This is page numbers 3905 – 3976 of the Hansard for the 17th Assembly, 5th 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 year.

Topics

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Knowing full well that we’re going to take this agreement on April 1, 2013, not everybody always goes to our websites to review some of this information, and hearing that we had posters out explaining this program in December 2013, nine months after this agreement was supposed to take place, I’d like to ask the Minister – it says that the Safe Disclosure Panel and coordinator will report annually – when can we expect to see a report tabled in this House of some of the best practices and probably some of the challenges or some things that we might not have taken into consideration when putting this agreement into place effectively, so that we might have gotten some statistics with this report? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

Mr. Speaker, if HR is going to be tabling a report on the memorandum of understanding on safe disclosure, I don’t know what date that is going to be done. However, we are moving to legislation. We expect to have a legislative proposal in front of the House in the sitting of October 2014, and that will give the Assembly about a year to work on completing that legislation. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Question 178-17(5): Nursing Services In Small Communities
Oral Questions (Reversion)

February 24th, 2014

Kevin A. Menicoche

Kevin A. Menicoche Nahendeh

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I just wanted to follow up on community health nursing. That was a great issue that Mrs. Groenewegen raised and it’s something I’ve been following for many, many years, the question of nursing in small communities. In her statement she asked basically what is the rationale, and I think the rationale is because there are no RCMP officers there. I don’t know if that’s a real policy.

I’d like to ask the Minister of Health what is the real policy about getting nurses into our communities, and if he has it, can he quote from it, can he show us? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are a number of factors that we utilize when deciding whether to employ nurses throughout the Northwest Territories. The Integrated Service Delivery Model sets out standards for community health staff across the Northwest Territories. But as I indicated, when asked questions previously, it is under review and we are looking for ways to enhance the services in our small communities. RCMP is but one factor. It is not the deciding factor by any stretch of the imagination. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Kevin A. Menicoche

Kevin A. Menicoche Nahendeh

Once again, we ought to be maximizing community health nursing and develop that capacity.

Just a quick look at Nunavut, every community, with the exception of Grise Fiord, has a nurse, and the nurses form the backbone of those communities and the backbone of the health care delivery system in Nunavut, so that’s exactly where we’re getting. I’ve listed many, many times where the community of Wrigley needed a nurse, where nurses really could have increased assistance to that community. Just for instance, in December 2005, two nine and 10-year-old girls broke their legs and they weren’t treated for four days. In September of 2009, almost just over 60 percent of the community had flu-like systems during the H1N1 scare and there was nobody there to attend to them for about 10 days, so just a couple of instances.

I would like to know what our strategy is moving forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

Just by way of comparison, it’s my understanding that every community in Nunavut actually has an RCMP detachment, which we don’t.

There are a number of things going on here, and I do hear what the Member is saying and I have

indicated that we are going to review the ISDM to ensure that we are providing the right and appropriate supports in all of our communities. Right now the current ISDM services in communities doesn’t provide nurses permanent full time in communities with less than 250, but there are services that are clearly delivered in these small communities through nurse visits, physician visits. We have community health workers. We have community support workers. But I do hear the Members. I hear them clearly that we need to do more.

I will say again that we are reviewing the ISDM to see what kind of supports could be provided to the communities so that they get the health care that they are seeking. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Kevin A. Menicoche

Kevin A. Menicoche Nahendeh

I know that’s a struggle to get all the communities community health nurses. But in the instance of Wrigley, it’s about the return of nursing services. We had them there in the early ‘90s, and the community consistently asks me, why aren’t we getting our nurse back, what’s the issue there. Well, in fact, I made great strides in getting two dedicated RCMP for the community of Wrigley and establishment of a patrol cabin, as it were, so why aren’t we doing the same or even more to deliver health in our small communities such as Wrigley? Thank you.

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

As I have indicated, there are a number of challenges, and as I have indicated, we are going to be looking at the ISDM. I will certainly be having discussions with the Members that are affected or who are responsible for the small communities. But there’s no such thing as a one-nurse station. In order to provide adequate coverage for on-call, for overtime and all those types of things as well as to make sure that there’s balance between the different professionals, we would need two. So, there are a lot of other factors that we have to consider, but we are going to review the ISDM with respect to coverage in small communities and we will work with Members. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

Kevin A. Menicoche

Kevin A. Menicoche Nahendeh

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I certainly look forward to the department’s plan and I would like to continue to push for it. In 2010 I thought I had resolution over getting nursing delivered in Wrigley, and I believe it was Tsiigehtchic through the same Integrated Service Delivery Model he’s talking about, so I would like to continue pressing that forward.

