Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to take this one step forward. Does the government or the Minister know of any program that provides for reaching out to seniors who are currently living in their own accommodation to see how they are doing health-wise, expense-wise?

You go into buildings and you read in newspapers now and it says if you’re renting accommodation and you’re spending more than 30 percent of your household income on rent, come to the Housing Corporation and we’ll give you a subsidy. I’m not saying that’s a bad program; I’m saying that’s a very a proactive program.

I’d like to know what is our government doing to ensure that we actually know what’s going on with seniors who may not be coming to the local health centre, may not be coming to the local clinic or may

not be members of the local seniors’ society. What are we doing to reach out to those who may be in their own homes and who are suffering under the weight of either health challenges or cost of living challenges?

That’s an interesting question and interesting concept. One of the things we are doing is the Seniors’ Handbook, that I already mentioned, that identifies the different types of programs. That is distributed to seniors in the territory and they have access to it through their local and territorial seniors’ societies. But with respect to any other push-type activity, I will talk to the department to see what we have and I will get back to the Member.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I just want to follow up, as well, on nursing in small communities. The issue in Wrigley was they had the services there. They had policing and they had nursing. That was consequently withdrawn. So there are examples of nursing in small communities previously. We are asking again, let’s get these nurses back in the communities.

What progress has the department made towards hiring full-time nurses in Wrigley and other smaller communities? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The community of Wrigley falls under the Tlicho Health and Social Services Authority, so the department has obviously been working with them to try to find a… Sorry, Dehcho Health and Social Services. Everyone looked at me all of a sudden. That can’t be a good thing, right?

It falls under the responsibility of the Dehcho Health and Social Services Authority. We have been working with them in the same way that we’ve been working with the Beaufort-Delta to try to find solutions for the small communities, Wrigley being one of them.

I can say that right now a community health nurse from Simpson visits the community three to four days a month, so there are people in there, nurses, on a regular basis. In addition, during freeze-up and breakup for four weeks twice a year we do locate the nurse in the community. So two out of 12 months there is somebody there and, on top of that, three to four days a month otherwise.

As I indicated previously, the department is reviewing the ISDM to ensure that the right health

service and the right mix of staff is available in all communities. I will work with the Member, I will work with committee and I will work with the communities to find solutions. At the end of the day we want the same thing, which is better health, better care and a better future for all of our residents.

That’s exactly what the constituents want; they want better service.

The Minister brings up the Integrated Service Delivery Model. When the report came out in 2004, it was a step forward in moving towards enhancing services in our regions and communities. Has that model been re-examined since? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

There hasn’t been what I would call or consider a fully comprehensive review, but it has been tweaked over time and will continue to be so. We will continue to do that in order to meet the needs of our residents.

I hear the Member, I hear all the Members. We need to do more to improve our services in those communities. I am willing to work with committee, Members and communities to find solutions that work, recognizing that not all communities are the same and not all solutions are going to be the same. We are going to review the ISDM with respect to the matrix or mix of staff that’s available in communities and I will certainly have discussions with my colleagues. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It’s important and I’ve been making the case that with the increase in development in the Sahtu, the services of Wrigley are being impacted. There are needs there and I would like the Minister to review the Wrigley situation and say, yes, there is a definite need for an increase in services and work on that aspect, much like what happened in 1973 when they got a hospital in Fort Simpson, and policing and nursing in Simpson, because of increased development. Thank you.

Yes, we will do a review; yes, we will work with our Members; yes, we will work with the community and try to find solutions that work for them, recognizing that we do have some limitations in place or limitations affecting our ability to get actual nurses permanently located in the communities.

We are focused on and we believe in better health, better care and better results for our residents. We will do a review of the ISDM. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. An additional point is we are already paying for nursing salaries, so it’s a matter of

getting them to the communities. Can you review that as well? Thank you.

As we look at the ISDM with respect to the mix of staff that’s available in small communities, we will look at all options and we will consider all opportunities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today I spoke of some alarming statistics involving our daily intake of sugar and some of the national guidelines that will be forthcoming from the National Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada.

People, more than ever, are naturally hardwired to sugar and some have even coined sugar as a new tobacco of our generation. In the wake of the NWT’s successful Drop the Pop campaign, now, more than ever, the premise of an awareness campaign dedicated to sugar is highly warranted.

My questions will be for today’s Sugar Daddy, the Minister of Health and Social Services.

---Laughter

Mr. Speaker, the statistics quoted today were Canadian national averages from Statistics Canada. Does the Minister have any relevant NWT statistics on how much sugar is consumed daily by NWT residents? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Based on the reality that we have high rates of diabetes in the Northwest Territories, I would say our rate is high. I’m agreeing with the Member. Unfortunately, I don’t have any statistics available on hand to indicate what the consumption of sugar is in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I was hoping for a sweeter answer than that. I will challenge the Minister and his department to research this a little bit more thoroughly.

That said, can the Minister indicate, with the pending guidelines on sugar consumption coming soon from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, what is his department doing in preparation of this announcement? Thank you.

The Department of Health and Social Services is obviously doing a number of things to try to curb the intake of sugar and other things such as tobacco. We do have the Drop the Pop, which the Member so clearly

articulated. We do have dieticians and nutritionists available throughout the Northwest Territories to provide advice and guidance to our residents.

The Medical Association deals with patients on a regular basis. We have nurses in our communities who have well men and well women clinics encouraging people to eat healthy, live healthy, be healthy. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Sugar is an addiction of sorts, and like all addictions, one needs to understand the root cause of its abuse.

Can the Minister indicate what he’s doing to deal with the root cause of more affordable, healthy eating choices in all communities and specifically what is he doing with daily sugar consumption for our residents? Thank you.

A number of the health promotion activities that we are undertaking indirectly address some of the consumption of sugar. I’m not sure and I can really speak to the specifics of whether we have programs aimed just purely at sugar, but I will get that information for the Member. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

I appreciate the Minister for his contribution. One only has to look at some quick Internet searches to see all the worldwide initiatives and awareness programs around the reducing of our sugar intake. One such initiative, called Action on Sugar, aims to help people avoid hidden sugars and tackles awareness.

Given the call for obesity in the Northwest Territories, will this Minister commit to a concerted effort to reduce NWT sugar intake by mirroring a similar campaign made for the NWT? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I’m not familiar with the particular campaign that the Member is talking about, but I like the premise and I like the concept. I would certainly like to sit down with committee and discuss how we can reduce sugar intake in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.