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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. For the life of this Assembly and longer we’ve been hearing reports that all is not well in the land of health care governance. The Beaufort Health and Social Services Authority is one of four regional authorities where the Board of Management was dissolved and replaced with a public administrator.

The people of the Beaufort-Delta deserve to know how this situation is being resolved. We’ve been told the board structure as a whole isn’t working. The mandate of the board is too broad and ill-defined. This has led to a fragmented experience for patients, inefficiencies and cost overruns. Staffing issues have also come up with boards competing against each other for the same positions.

On February 8, 2012, the previous Minister of Health said in this House that his desire was to reinstate the board in the Beaufort-Delta within the year. Then on June 6, 2012, the Minister said he planned to put an advisory board in place. My understanding is that an advisory board would have less control and autonomy than a board of management. The idea behind advisory boards is to centralize health care administration so that things are run more efficiently and cost effectively.

At the end of May 2013, the Minister said work on a new board has been on hold while the new CEO is being hired in the Beaufort-Delta. Then the Minister stated, “The process of appointing a new board is going to start immediately... Once we have a good system that we think we are comfortable with right across the Territories, we are going to put the board in place.” He said, “I hope to have the Beaufort-Delta health board in place, whether it is an advisory board or a management board, before the end of this government.”

Then in August of this year, Debbie DeLancey, the deputy minister of Health, told the media that before boards can be restored, the roles and responsibilities need to be updated and outlined. “Our legislation is quite out of date,” she said. “It’s quite vague with respect to what the responsibilities

of a board actually are and what the responsibilities of the ministry are…”

I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted

I’ll just go a little further back.

“It’s quite vague with respect to what the responsibilities of a board actually are and what the responsibilities of the ministry are, so it needs some updating. There needs to be some clarity.” On that point, we agree. More clarity is needed. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Blake. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. Item 6, acknowledgements. Item 7, oral questions. Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As an MLA, we get concerns from constituents on many topics. One concern I’ve had raised recently by constituents is in the matter of trying to advance in the workplace or be direct appointed, if that’s a policy that’s applicable to them. It seems that there is information about professional development, about applying for and successfully obtaining a job that they want that is not available to them.

I would like to ask the new Minister of Human Resources if the method or policy of direct appointments is one that is still employed by this government on a large scale or on any scale. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Minister of Human Resources, Mr. Beaulieu.

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Yes, the various departments still go forward with direct appointments. Direct appointments are made by Cabinet. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, could the Minister outline for us briefly what is the purpose of direct appointments? We had a Minister’s statement on Aboriginal inclusion just recently in this House.

I would like to ask the Minister, for the most part, what is the purpose of the direct appointment policy? Thank you.

Direct appointments are used often when a competitive process will not give better results than somebody that we have in the system that is eligible for direct appointment. Also, Mr. Speaker, direct appointments can be used for the advancement of an Aboriginal candidate that would be qualified that would be a front runner for a

competitive process. So then we’d skip through the competitive process and go to a direct appointment for advancement purposes. Thank you.

How does the potential or possibility of a direct appointment come to the attention of Cabinet? What is the process for it getting there? What instigates it? Does it take a director, a deputy minister; do the Ministers themselves hear of opportunities for direct appointments? What is it that triggers the review of a direct appointment? Thank you.

Direct appointments are initiated by departments. So if the departments have a need in a specific area where they feel that fulfilling that position with a direct appointment, usually again from internal resources, sometimes from individuals in other departments and sometimes bringing someone else in that is new. The departments initiate the direct appointment. They are vetted through various deputy ministers within the government and from the deputy minister, then it’s presented to Cabinet who have the appropriate Minister. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask the Minister if an employee themselves can instigate a direct appointment. Can they express interest in a position and bring it to the attention of their superiors that they would like to be considered for a direct appointment to a specific job opening? Thank you.

I do not believe any of the departments would be closed to that idea. I think that if there’s a good performing individual in the system that sees there’s an advancement opportunity within their department or other departments and sees there’s going to be a competitive process or a job that has become vacant and they have shown interest in it, I believe that we would facilitate people that may be interested in the position, for a direct appointment by their own request. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Member for Range Lake, Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is probably the third or fourth time in as little as four months I’ve had to remind Members of Cabinet, especially the Department of Health and Social Services, as per page 21 of the Guiding Principles and Process Conventions of the 17th Assembly,

number 3. “Except under extraordinary circumstances, Members of the Legislative Assembly should be made aware of and have

opportunity to discuss significant announcements, changes, consultations or initiatives before they are released to the public or introduced in the Legislative Assembly. Use of the element of surprise is inconsistent with consensus government.”

Mr. Speaker, this morning I find myself reading News/North introducing a brand new pilot project initiative for youth addictions treatment that will be launched soon in the Deh Cho. Funny thing, Mr. Speaker, as deputy chair of Standing Committee on Social Programs, this is the first time I’ve seen this information and was surprised to read about it in the local paper.

My questions today are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. Can the Minister of Health and Social Services please inform the Members here what exactly is this new youth addictions treatment pilot project announcement? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Minister of Health, Mr. Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This initiative that was identified in the paper today is actually an action item that was identified in the Shared Path Towards Wellness, A Mental Health and Addictions Action Plan 2012-2015, which has both been tabled in this House but also brought forward for discussion with committee. I will check Hansard over the last couple of sessions, but I’m pretty sure the Minister of Health also mentioned it in this House. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yes, I’m very familiar with the initiatives the Minister tabled in the House. Unfortunately, this is a pilot project which had nothing to do with those recommendations per se and was never brought to committee for detail.

Can the Minister indicate here what are the terms of reference for this new pilot project and is this open to all youth across the Northwest Territories?

Youth addictions prevention promotion activities are key factors in addressing mental health and addictions in the Northwest Territories. This is, once again, outlined in a Shared Path Towards Wellness, A Mental Health and Addictions Action Plan 2012-2015. Within that are a number of current projects that are ongoing which include training of health and social services authorities staff to use early intervention screening tools and counselling techniques to more effectively identify and support youth in dealing with their addictions and/or mental health issues.

Also, the project that the Member is talking about today, working with the Deh Cho communities to develop a youth on-the-land pilot program, this pilot project is currently in the planning stages and will be implemented during the spring/summer of 2014 in the Deh Cho. This is a pilot project to help us

develop a program that we’ll hopefully be able to roll out to different communities and regions in the Northwest Territories. This pilot project is where we’re going to learn and develop something that we hope works. Once again, this is an initiative that has been discussed and identified within the action plan. We want to work with youth throughout the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I assume from the Minister’s response that this pilot project is going to be only reserved for youth in the Deh Cho. I guess my question was: Will all youth have an opportunity in the pilot project? We didn’t quite hear that today here.

Can the Minister indicate what are the budget parameters in reference to this pilot project and where did he get the money from? Thank you.

One hundred thousand dollars of existing territorial services program budget for 2013 has been reallocated to cover the expenses associated with the initial planning and this pilot study. Once again, we’re going to run a pilot project in the Deh Cho and when we figure out what aspects of it work, how to make a program that works across the Territories, we’ll certainly work with committee to find a way to roll that out in the rest of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Dolynny.

I’m assuming this $100,000 oops was a little misnomer that happened during the changeover. I’ll give that to the Minister.

Can the Minister reassure the Members of this House that all future significant announcements or initiatives from his department will be properly vetted with members of the Standing Committee on Social Programs for the remainder of his term? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.