This is page numbers 6559 – 6620 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 know.

Topics

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

Prior to the actual implementation and the go-live date of the Health Information Act, and recognizing that we have eight health authorities here in the Northwest Territories who have all of their own operational procedures and protocols within the instit

utions, I can’t say for sure

that there was one policy for all authorities.

Moving forward with the system transformation, we will be able to have consistent standards that are clearly articulated and informed by the Health Information Act moving forward.

Jane Groenewegen

Jane Groenewegen Hay River South

I would further just like to ask the Minister, then, if he would ensure that there is consistency across the health authorities going forward and some mechanism that would remind patients or families of the need that if they want the information to be made available that they have to grant that authority or that approval in some form, maybe attached to the admission form, or some way, so that we don’t end up in the situation where someone is wanting to find out about something, which they rightfully probably should know and their parent or their loved one may want them to know.

Can we make sure that there is a formal system-wide process attached to this so that people are fully aware of it?

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

It’s a great idea and I

will certainly share that information with the department and ask them to ensure that we have mechanisms to ensure that our patients are adequately informed about their privacy rights and their information rights, and to encourage them to include people who should be involved or be aware of their files, particularly family.

This will be a lot easier moving forward with one system as opposed to multiple systems, and this is the type of conversation I know that the professional staff that we have working on amalgamation have been having.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Jane Groenewegen

Jane Groenewegen Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Could that also include provision for a patient to designate someone other than themselves as a decision-maker to work with the health care providers to make sure that list is comprehensive? So if the patients themselves are not capable of

providing that information, if they could be asked to confirm a designated decision-maker who could provide that list for the patient?

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

I know that with the new proposed Mental Health Act we actually have that provision in the legislation to designate an alternative decision-maker. As far as patients not covered under the Mental Health Act or the future Mental Health Act, I’m not actually sure, but I will check and I will get back to the Member.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.

Frederick Blake Jr.

Frederick Blake Jr. Mackenzie Delta

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In follow-up to my Member’s statement, I have two questions for the Minister of Housing. As the Minister recalls from his visits to the community of Aklavik, when we had the old Joe Greenland Centre we’d have a place set out in front, a small deck where elders usually sat, whether it was during the spring, summer, fall. With this new facility, a great facility, as I mentioned, but one thing, I’m not sure if it was due to our budget, but they didn’t build much of a deck on each side of the Joe Greenland Centre.

I’d like to ask the Minister, will the department build a deck on each side of the Joe Greenland Centre where elders can gather?

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Blake. The Minister of Housing, Mr. McLeod.

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is a great facility in Aklavik and I was glad to be part of the opening. We still have a bit of work to do in the front of the building. We have some landscaping and that to do. I think that’s going to be t

aken care of next summer, I believe. I’m not sure

about the deck. I would have to check to see if there is an opportunity in the future to put a larger deck on there.

Frederick Blake Jr.

Frederick Blake Jr. Mackenzie Delta

I thank the Minister. My next questions are on the new facility in Fort McPhe

rson. I’d like to

ask the Minister, how was the location of the elders home in Fort McPherson selected? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

Mr. Speaker, we had some land that was available. I believe we did some consultation with the community. There were no issues raised at the time, so we determined the location of the new seniors centre.

Frederick Blake Jr.

Frederick Blake Jr. Mackenzie Delta

My next question is: Why was the project on hold this summer for over a month? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

Mr. Speaker, I’ll have to

follow up on that. I understand there may have been some issues there. I’m not quite sure what the issues were, but I will follow up and share with the Member

some of the information that I receive. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Blake.

Frederick Blake Jr.

Frederick Blake Jr. Mackenzie Delta

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I drove by the location, I noticed there hasn’t really been very much work done there. There are no supplies on the site that are ready to start building.

I’d like to ask the Minister, will the Minister direct his department to work with the elders in the community to select a location for the new elders facility? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

The piles are already in. We did some consultation with the community. We didn’t get any feedback, so we determined that that would be the location.

As far as the number of piles go, again, I will ask for an update and find out where we’re at with that. But it will be awfully expensive now to change the location.

They’d have to wait a little longer for their

facility. But I will get all the information and share it with the Member for Mackenzie Delta.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

Question 902-17(5): Draft Conservation Plan
Oral Questions

September 30th, 2015

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. About I think three weeks ago now, ENR had put out a draft Conservation P

lan and it was done in conjunction…

---Interjection

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It was done in conjunction with the Protected Areas Strategy, which has been in the process, in development since 1999, so that’s a very long process. It’s been many years of work and also many partners involved in the Prote

cted Areas Strategy. I’d like to ask the Minister

some questions about this draft Conservation Plan which came out, what some of the changes are, what it is intending for our territory, in terms of conservation.

I’d like to know first of all from the Minister, I know that we have lands right now which currently prohibit any and all forms of industrial development. I’d like to know from the Minister if he can give what percentage of our total lands area are currently prohibited from development. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Minister of Environment

and

Natural

Resources,

Mr.

Miltenberger.

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Thebacha

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can give the Member a number for all the land that is current and proposed, including Thaidene Nene and areas that have been worked on

since 1999, keeping in mind that the proposed areas in all probability will end up shrinking as the final footprint is determined, but that percentage is 14 percent of the land mass. Thank you.

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

Thanks to the Minister. I need to ask the Minister, there was a press release from the NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines just yesterday, actually. It states:

“According to the mine recorder’s

office, 32 percent of the NWT is off limits to staking and exploration. That figure includes lands for parks, interim land claim withdrawals and protected areas.

Can the Minister explain the difference between the 32 percent that the Chamber of Mines is talking about and the 14 percent that he just quoted? Thank you.

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Thebacha

Mr. Speaker, the core protected or protected areas are those areas that would be permanently withdrawn from industrial

commercial

development,

like

the

proposed Thaidene Nene area for the federal and territorial footprints of Nahanni Park, part of Wood Buffalo that’s there, Edaezhe and the Ramparts and those types of things. That number all in is at 14 percent.

The other lands where there’s conservation designation, we have a Parks Act, for example, that has six levels of park. Five of those levels of park permit activity, commercial activity, permanent activity, so could include industrial development. That would account for the relating percentages. Thank you.

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

Thanks again to the Minister. So, we’re talking 14 percent that is going to be totally prohibited, but there’s another percentage which is going to allow some development. I’m wondering if the Minister could try to advise me and the public what’s going to be allowed in this other percentage. I think it’s 20 percent, is what I’m advised, another 20 percent that is going to allow development.

What sort of developments or lack of developments will be allowed? What kind of conservation are we imposing on this other 20 percent of our lands? Thank you.