Once again, can he show me the policy, the regulation, something in writing where it says we cannot have less than two nurses in a small community? Thank you.

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

I look forward to working with the Member as we move forward trying to solve this issue. Right now, as I indicated, the current ISDM doesn’t provide nursing services on a permanent full-time basis in communities of under 250 people.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

Daryl Dolynny

Daryl Dolynny Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With the cold weather today, it’s really hard to start talking about summer and our beaches, especially about safety. Recently, the coroner tabled a report on the findings of a young boy’s accidental drowning on June 27, 2013, at Fred Henne Territorial Park. Within the coroner’s report, there are strong recommendations and comments about the assistance of the Royal Life Saving Society of Canada, methods that this government should be following to make our beaches safer.

Sadly, it is also mentioned that all levels of protection must be a priority and implemented before lifeguards are to be considered. My questions today are for the Minister responsible for our parks, to seek some clarity.

Within the coroner’s report, it indicates: “Life Saving Society rates the level of protection at supervised beaches from level two to eight. In the aquatic safety audit, Fred Henne beach was rated level two, meaning there is signage to communicate safety messages to beach users. Increasing the beach level to seven would involve additional training for staff and the presence of additional rescue equipment; level eight beaches, lifeguard supervision.” Can the Minister indicate to us what level is our beach for this summer? Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Minister of ITI, Mr. Ramsay.

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Our goal is to implement the recommendations from the Life Saving Society of Alberta that would get the beach at Fred Henne and the beach in Hay River up to a level seven. We are waiting again for the review of lifeguard services, the provisional lifeguard services at Fred Henne beach that is being undertaken by the Life Saving Society as well. We should have that report back within the next few weeks, I would say. Thank you.

Daryl Dolynny

Daryl Dolynny Range Lake

I do want to commend the Minister and his office for dedicating a lot of time and resources to making our beaches safer, especially in the wake of that tragedy last summer. Minister Ramsay even went on to say in this House in an oral exchange with myself on October 24, 2013, “If it’s going to make Fred Henne beach safer, there

will be lifeguards at the beach next summer.” Is the Minister still committed to this statement? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

We need to have that dialogue with the community. We had a meeting, and I thank the Member for attending that meeting that we had at the ski club a few weeks back. We want to have some more dialogue with the community. We have had input from a number of community members on our website. The answer is still yes, if having lifeguards at Fred Henne beach is going to make that beach safer, we’ll try our best to have lifeguards there. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Daryl Dolynny

Daryl Dolynny Range Lake

Again, I appreciate the Minister’s ongoing commitment and steadfast resolve in being true to his word.

Minister Ramsay also went on to say on October 24, 2013, “It’s not an issue about funding and it shouldn’t be an issue of funding.” With the main estimates and ITI before the House later today, is there a budget for lifeguards for this year’s budget? Thank you.

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

We want to make sure we get it right. That’s first and foremost. We want to ensure we get all the information to make an informed decision. To the Member’s question about whether there is funding in this year’s budget, no, there isn’t. Our early estimates indicate that to have that service at Fred Henne Park, it would run in the neighbourhood of $120,000 to $150,000. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

Daryl Dolynny

Daryl Dolynny Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Minister bringing that number to the floor of the House. Can the Minister commit that if, indeed, we are going to move forward with lifeguards, that that number just quoted today in the House will come back as a supplementary appropriation? Thank you.

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

The issue of lifeguards at Fred Henne beach has never been an issue about money. I think service is going to be required there and the department will find the money. We’ll go through a supplementary appropriation if we have to. It is about having the service there, but there are a lot of other moving parts to the issue such as where do you find the trained lifeguards, where do you train them, how do you get them ready for this summer. There will be a number of challenges other than having that service at Fred Henne Park. It’s something, like I said earlier, that if they are going to make that beach safer, we’ll do our best to ensure that they’re there.