This is page numbers 6517 – 6558 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 need.

Topics

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

At this point, it’s

necessary for us to assist the Power Corp with some fuel into Aklavik. We are currently working on delivering some tanks. I would say something like this could happen within a couple of weeks once we create some capacity. At this time, aside from the mobile capacity you will be bringing into Aklavik to accommodate the fuel for the Power Corp, the only other capacity is owned by the new private enterprise that is now responsible for fuel in Aklavik. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

Frederick Blake Jr.

Frederick Blake Jr. Mackenzie Delta

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Minister meet the leaders in Aklavik to find a solution to this crisis? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

We have not gotten to that point. We did receive a text message from the mayor asking if I was available for discussion. Unfortunately, I have not made contact with the mayor at this point. I am prepared to talk with the leadership, along with the private company, to try to come up with a solution for Aklavik so there’s not such a steep increase in the cost of fuel and gasoline for Aklavik. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Question 888-17(5): Liard River Ferry Schedule
Oral Questions

September 29th, 2015

Kevin A. Menicoche

Kevin A. Menicoche Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The residents of Nahendeh have been asking the Department of Transportation to consider moving from a 16-hour day to an 18-hour day, which means opening up the Lafferty Ferry at the Liard crossing from 6:00 a.m. until midnight. We were very pleased that we almost had a trial period this fall, but unfortunately the residents didn’t like the two- hour break which is prime time for traveling back

home and would have created some other headaches. Since that time, I have spoken with the Minister to review how the Providence work was being done for an 18-

hour day. I don’t know if the

Minister has had time to review how they would be able to operate from 6:00 a.m. to midnight as opposed to 8:00 a.m. to midnight that is currently happening with the Lafferty Ferry. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Minister of Transportation, Mr. Beaulieu.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At this point I’ve only had the opportunity to review the situation in Fort Simp

son. We’ve tried to do a

trial, as the Member indicates; however, we found that the two-hour break in the centre was a considerable change to the businesses in Fort Simpson. At this point we were trying to operate the ferry within the time that we have been operating the ferry at the current costs allocated to the ferry and expansion of the hours. An increase in the hours to the ferry in Fort Liard would add substantial cost to the ferry operation, most likely meaning that we would have to add a complete crew. So, right now the ferry operates with a certain number of crew and to increase hours would mean that we would have to have a complete crew because of the regulations that determine how long individuals can stay on the ferry for one shift. Thank you.

Kevin A. Menicoche

Kevin A. Menicoche Nahendeh

Certainly that’s the kind of

information I had asked the Minister to provide, so I don’t know if he can provide me with those facts, the actual costs between the 16-hour day versus an 18-hour day. Because the head residents are saying, well, they ran that way at the Providence ferry, why can’t they run it here at the Liard crossing at Fort Simpson? So, a good comparison will let us look at those figures and see what it would take to move forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

I’m prepared to have the

department provide the cost of increasing the ferry that crosses the Liard to 18 hours to see what has to occur, what regulations we have to look at. I’m pretty sure that if we do, I think that regulation only monitors the amount of crews that we currently have. So, if we added a crew it should be well within regulation, so the issue would be costs. So, I’m prepared to provide that information to the Member. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Kevin A. Menicoche

Kevin A. Menicoche Nahendeh

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. That would be nice to get that kind of documentation as soon as we can. Can the Minister commit to that? Thank you.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

I will endeavour to get that information to the Member as soon as possible. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Mr. Yakeleya.

Norman Yakeleya

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I talked about the need for palliative care beds in Deline. I

’ve been working

with three Mini

sters so far and we’re trying to figure

out why it’s such a struggle to get palliative care beds in that community so that loved ones can live out their dying days amongst their people. Why is it taking so long?

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Minister of Health, Mr. Abernethy.

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’re committed to getting this done and are working with the community of Deline to get this done. We had actually hoped to go in this summer, but due to staffing issues and the fact that Deline was probably one of the busiest communities in the Northwest Territories this summer, we didn’t actually manage to get in there.

Last week, during our bilateral meetings with the Sahtu, I committed to getting in there as quickly as possible, prior to October 23rd . In fact, we were

hoping to go in this week, the same time that the Sahtu AGM, the Sahtu Health and Social Services Authority AGM was going to be held in the community. Unfortunately, I understand that a respected elder has passed away in the community. With respect to the community, I’d like to pass along my condolences to the family as well as to the community itself. But it has resulted in that the AGM was in fact cancelled and our staff has decided not to go in there this week.

