I know that one of our issues and our challenges that we have in the Northwest Territories is resources and infrastructure to house some of these individuals. We are going through the same thing. We also have the long-term care issues. We have an increase in our seniors population, and with that might come dementia and other areas that might require more services.

Does the government have some type of program with out-of-province jurisdictions that provide services to the GNWT? If so, how many NWT residents are accessing those southern placements? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

In the Northwest Territories there are a number of long-term care facilities throughout the Territories in different communities and regions. The Housing Corp has done some pretty impressive work in getting some infrastructure on the ground to provide types of support. There is a dementia centre here in Yellowknife. So, we do provide a significant number of services to individuals needing it.

I’m not sure I fully understand the Member’s question. Is he asking how many seniors are utilizing long-term care facilities outside the Northwest Territories? I’m not too sure what he’s asking, but I’d be happy to sit down with the Member, get the specifics and get back to him with the information. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I should have been a little bit more clear. I was looking at psychiatric services, out-of-territory services that are provided by other government or other NGOs.

What does the Minister have planned, looking at some of the stats that we have in the Beaufort-Delta? What is his plan, working with the health

authority, to address these high, direct counselling services as well as these new referrals that are putting a strain on our current counselling services that we have in the Beaufort-Delta region right now? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As I already indicated, the Dalhousie psychiatric partnership has really helped us create some stability within the psychiatric locum pool and has allowed for the expansion of psychiatric services throughout the use of telehealth. On top of that, we do have 65 community counseling positions, including community wellness workers, mental health and addictions counsellors, clinical supervisors, managers, as well as some funded NGO positions to provide community counselling services in the communities. They do things like assessments and crisis intervention, referrals for treatment counselling, follow-up and after-care. So, there are a significant number of positions out there doing this type of work, and with the addition of the advanced psychiatric, we should be able to take down some of that workload and get better care, better health and a better future for our residents. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The honourable Minister responsible for the Workers’ Safety and Compensation Commission, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. WSCC was first informed about the exposure on August 10, 2013, and they sent me a briefing note on August 14, 2013. Those are the days that have been identified. Mahsi.

If the Minister and Cabinet were informed August 14, 2013, why were Regular

Members and the public at large not informed of such critical health and safety findings? Thank you.

Part of the mandate of the WSCC is to first deal with the workers and the employers. In this instance, the general public were not at risk of exposure but were confined from the contaminated zone on the Giant property. The general public does not have access to the mine site or the contaminated zone. Worker/employer information is confidential and cannot be disclosed, so that’s part of the reason why it was kept confidential to the parties. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Maybe the Minister can elaborate on what activities the cleanup workers were doing to put them at such a high risk of exposure. Thank you.

The workers were in the midst of cleaning out the asbestos and arsenic from the roaster complex at Giant and they were wearing the protective equipment required at that point. In some cases equipment fails, and in all the cases WSCC and company are still trying to find out how the workers were exposed. During that time frame, the WSCC were giving directions to the company on how to eliminate the exposure and WSCC also immediately closed the project down until the company determined what caused the spike. Mahsi.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to thank the Minister for that, but can the Minister inform the House as to what exactly is being done now for these exposed NWT workers to this highly toxic arsenic, and when can the House expect a full risk assessment of this arsenic exposure for public review? Thank you.

WSCC is dealing with the workers that were exposed, to ensure that they have all the information that’s required to deal with the exposure.

The low-level arsenic exposure is not a substance to cause any instant illness. It can manifest over long periods of time. That’s the information that we received. WSCC is also ensuring that it is not manifesting to a latent disease of the workers. Those are some of the areas that we are currently monitoring. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are to the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. My constituency, of course, is

situated very close to the southern NWT with easy highway access. Basically the Deh Cho, in the heart of the region, there was tremendous forest fire activity last year that basically rendered a lot of the forests highly impacted by an unfortunate natural occurrence. Yet at the same time, it’s February at this point and summer is dawning. This matter has been raised in the House before.

My question to the Minister is: What changes to legislation need to be made in order for the commercial harvest of wild mushrooms to be viable in the NWT? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There’s a major piece of legislation that has to be redone. That’s the Forest Management Act. It’s a major legislative undertaking. Some preliminary work will get done in the life of this government, but it will be carried through to conclusion in the life of the 18th Assembly. Thank you.

This matter, as I’ve pointed out, has been brought to the House before and there are some entrepreneurs at the local community that are poised to take advantage of this opportunity, especially at the local community level where there are very few employment and business opportunities.

What is the Minister prepared to do to help out the communities to basically prepare for the commercial harvest of wild mushrooms? Mahsi.

ITI has put on, and will continue to put on, workshops to assist communities and interested individuals on the ins and outs of the morel mushroom harvest, both in terms of the actual harvesting and then looking to the secondary piece, which of course is marketing the product. Thank you.

There seems to be a call of action for this government to put in place some provisions to ensure that the commercial harvest activities of mushrooms are, first of all, regulated. At the same time, there’s a level of control to ensure that this very precious natural resource is protected, so it seems that the Minister needs to do something.

Is the Minister prepared to step towards an interim provision to protect mushrooms? Would the Minister consider establishing immediately an arrangement with First Nations on their traditional lands to put in place a traditional knowledge study of morels? Mahsi.

If there’s a specific request, ITI and the government, of course, would work with the Aboriginal governments on land that is identified or a part of a settlement area.

On public lands we have the provisions put in place that we are able now to do under the current legislation and we will continue to do that. We, as well, offer these workshops to folks at large.

As the Member indicated, the year after fire season, there tends to be a bumper crop of morel mushrooms, and there’s an industry that tracks these fires across Canada, and the harvesters will appear to pick as soon as the harvest season commences. So, we’re prepared to work with the Aboriginal governments and community governments. Thank you.