kevin A. Menicoche Nahendeh

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Earlier I spoke about not having a full-time mental health worker in the community of Fort Liard. I would like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services when will there be a full-time mental health worker in the community of Fort Liard.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are many vacancies in the Health and Social Services department and health and social services authorities. Specific to the full-time mental health worker in Liard, I don’t have the information on exactly when that individual position would be filled, but we do know that it’s one of the positions we are having difficulties filling. We do have a system that we are trying to employ. The Member referred to Health and Social Services taking over the human resources section to fill the vacant positions. That’s exactly what we’re doing. We’re expecting that we would have a good plan in place in March of this coming year that will give us a better handle on how and when to fill all the vacancies that we have across the North.

Kevin A. Menicoche

Kevin A. Menicoche Nahendeh

I know that with Human Resources we went through great strides of improving our recruitment, including a Regional Recruitment Strategy as well. I would just like to know, just in terms of that, has the Department of Health and Social Services undertaken a parallel type of move, because the real question is the sooner we get mental health workers and social service workers into the community of Fort Liard, the sooner we can establish consistent health and mental wellness approach in that community.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

Yes, the Department of Health and Social Services works in partnership with Human Resources and Aurora College to develop some supports that would put a number of initiatives in place that will allow us to recruit and retain positions at all levels throughout our system. Thank you.

Kevin A. Menicoche

Kevin A. Menicoche Nahendeh

Mr. Speaker, has the department, as well, addressed the concern about the high turnover rate in small communities? Are they looking at any type of programming or systems to help these professionals stay in the community longer and thereby provide a better service to the community and residents? Thank you.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

Mr. Speaker, as I indicated in my response, we are going through the recruitment aspect of it. Also as important, if not more important, is the retention aspect of the job. We recognize that we have a high vacancy rate. I think we have a vacancy rate of 26 percent in social workers. I do believe that is the highest number of any particular profession in the health and social services system at this time. Therefore, I have actually met with all of the CEOs at the Joint Senior Management Committee. One of the priorities that I have given to them was to develop a recruitment and retention system for our system for both health and social services. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

Kevin A. Menicoche

Kevin A. Menicoche Nahendeh

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Some of the successes in the Education

department in the smaller communities is hiring couples and/or seasoned teachers that are willing to stay in communities. I would just like to know, will the Minister and will the recruitment department as it were, be looking at those kinds of strategies to keep people in the communities for longer and longer stays? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

Mr. Speaker, I’m not sure we spent a lot of time on tying in other professions going into the community. One of the main things that we’ve discovered, certainly, are that when the RCMP moves into a community, they often come with a spouse that is also a professional, whether a social worker or often a nurse, so we utilize that employee as well at that time. The problem with that is that the RCMP stay two years, or three years if they ask to stay the additional year. Often the partners of the other professionals that are coming into community also end up being short term. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Jane Groenewegen

Jane Groenewegen Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. I think it’s safe to say that the Minister doesn’t have a magic wand. This is not a problem with an easy solution and that’s why we highlight it and bring it up here again today. I believe that when we are identifying a problem, if we have any ideas about what some solutions might be, it might also be good to bring those up as well.

We have tried a lot of things. Let’s not say that our government has done nothing to address addictions because we certainly have tried a lot of things. Unfortunately, they have not addressed the problem to the degree that it certainly needs to be addressed.

As a result of the Minister’s Forum on Addictions that went around and did consultation, some health care officials came to Hay River, met with our local Metis government and I was fortunate enough to be invited to that meeting. In that meeting there was discussion of a new model that I have not known of ever being tried in the Northwest Territories before. That is sending professionals, not taking the people out of their communities, but sending professionals or a group of specialists into the community to work with the community to have people receive counselling and treatment in their own community, in their own space.

I would like to ask the Minister what is the status of that idea that was shared with us that night. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.