This is page numbers 2863 - 2918 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 income.

Topics

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Time for question period has expired. Item 9, written questions. Item 10, returns to written questions. Mr. Hawkins.

Robert Hawkins

Robert Hawkins Yellowknife Centre

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to return to item 8 on the orders of the day, oral questions. Thank you.

---Unanimous consent denied

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Item 11, replies to opening address. Mr. Hawkins.

Robert Hawkins

Robert Hawkins Yellowknife Centre

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent once again, to try to return to item 8 on the orders of the day, oral questions. Thank you.

---Unanimous consent denied

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Item 12, petitions. Item 13, reports of committees on the review of bills. Item 14, tabling of documents. Mr. Abernethy.

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document, entitled “Building on the Strengths of Northerners - A Strategic Framework Toward the Elimination of Poverty in the Northwest Territories, June 2013.” Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Premier McLeod.

Bob McLeod

Bob McLeod Yellowknife South

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document, entitled “What We Heard About...Land is Life: Towards the GNWT Land Use and Sustainability Framework, May 2013.” Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Minister Ramsay.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

TABLED DOCUMENT 102-17(4):
CORRIDORS FOR CANADA III:
BUILDING FOR PROSPERITY, JUNE 2013

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following three documents, entitled “Resource Exploration in the Sahtu Settlement Area: Opportunities and Challenges, May 2013,” “Growing Forward: Small Scale Foods Program 2012 Annual Report,” and the “Take a Kid Trapping and Harvesting Report, 2011-2012.” I would also like to table the following document, entitled “Corridors for Canada III: Building for Prosperity, June 2012.” Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. I have two tabled documents for myself. Pursuant to Section 21(1) of the Legislative Assembly Retiring Allowances Act and Section 11(1) of the Supplementary Retiring Allowances Act, I wish to table the annual report for the Legislative Assembly's Pension Plan, March 31, 2012.

In accordance to Section 21(1) of the Retiring Allowances Act and Section 11(1) of the Supplementary Retiring Allowances Act, I hereby table the Pension Administration Report for the Supplementary Retiring Allowances Act, March 31, 2012. Thank you.

Mr. Hawkins.

Robert Hawkins

Robert Hawkins Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to table a document. It's an illustration regarding the allocation of new resource revenues. I'll be drawing attention to it later today during a motion. It needs to be before the House.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Dolynny.

Daryl Dolynny

Daryl Dolynny Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to table a document referring to access to information for Regular Members. This is a two-page document out of Hansard from October 13, 1994, page 265 and page 266. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Item 15, notices of motion. Item 16, notices of motion for first reading of bills. Item 17, motions. Mr. Dolynny.

Daryl Dolynny

Daryl Dolynny Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. WHEREAS very few organ donations are made in the NWT and no transplants are taking place;

AND WHEREAS the NWT's Human Tissue Act is extremely out of date and contains no legal definition of death for the purpose of transplantation;

AND WHEREAS the NWT's act lacks protection from criminal and civil liability for parties acting in good faith and without negligence;

AND WHEREAS the NWT's act contains no mention of who may carry out organ removal, beyond “therapeutic purposes,” “medical education,” and “medical research;”

AND WHEREAS the NWT's act does not explicitly provide for transplants between living bodies, such as for a kidney donation to a relative;

AND WHEREAS the NWT's act does not define what is considered to be “tissue;”

AND WHEREAS the NWT's act contains no penalties for violations of its provisions, and does not explicitly ban the sale of body parts or benefitting from donation of organs or tissue;

AND WHEREAS it is not clear in the NWT act's consent provision if a “spouse” would include a common-law partner;

AND WHEREAS the NWT's act has no clause dealing with confidentiality of information and how it may be used;

AND WHEREAS the NWT's act does not provide for the Commissioner or Minister to make regulations pertaining to such things as the qualifications of physicians involved in the donation and transplant process, or the establishment of a coordinating body to facilitate donations and use of donated organs or tissue;

NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Sahtu, that the Government of the Northwest Territories revise or replace the Human Tissue Act in order to create a framework for organ donation that reflects the best practices across Canada;

AND FURTHER, that the government provide a comprehensive response to this motion within 120 days.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The motion is in order. To the motion. Mr. Dolynny.

Daryl Dolynny

Daryl Dolynny Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One of the saddest things in the world is seeing a loved one die when they could have easily been saved. Unfortunately, this seems to happen in Canada more often than we'd like to admit and it's happened to residents of the Northwest Territories. And, Mr. Speaker, I've been personally affected by this myself.

I'd like to start with some facts. A single organ donor can save up to eight lives, and tissue can help up to 50 other people. More than 4,000 Canadians are on waitlists for transplants. The demand is not being met, often with tragic results.

Financially, a single kidney transplant saves the health system about $250,000 every five years. The estimated savings of kidney transplant alone was $800 million in Canada in 2009. One year, Mr. Speaker.

So why are we doing this? Saving lives, saving quality of life, or is it about saving money? Very few people in our territory donate their organs, but it's not because they don't want to, it's mainly because it's so hard to do it here.

Again some facts. Canada's system of organ donation is supported by legislation in each province or territory, but the NWT's Human Tissue Act is hopelessly out of date. Even if we improved our ability to donate organs, our legal framework is seriously deficient. We have to correct that and catch up with the rest of Canada.

Our act was passed in 1988. It is a very short act, only a page and a half, and it has been amended only once. My review of other acts across Canada revealed just how inadequate this act truly is. For example, we have to enable and protect our health system, doctors and donors if we are going to start saving some lives through organ and tissue donation and transplants. We have to make sure doctors have no conflict of interest but to protect the privacy of donors. We have to address liability issues. We need definitions such as what is tissue and what is...(inaudible)...and, yes, we need to give the Commissioner or Minister the authority to make some appropriate regulations.

