Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The Minister of Health, Mr. Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m not actually aware of any programs like that, so if the Member does have some information she’d like to share, I’d be happy to read it and share it with the department

There was a young doctor that came to Hay River as a locum that did a practicum when he was receiving his medical training who went on to become Canadian known and an internationally renowned doctor who specializes in stress disorders and mood disorders. He has come back here to the North since. I am sure there are other people besides him. His name is Dr. Grant Mullen, and that is exactly what his practice does, and I did convey that information to Minister Beaulieu at the time. This is a doctor with an extreme interest in the North. Like I said, it doesn’t have to be a sole sourced thing. It could be other people, but could we put out a request for expressions of interest of people who specialize in those areas that would be interested in serving our northern communities?

Once we have a better idea of what the program is and what it offers, it’s something we may be able to do, but at this time I just don’t know enough about it to say yes or no.

Even if it was not a specified program or something that’s already structured. I’m just asking the Minister, would it not make sense to have people that are in remote northern communities who are enduring stress and mood disorders on a frequent basis where they are often in crisis, if they had a professional contact of someone they’d already developed a relationship with to be able to get counselling over the phone, because we know we’re not going to have them in person in our communities?

It might be an interesting opportunity in the short term, but I think our priority needs to be to continue to staff the positions in the communities to make sure that people have somebody they can talk to face to face and eye to eye. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, in an ideal world we would have people with those specialized skills in every community, but at this time we do not. I think there are things we can do in the interim, because people are under duress and stress and when they are in that situation have no one to turn to, they self-medicate, they use drugs, they use alcohol, all kinds of things to escape those feelings that they have of extreme stress and I think we need to do more as a government. Thank you.

Yes, understood.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This House, in November, passed a motion and it was regarding missing and murdered Aboriginal women. That was passed on November 4th . It was a motion

that I’m very appreciative that we had great support from this House. The reason I’m calling upon it today is I’m going to ask the Premier about the final clause in the motion. It reads as follows: And furthermore, that the Premier of the Northwest Territories transmit a copy of this motion to all of his provincial and territorial counterparts with a request for their consideration for support of a similar House motion.

My question for the Premier is: Has he had a chance to do that, and if he has, what type of feedback has he received from his

provincial/territorial Premier-type colleagues? I’m curious on where the development of this initiative may have stepped forward and what journey it has taken. Thank you

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m pleased to say that all Premiers of all provinces and territories are very supportive of holding a roundtable on missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls and planning is well underway. The roundtable date is set at February 27, 2015. Thank you.

Now to the part about the motion being forwarded to all of his provincial and territorial Premier colleagues, waiting for that particular answer as to has he had a chance to forward it to them or speak to them about it and are we aware of any sort of initiatives being developed or considered. Thank you.

I always understood that holding a roundtable was the whole purpose of the motion. The Member is indicating that just conveying it to other provinces and territories was all that was required and I’ll confirm that it has gone forward and I’ll provide the Member with copies. Thank you.

There will be no necessity to read the whole motion, by all means, but this Assembly did fully support a national roundtable being led by our Premier. No change in my feelings on that at all. I don’t think anyone has changed their feelings on our support for the Premier on that aspect of the initiative, none whatsoever. The only aspect that I’m asking about is the final portion of the motion, which asks the Premier to transmit a copy of the motion to his provincial and territorial counterparts and request that they consider support with a similar type of motion in their House. That’s the aspect I’m curious about. If the Premier hasn’t had the chance to do that, that’s fine. I just would kind of like to get an update as to what he either has done or what he’s planning to do. Thank you.

Thank you. My office always acts immediately on motions that are passed in this House. So I’ll just have to go back. I’m pretty sure that the letters have gone out and I’ll go back and dig those letters out and provide copies to the Member. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t need copies of all the letters. I think if the Premier just sends a note and says he’s sent them all out I’ll take him at his word. He’s an honourable fellow.

Is the Premier aware of anyone proceeding in a similar manner? A couple of weeks ago, Premier

Kathleen Wynne talked about her strong support for a national inquiry into missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls and the important issue is that other Premiers consider this an important issue. My question really is down to is he aware of any other provincial or territorial Legislative Assembly considering a similar motion to demonstrate their support to this cause that is very important. Thank you.

I’m not aware of any other Legislature that has passed this motion, but I’m sure that once we have the actual roundtable that the majority of them will do the same. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This morning I was listening to the news and listening particularly to the sports section. As I listened to the sports section of the news about Don Cherry’s remarks about people eating seal meat and the racist and derogatory words that he used. This is a national hockey personality on CBC and we’re trying to attract people to the Northwest Territories and half of our population is up above the Arctic Circle, people who live off the land and depend on the land, especially people who are around the Beaufort Sea.

Has the Premier given any thought with his colleagues to invite the CBC to ask for an official apology like the Premier from Nunavut has asked Don Cherry? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think the piece that the Member heard on the radio this morning shows that we have to be very vigilant in protecting our way of life. The fact that people in the Northwest Territories, and not only northern Canada but other places in Canada practice a way of life where they harvest animals and use it for food and clothing. So every opportunity we have to make sure people and the public are educated on these matters, we will do. I heard that the Environment Minister called for an apology, so we are prepared to do something similar. Thank you.