Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to, first of all, thank Mr. Bromley and Mr. Yakeleya for bringing this motion before the House. I know GNWT employees and residents probably thank them as well. Our employees have the right to work in a safe environment, but our residents also have the right to safe and quality health care, and when incidents like this happen, that safe and quality health care gets compromised. We will have people who might be working in a condition where they’re nervous, they’re not sure what’s going to happen, and it could compromise the health care of others that are getting the treatment that they need.
I know when I speak to people back home in Inuvik with the health services we have there, a lot of times there is a lot of interaction with people and dealing with people with alcohol and drug issues and, in some cases, coming into the emergency room under the influence. A worst-case scenario is a physical altercation happens, and we need to address that. In some cases this motion will bring forth the right services, the right training and people that want to stay in these jobs, if they’re full-time employees of the GNWT, and provide that
continuity of service as well as the training that’s needed to make sure the environment is safe.
I know we’ve done some work. I know in Inuvik we’ve created those inclusion rooms. I think that’s something that needs to also be looked at in addressing how we move forward in terms of this motion. If we have enough inclusion rooms in all the health centres or in the regional centres or in places where we have high activity of economic development, because that’s where we start to see an increase in terms of drugs and crime when we have a lot of money flowing into some of the communities when the economy is really high.
I know in Inuvik a couple of years ago, I went to a training session at the Inuvik Hospital for our staff. They had a retired RCMP official come up from Calgary and teach safe intervention, non-violent crisis intervention. I didn’t think they got into the physical restraints but that’s something that I think needs to be dealt with, especially with the incidents that we’ve seen here recently at Stanton Hospital.
I always make reference to this, but mental health and addictions is our biggest cost driver in the Northwest Territories. We do have a lot of cases of mental health illness. In some of the bigger centres like here where we do have a lot of people attending the hospital, I think it just increases the chances for incidents of such and, as Mr. Bromley had alluded to earlier, just the post-traumatic stress disorder. I made a statement in the House a couple weeks ago about that, but I know when we have officials and GNWT employees who are in that type of environment or have experienced a traumatic event like that, they’re going to need the services and the help to do their jobs efficiently and to do their jobs again.
I do support the motion and I, once again, thank Mr. Bromley and Mr. Yakeleya for bringing this motion forward. It’s something that does need to be addressed.