I thank the Minister for his answer. He kind of answered question number two already, so I'll move on to question number three here. Mr. Speaker, on October 15, 2015 the then Minister cautioned that the health centre project in Fort Simpson will have to compete against a number of other priorities coming from several territorial departments such as Transportation, schools and Public Works. Mr. Speaker, the then Minister quoted to CBC, it is based on needs, demands, programs, services, budgets and all these things. Again to address the concerns out there, Mr. Speaker, can the Minister please explain why this project was delayed?

Mr. Speaker, there was a number of reasons that the project was delayed or rather the planning study was delayed. Part of that included our inability to obtain or secure a suitable parcel of land. Here was a significant amount of debate in the community about where the health centre should be and where it should not be, and it took us longer to get a set piece of land. That set piece of land was required before we could actually move forward with the planning study because the location helps us build the planning study.

When the parcel of land was actually approved we had to do an archaeological assessment on the property. That was something we committed to doing based on some understanding or historic knowledge that suggested there might be some graves on that site. We needed to make absolute certainty that there were no graves on the site we were proposing to build. So we had some delays to get us to the point where we can actually fully acquire that land and develop a planning study.

I will note, Mr. Speaker, that the Fort Simpson Health Centre is an aging facility. It was originally developed in 1973. But we have done a recent structural assessment on that property, which was completed in March 2016, which indicated that the facility is in stable condition. We need to modernize. Obviously there are new protocols, procedures in effect and control standards that we must meet. So we do need to move forward, but technically right now that building has a solid foundation, so it is a safe facility, which is a question that has been raised. I just wanted to address it while I had the opportunity.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Minister for his answer. Is there any work being done right now on the site that involves fencing off areas? Because I've heard there's a fenced-off area there. I apologize; it was just a question that I've just come up with right now. Is the Minister aware of that and, Mr. Speaker, can he answer if it's been there and what's going on with that site?

Mr. Speaker, I was in Simpson I think about two weeks ago, and I don't recall seeing any activity on that site. However, I would not be the best person to ask. The best person to ask would be the Minister responsible for Public Works and Services who is ultimately responsible for the construction of the facility. Health and Social Services has put in a request, we need a building, Public Works and Services will be the contractor and the builder -- or the facilitator of the contracting and building.

Member for Nahendeh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank, again, the Minister for his answer. I will ask later on to the Minister of PW. Again, it seems to get cleared who's responsible for who, so I'm learning as the time goes on. Is there any way that the Minister can commit to the people or the residents of the region that this needed facility will be actually potentially moved up? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm committed to moving this initiative forward. The community of Fort Simpson does need an upgrade to their health centre. We need to bring it to current standards. We are moving the planning process forward. I'm happy to move this into the capital planning process at the earliest opportunity, but it does have to compete with a number of projects across the Northwest Territories, whether it's schools, health centres in different locations, other infrastructure that are being demanded by residents of the Northwest Territories. We're doing the work. We're doing the planning. We hope to get it in as quickly as possible. We also have the Tulita Health Centre; we have the Jean Marie Health Cabin; we have the Sambaa K’e Health Cabin and a number of other projects that we're currently looking at, on top of building the Stanton facility, which is badly needed by the people of the Northwest Territories, as well as the Fort Resolution Health Centre. There's a lot of work being done, Mr. Speaker.

Item 7, oral questions. Member for Hay River North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This morning I spoke about an incident that occurred at the Woodland Manor in Hay River, and I have some questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services about that incident and, I guess, about violence at long-term care facilities in general. Has this incident spurred the department to look into how they can take safeguards to avoid these types of incidents in the future? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member is aware, as I know the Assembly is, that I can't talk about specific individual cases, so I'll talk in more general terms about the types of things we do when there is an incident.

When an incident does occur within a long-term care facility, regardless of where it happens to be in the Northwest Territories, immediate measures are taken to ensure that residents are safe and staff are safe. That's our first priority. The next process is to actually do an investigation. We do an investigation of all situations in long-term care facilities where a safety has been put in jeopardy. This is intended to help us learn from these incidents so that we can put in measures or safeguards to make sure that these types of things don't happen again. Our goal is to prevent future incidents.

As a note, our new long-term care facilities are designed with cameras in the hallways and other safety measures, such as doors that can be locked down to lock off or isolate areas to keep individuals who might have a difference of opinion or some aggression towards each other separated. So there are things that exist in some of our more current facilities. But we try to learn from these incidents. We do investigations so that we can make appropriate changes to ensure that these types of things don't happen again across the Northwest Territories.

I understand that in the new facilities there are going to be some physical barriers, some cameras, measures like that. Are there options currently available to remove someone who might be violent from the facility they're in? Is there a secure location that they can be placed in? I know that residents aren't prisoners, but we do have to think about the safety of the other residents. So are there options to remove violent individuals and somewhere to put them?