It sounds complicated, but in reality it isn't really hard to do at all. There are many excellent laws in Canada, let alone the rest of the world.

We assume it's a big issue, and in reality, this is not a lengthy act. It should be stated that revising and replacing our act will not tax the expertise of our Health department or our fine lawyers in our justice system. I would be pleased to turn over all my research to get this ball rolling, Mr. Speaker. This work is long, long overdue. This issue has been raised by many Members in this House going back to at least 1994. That's when our former colleague, Mr. Tony Whitford, began a long push for volunteer organ donation. MLA Groenewegen gave it another try in 1998 with no luck as well. MLA Charles Dent raised the issue again in 2001 and our colleague Mr. Miltenberger promised to investigate the situation. In 2002 Mr. Miltenberger announced a task force on organ donation. Mr. Speaker, it even included Dr. Corriveau, who works with us today, but there seems to be no record of this report or action plan. Quite frankly, who knows? It may never have been finished.

In 2009 MLA Hawkins urged the Health Minister, Sandy Lee, to take some action, but again, as usual, nothing happened. This shows sustained effort in this House that successive governments have put it aside or ignored over the years.

Improving the Human Tissue Act is a necessary first step in improving our system. We owe a functioning system of tissue donation to our residents and to other Canadians. Let's be clear. Right now, if one of our residents needs a kidney or a heart or a lung or even a cornea, they depend 100 percent on Canadians in other jurisdictions. We aren't helping, but we do benefit from the generosity of others.

It was asked in this House a number of times for information and statistics, and the only stats we have been given from the Department of Health and Social Services is that 22 NWT patients had a kidney transplant in the 15 years ending 2010. Twenty-six NWT residents received organ and tissue transplants in just five years from 1995 to 2000. Mr. Speaker, we need more statistics, as well, to support our facts, and I know that given a chance, the people of the Northwest Territories will help each other out as other Canadians. We are generous to a fault and we do so in every other way of our being here in the North.

What is the value of life? Just ask someone whose life was saved or a person who helped save another's life. To sum it all up, we have a good many reasons to overhaul or replace our Human Tissue Act.

I sincerely thank my colleagues for the support on this leading up to today's motion. I hope that through some hope and force I can extend my Cabinet colleagues here an opportunity to vote in favour of this motion as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. To the motion. Mr. Yakeleya.

Norman Yakeleya

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just a few words to thank Mr. Dolynny for bringing this motion to the floor. When I first looked at it some time ago and Mr. Hawkins, as Mr. Dolynny pointed out, I didn't really think much about this from an Aboriginal perspective. When we pass away, we are buried with all our parts. I had a hard time to come to grips with this, not until I heard some reports that a young man here in Yellowknife saved lives in Edmonton. I thought that was something. It must have taken a sacrifice by the family, just coming into a belief of a person who is deceased and how you do that with a loved one. I had a hard time understanding that at first, but when I heard the reports on the radio that there was a young man who saved six people's lives because of what we know now today of the miracle of surgery and medical use and how we can save another life even though we are no longer here on this land here.

I was happy to second the motion in regard to having the government look at it and say is this possible. How can we have people in the Northwest Territories who can help other people in the North or in southern Canada? How can we put a more updated legislation together that we can come and have some discussion on? It doesn't mean we're going to do it. There are going to be other factors that they're going to come into drafting this legislation like they do with other LPs, that we have a good discussion.

We need a starting point, and I think the motion calls for some discussion point, so if we look at possibly legislation within the two years of this government to look at something that's worthwhile, support the people like this young man's family, and looking at ways that we can help each other in Canada. I think that my saying yes to support this motion is by bringing it to the floor. Thank you, Mr. Dolynny, for bringing this motion forward.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. To the motion. Mr. Bromley.

Bob Bromley

Bob Bromley Weledeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I also speak in support of this motion. The motion really does speak for itself. It's laid out quite well here, and I thank my colleagues for bringing this forward.

Legislation is overdue. Obviously, 25 years old this year, and only one and half pages, very few amendments. The definitions are clearly out of date and there is no protection from liability. We know that our residents are accepting organs and it's extending their lives, cutting our health costs right here in the Northwest Territories.

There is no reason why we shouldn't be participating, and I know that our residents would be signing up. I know one of the issues is apparently we don't have a mechanism for somebody to use their signature to indicate that they can have their organs donated after their death. Simple things like that. I know there are extra challenges in the Northwest Territories related to our many communities that are remote and many situations are remote. People need to be maintained on life support systems and so on, so there are challenges here and it's trying, but Northerners are used to these sorts of conditions.

I know also that we have partners that help out, the Alberta Health ministry and the HOPE Foundation and so on, and they will always be there for us, but I think we have now the maturity and the time to move on this. I express my support. I will be voting in support.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. To the motion. Mr. Moses.

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last year on October 31st, I made a Member's statement and asked questions of the Minister of Health and Social Services on stem cell donation, dealing with cancer and leukemia and those types of cancers and how it can be prevented, how we can increase our database so we get more people signing up to be donors to save people's lives. This goes along the same lines of something that I had pushed for last year, so obviously, I will be voting in support of this motion.

It's a motion that shows action needs to be done to update and modernize the current act that we have. With the greater prevalence of diseases and illnesses in this day and age, we have to find ways that we can protect the residents of the Northwest Territories, and throughout all of Canada, for that matter, and be able to save lives, like I said. It's something that I do promote, and promote having people be educated and be aware of how to become a donor to such a good cause.

I will support this motion. I do thank Mr. Dolynny for bringing the motion forward, Mr. Yakeleya for seconding it, and all Members that are speaking in favour of this motion today.