This morning I attempted to call Chief Kenny to set up a time for us to go in or, rather, the staff to go in to work with the community, because there’s a number of things that we have to do with the community. We want to make sure that the people are there who we can engage with properly. Unfortunately, I was not able to get through. I will be calling later today at break to hopefully coordinate a time with the community when we can actually get in there. I’m hoping that we can get in there next week to do the work that needs to be done. Thank you.

Norman Yakeleya

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

I do want to commend the Minister for the respect for the well-respected elder who passed away, and that is why we need the urgency to have our loved ones come home so their last dying days can be at home.

I want to tell the Minister, there’s a program called Excuses No More. I wonder if the staff could look at that program, because that’s all I’ve been hearing from this department. I’ve been at this for some

time, you know, and all I get, and people in Deline get, is excuses, excuses, excuses.

I want to ask the Minister, can he stand by his commitment, when he said in Deline in June, we met them and said we’re going to do this, you know, and let’s get to that.

So, I want to ask the Minister, according to the press release, it said that the Premier’s committing to meet with the Deline leadership within the next two weeks to discuss how to bring palliative care beds into the community. That’s October 9th . Can

we believe this? How strong is your commitment?

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

Thank you. As I indicated in my first response, we were actually intending to go in this week and we were booked to go in, but as a result of the death in the community and the cancellation of the AGM,

we’ve chosen not

to. I have committed to getting the staff in there. I’m hoping they can go in next week, but before we can get to that time I’m hoping to speak to the chief in the community to make sure that it is still an appropriate time, given the recent events in the community. If not, hopefully we can get it done the week after, but I have committed to getting this done prior to October 23rd and I stand behind my

original commitment that we will get this done.

Norman Yakeleya

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

This is where I’ll see it when I

believe it. It’s been a commitment by this government, the past government, through all the governments and the Ministers to get palliative care beds in that community. I just don’t know what’s going on over there to get the beds that they need over there.

So I want to ask the Minister again, can he assure this House and assure the elder up there, assure the people in Deline that we’re going to go beyond just saying we’re going to get it, we’re actually going to put palliative care beds in the community, because from this side here it’s quite frustrating to stand up and not be really sure that the commitment is followed through. It’s hard.

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

I appreciate the Member’s opinion. I disagree with him. I’ve made a commitment; we’re going to stand up to the commitment. There’s a significant amount of work that needs to be done and they were hoping to do it this week, but they will do it the week after or the week after, depending on what the chief of the community says is appropriate.

Department staff need to work with the authority and we need to work with the community to conduct a functional program assessment of the wellness centre that exists. They also need to complete a health assessment with the needs of elders and residents with chronic conditions in the community. This will help identify the gaps in the current resources so that a plan for services that will support the elders to remain in their community,

remain in their homes during the dying process can be put into place. This isn’t just the GNWT. This is going to require a partnership with the community of Deline.

We’re looking forward to moving forward and developing that partnership and finding a way to conclude this in order to ensure that residents have the ability to receive palliative services in their communities during the final stages of life. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

Norman Yakeleya

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My reason for standing here is to represent my people. This is what my people are saying. You know, where is the conviction of this department and this government? How many Ministers do we have to go through to say we want palliative care beds in Deline? I’ve heard, I can go through Hansards and bring up all the commitments that you’re going to do. Nothing has panned out and that’s a matter of fact.

So, I want to again remind this government, remind this Minister that the commitments are not there. They’re like standing on sand, it’s not salt, and people know because nothing is happening in Deline right now. So we’ll see. We’ve heard it before. So this is the voice of the people in Deline.

I want to ask the Minister, how strong is your commitment to the people? How strong is your word?

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

I appreciate the Member’s frustration. I’ve said this is my fourth time standing here in this role saying that I’ve made a commitment, we’re going to get it done. We were supposed to go in this week, but out of respect for the community, we have not gone in this week because of a death in the community. I tried to speak to the chief. I will call him again at break. I tried to call him this morning to work with them, to work with the community that we respect to make sure that when we go in there we can have meaningful dialogue. We are committed to this. I don’t know how I can say it differently for the Member. We are committed, we’re going to get this done, we will work with the community, a community we respect and a community that we have been working with up to date. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.