Mr. Speaker, as somebody is admitted into a long-term care facility, there is a comprehensive functional assessment done of the individual to determine what their needs are. This information assessment is used to actually develop individual care plans which address the individual's mental health issues and other challenges. These are the things that we do to build individual case plans that will hopefully help us avoid violent incidents within our system. But it has happened. The Member is aware of, certainly, the incident that has recently happened, and we know from review across Canada and by listening to what's happening in other jurisdictions, violence is happening. So we certainly have to address that.

However, moving an individual can prove complicated. If there is a resident showing some violent tendencies or aggression, we have the ability to take them out of the facility and send them to a hospital where we can actually obtain a medical or a psychiatric assessment to determine if there are some underlying issues with the client that are leading to these aggressive or violent behaviours. Since residents are placed in a long-term care facility and have an individual care plan, those care plans can be amended and other resources can be brought to bear to help avoid future incidents.

There has been suggestion that we need to look at the ability to move somebody out of long-term care and into home care. Mr. Speaker, this isn't practical. If somebody is in long-term care, an assessment has been done to determine that they are unable to take care of themselves in a community setting where home care already exists; they need the additional supports of a long-term care facility. So we will work with them. It might require moving to a different facility. It might require other opportunities. In really complex cases, Mr. Speaker, we may have to look at southern placement, where higher levels of support can be provided that we are currently unable to provide here, in the Northwest Territories. As I said previously, when incidents occur, every incident is investigated thoroughly, and we learn from those incident to make sure that we can put in mechanisms that can help us avoid these types of situations in the future. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the Minister for his thorough answers. He's answered a couple of my questions, so this might be my last one. I know that cameras are going into new facilities. Has the department looked into installing cameras in existing facilities, particularly Woodland Manor, and does the department have a price on that? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Currently, all of our new long-term care facilities are designed with cameras in public spaces, not in individual rooms as that would be seen as a breach of individuals' privacy. There is no current plan to put cameras in existing facilities, but, if the facilities were to approach us and wish to do that, we're certainly supportive of finding a way to make that happen within some of our existing facilities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To follow up on what the Minister said, he said he would find ways to make it happen, I guess, basically, or to work with the authority to get cameras in facilities. Does that mean helping maybe with the payment or something like that, or is this just come out of the authority's budget as it is? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the Member and the House are aware of, obviously, the fiscal challenges that we're facing, so we would have to be looking within. But it doesn't mean, Mr. Speaker, that we're not interested in doing this, but the way our current facilities are designed, some of them are more open concept, it may prove unnecessary to have cameras in some of our facilities. We need to look. We need to talk to the long-term care facilities that exist and get their ideas of where this might be appropriate and where it may be unnecessary. So it's certainly not all long-term care facilities, but we're absolutely open to discussion, and we will certainly have to find some room within to put cameras if that is ultimately the desire of some of these long-term care facilities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Item 7, oral questions, Member for Mackenzie Delta.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have a follow-up to my Member's statement, some questions for the Minister of Transportation. As I mentioned in my Member's statement, Mr. Speaker, many of my constituents and people of the Beaufort Delta rely on the ferry services leading up to the opening of the ice road. Mr. Speaker, my first question to the Minister is what is the government's backup plan to stabilize costs and maintain fuel supply if ferry service is suspended or reduced? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Minister of Transportation.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The department has been looking at this very operation as a possible budget reduction, just because of the significant cost of it, and part of this conversation has been talking LNG and propane suppliers and the grocery suppliers of the Beaufort Delta region. From the conversations taking place at present, there is a significant chance that the closure of this ferry would not interrupt the services of either the LNG or propane delivery or the food delivery to the Beaufort Delta region. The department has had a number of conversations with these people, and we continue to talk to them, and there seems to be a reason that we can do this without significant challenges to the Beaufort Delta. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, what led up to the ferry operating until the ice bridge was open was in fact, LNG in Inuvik. Mr. Speaker, there is worry that the community would run out of LNG. I haven't seen any infrastructure in the community that proves that they will be ready and have proper storage facilities in place, Mr. Speaker. I’d also like to ask the Minister what is the estimated cost of building a bridge at the Peel River and Mackenzie River crossings and how does that compare to maintaining existing ferry services? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

To address the bridge cost to start with, that would be a significant cost; I couldn't tell the Member exactly what that would be. We would have to take on a planning study and look into what the infrastructure would cost for that, and even if we did do that, that would be a significant amount of money as we know what the previous bridges in the Northwest Territories have cost. We'd have to go back to Infrastructure Canada to assist with that, and under the fiscal pressures that this government is seeing it's probably something that would have to be rolled out in a 20-year study of our needs of infrastructure.

Getting back to the increased storage capacity of the suppliers in the region, one of the things during the conversation that took place with a number of proponents up there was the Ikhil gas well has been used during these times as of recently, and this helps offset the need for LNG and propane at the same time. But that's why we're having this conversation early on, as this is proposed as a budget reduction coming up in the next budget cycle, is that we want the proponents to have the reserve appropriate in LNG as needed with what's needed with the short time that that ferry would be closed.I guess the one other point that I'd want to make about it that during the operation of the winter ferry; that the Dempster has been closed 40 per cent of the time so it only leaves about 20 some days at the max that that operation has been open.