Thank you, Mr. Speaker.One of the large things we’re doing is actually the system transformation, which will allow us to focus our resources more appropriately than we have in the past. This will make an actual improvement in all areas of health and social services in the Northwest Territories, including the supports that we provide with home care. It will also ensure that we have a consistent approach for home care across the Northwest Territories. We also have partnerships with the NWT Seniors’ Society and we do provide them with a significant amount of money to run a number of different programs which we partner in as well.

One of the things that we’re partnering is the NWT network to prevent abuse of seniors, of which the

NWT Seniors’ Society has run and we’re helping to fund that program. We’re helping to create awareness and other information around falls and elder abuse. Thank you.

I’m glad to hear the Minister speak towards elder abuse and creating some kind of awareness program.

There are all kinds of elder abuse, financial, physical, psychological, neglect, you could go on and on with the list. One thing that I’ve brought up in this House over the years is the duty to report and whether or not that’s something this government would like to implement as a policy for our senior care staff, or even the RCMP or anybody that works with seniors, that if they believe there’s abuse occurring that they have a duty to report that abuse.

Is there any update on that duty to report policy, or something that the government is looking at creating? Thank you.

There is no duty to report policy at this point in time, but if that’s something the committee is interested in, it certainly sounds like an interesting idea and I’d certainly be willing to have some discussions with committee on that topic. Thank you.

As we go through the budget, we understand that there are going to be some seniors homes that are being built in some of the communities across the Northwest Territories.

Is the Minister working with the communities to look at how we can train some of our local residents to take those jobs in those seniors’ homes when they’re up and ready to run? Is he starting now to get the proper training for our local residents so they can have the jobs in those homes? Thank you.

Thank you. We provide training or, rather, we partner in training for individuals that are taking or interested in resident care. Its primary focus right now is on the facilities, but that training is something that certainly we can look at expanding to other individuals to provide that type of support in communities throughout the Northwest Territories. So, resident care as well as home support workers. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned earlier in my Member’s statement, I did speak with some people in the airports that were here for some training last week. I’m not sure if it was in partnership with Health and the Seniors’ Society, but it’s a great support system that we have for people who do this job.

My last question is in terms of the Care Mobility Program that the Housing Corporation is putting out there in this upcoming budget where the Housing

Corp goes out to the communities and they help build the homes for seniors.

I’d like to ask, has the Minister had any input or given any direction on how these houses could be more adapted to seniors so they can live a more independent lifestyle in their homes? Has he had any discussions with the Housing Corporation and the architects to make sure that these houses are more adaptable living for senior citizens? Thank you.

Thank you. The Department of Health and Social Services continuing care and health systems planning staff actually have worked closely with the NWT Housing Corporation infrastructure services staff in the development of independent living models to support the community’s ability to meet seniors’ needs in the areas of socialization, nutrition and hygiene. This includes ensuring that there is some public space or some program space in each of these independent living units that can be utilized by Health and Social Services staff when they come in to meet with the residents of those buildings. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. Will the Minister provide an update on the how-to booklet and the number of community visits that have been completed to date? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The honourable Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Member for his questions. We have two booklets we are going to be producing in relation to the harvest of morel mushrooms. The first will be an information brochure, which will be targeted to community leaders, educators, Aboriginal organizations, associations, government departments and the general public. The brochure will offer readers information on the harvest of morel mushrooms. The brochure will be published and distributed through our regional offices at ITI and also through ENR regional offices and be made available on both department websites.

The second document will involve the production of a how-to pocketsize booklet aimed at harvesters. There will be three separate booklets prepared, one for each region, North Slave, South Slave and the Deh Cho. The booklets will be region-specific in terms of information and emergency contacts with a map of the burn areas in each region. The North

Slave booklet will speak to the Tlicho Final Agreement and the need to ensure harvesters gain the appropriate authorizations in order to harvest on Tlicho land. The booklets will provide at-a-glance instruction about morel mushrooms, where to find them, what they look like, maps of the burn areas, harvesting methodology, harvester/buyer interaction, tools and equipment needed and what to watch out for. I know the Member mentioned bears earlier. Certainly bear safety is something people should be aware of.

The target audience, of course, is the harvesters. Production will be in the range of 1,500 to 2,000 coloured booklets. Again, they will be distributed through ITI regional offices and also regional offices of Environment and Natural Resources. Thank you.

It’s been suggested by a person that has experienced the mushroom harvest last year that this initiative could be a great investment by this government and that similar policy initiatives and programs could be very similar to the Grubstake Program. The mushroom harvest is potentially a multi-million dollar industry.

Does the Minister have specific strategies that would assist Aboriginal governments to capitalize on this economic opportunity? Mahsi.

We certainly understand the benefit of supporting the morel mushroom harvest in the Northwest Territories. Everyone knows what a horrendous fire season the Northwest Territories endured last summer. This year we are going to have a real good crop of morel mushrooms. We are planning community visits in the South Slave coming up starting next week. We’ll be at the Hay River Reserve February 23rd , in

Hay River in the evening of February 23rd , Fort

Resolution on the evening of the 24th , Fort Smith on

February 25th , Enterprise on February 26th and

Kakisa on February 27th . We are also hoping to get

into other communities in the South Slave and North Slave. In addition to that we’re also going to be conducting walking workshops. When the season does open for morels, we will have guided trips into the burn area, so we can bring people in and show them how to harvest morel mushrooms for themselves. Thank you.

Can the Minister let us know if any follow up has happened to ensure that buyers have a business licence? Is the government adequately equipped and staffed to provide this oversight? Mahsi.

In order to conduct business in the Northwest Territories, legally they are required to have a business licence to carry out business or business pursuits in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At the last discussions I had with the Minister in this House, the Minister had indicated that travel will be done either through the Minister’s office or his officials in the communities. It’s quite surprising those visits haven’t been done. The other point I want to make leading up to my final supplementary is that no strategies should entail in terms of how is it communities will be in a position to take advantage of this opportunity that’s going to happen this summer. Last year Trout River and Jean Marie River areas saw lots of people go into the communities.

Has there been a report done in terms of the experiences we have had and how have we learned from that? Mahsi.

I’m certain that regional offices in the Deh Cho had prepared reports. I could try to get a copy of the report that was prepared by the regional office. One of the clear messages that we have to send to these guys if they come back up next summer is we are going to have to try to get an able-bodied workforce here in the Northwest Territories from our communities that can go out and harvest morel mushrooms. They can leave their pickers at home because we should have pickers here in the Northwest Territories that can go out and get the work and make the money themselves, and those pickers can stay down south. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. When we first introduced the grant, the

staff grant with the stakeholders across the Northwest Territories, we did our research. We found out that we have one of the lowest paid workers, early childhood workers across the Northwest Territories. We want to give them incentives for them to pursue higher education, even as far as certification, diploma degrees and even masters’ programs so they can come back to our organizations and work for us. We wanted to provide some incentives, so we have had research done and talked to a number of stakeholders. Those are the results we came to from input from the general public. Mahsi.

I hope the Minister was stating or suggesting that he did some consultation with daycares and with preschools in order to try to arrive at a reasonable figure. The fact that we have the lowest paid early childhood educator workers suggests to me that we have daycares and preschools that struggle to make ends meet.

So I’d like to ask the Minister, second of all, the Minister seemed to indicate, and I think he indicated in his statement that this grant or this subsidy, whatever you want to call it, has to go directly to the staff person. Does it go there and does it have to go there? Thank you.