Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The detailed plan, the NWT Action Plan for Disabilities, has certainly come forward in 2008 and it's a shame that it wasn't received with better enthusiasm. During the day, of course, it probably was. It got its own nudge, but of course, like many great reports, they find themselves on the way quickly to that shelf or certainly holding that table up from wobbling.
Seniors and disabilities are my two favourite areas I'm working on and I certainly dedicate myself, any time I'm ever asked, to these particular issues and I'm always looking for ways to see what I can do more. This NWT Action Plan for Disabilities certainly was a brilliant step forward, but as we can see, it didn't go any further than that. It wasn't necessarily a false start, but the reality is it just didn't go anywhere. The executive director of the Disabilities Council, in her research, was shocked to find many departments weren't even familiar with the plan, let alone understanding it. So, with those five actions that we've already heard, it sort of makes you wonder about, you know, one, education, what are we doing, be it in our schools, departments, et cetera; employment, how we're creating initiatives to get people with disabilities involved; income, which helps balance out in their troubling times and ensures they have the ability...(inaudible)...disability access, supports and certainly housing. I mean, these are certainly very important and critical facts when it comes to quality of life.
Any improvement to disabilities and the struggle they have goes a long way. But by chance, and certainly circumstances, this report, for a lot of reasons, didn't go past being a report.
The Disabilities Council, in the absence of any follow through on this, took the initiative on their own and they certainly need to be applauded for this. Even on page 3 of the NWT Action Plan it clearly states that the NWT Health Minister needs to play a lead role in this plan, that they are to lead the Disabilities Steering Committee. The problem here we're facing is what progress has been made, what action has been taken? Why hasn't the Minister leaned forward into this report and done more?
Through the NWT Disabilities Council, the survey work has estimated approximately 6,000 people here in the Northwest Territories have a disability, and as my colleague Mr. Dolynny has said, that's more than our public service. Mr. Speaker, could you imagine if everyone who had a disability was unionized and lobbied the government? My goodness, that would certainly be a force to be reckoned with.
I've come to the realization that the government seems to have what I sometimes call a sense of seven stages of procrastination. The McLeod government suffers from this. What do I mean by that? I've actually looked at this quite clearly and we see that we get reports and this is what happens.
Stage one in the procrastination: unfounded motivation and confidence. That is where the Health Minister of the day says, “We're excited, we have an action plan. We're going to do something. This is great. We are going to do wonderful things.”
Stage two: productive distractions. That is where the Health Minister of the day says, “We should really do something about the Disabilities Council and the action plan to help people with disabilities, but let's just take a step back, take a look at the issue. Maybe we'll get to it pretty soon, but we'll get right back to them.”
Stage three of the procrastination of the government, they defined it as definitely not productive distractions. That is where the Health Minister of the day says, “We know what the problem is and our action plan tells us what the problem is and it tells us how to implement and do something about it.” But that's where the Minister says, “Let's run the numbers again and we'll take a look at it again in a couple of months, but don't worry, we're totally in and we'll get back to you.”
Stage four of the seven-stage procrastination problem of the government is where they do false starts. That's where the Minister of the day says, “I want to get to know my problem just a little better before I do something.” That's where they stand back and the Minister will say, “Wow, this is a serious problem. We've really got to do something.”
Stage five of the seven stages of procrastination is where the McLeod government and the Minister of the day whip around and say, “You know, nothing helps seeing the bigger picture than putting an action plan on the shelf, putting it back, taking a serious look at it later and then we'll see how big it is. But don't worry, the action plan will still be there when we need to get to it. By the way, does anyone want to go and get a pizza and do something else in the meantime?”
Stage six, this is where the seven stages gets to skewed perception on minimum progress. This is where the Minister of Health and certainly the McLeod government say, “Wow. Well, we've agreed to health and that was tough. We should congratulate ourselves. Besides, this is a pretty big step by saying we're going to help, by golly. We've really moved the problem forward.” This is where they also say, “We should grab another snack.”
The seventh stage of the seven stages of procrastination I see the government going through what is called the panic mode, when they really decide that they have to get the work done at the last minute. That's where they finally say, years later - in this case, eight years later - this is where the Minister of the day and certainly the Premier of the day and the government of the day says, “My golly, we haven't done much but we have an action plan and that sure looks nice. Let's dust it off and say we accomplished that at least. Wait a minute, we can blame this government... Nah, let's not. Let's blame the last government, or we can say it's not this government's problem, it's that government's problem.”
Mr. Speaker, as I wrap this up, I'm just going to point out that this whole action plan is faced with procrastination. People went into it with good intentions. The results, I think, show for themselves.
In closing, I want to point out that the quality of life and the determination is something we should be relentless with when helping people with disabilities. They want to be part of life and they want to contribute to life in the Northwest Territories. Many are active citizens and they deserve our full support.
Obviously, we aren't able to do everything on every problem, whether it's disabilities, seniors, housing or education, but what's so important is it's not lip service that's paid, it's about showing efforts of the results. A lot of people take it quite to heart when they see how much people try. The problem is they aren't seeing the results of those efforts in this action plan. It's easy to say you will do it, but it goes so much further when you show some results of those efforts.
In closing, I just want to say that I believe our government has greatly missed a window of opportunity here. I thank the NWT Council for Disabilities for all the work that they regularly do to improve the lives of many Northerners. I know that they care deeply, and each and every day they go through the struggle of either trying to get funding for programs or help the needs of individuals who are using those programs, providing education to those who have problems and need help and certainly helping every family who struggles, Mr. Speaker. They certainly give 100 percent each and every day. I've seen the work that they do and I know many Northerners have benefitted from the work that they have done, and to that, I thank you and the House. Thank you.