Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, there are a number of things that obviously need to be done here. I have had a conversation with a large number of leaders in communities across the Northwest Territories and had the conversation about how we get the message out in your community, recognizing that the vehicle in one community might not be the same as the vehicle in the other community. I have had some good feedback. In other areas, I haven't heard too much.
We are trying to reach out. I have directed the authority, through the deputy minister and the CEO, to reach out to the communities to figure out how to communicate information that is important to them in a way that will resonate in their communities, recognizing it may be a different mechanism by community. That is not just about smoking cessation. That is about messaging about when are health providers going to be in your community, who is coming in, when are they coming in, what programs or resources are new to help make sure that our people are informed. That will certainly include work on smoking cessation.
At the same time, the communities have community wellness plans. Many of them have talked about the types of things they want to address. Some communities have chosen smoking cessation as one of the things they wish to address. Frankly, in my opinion, communities are probably some of the best people to identify how information could work. We will give them all the technical data they want. Some have customized it appropriately.
The other thing we are trying to do is: we are working with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment to renew the school health curriculum. I talked about that earlier today. I think it is very exciting. We have our Aboriginal Health and Community Wellness division. I think it is honestly the first time that Health and Social Services has actually been actively engaged in curriculum development, so it is very exciting.
In that, they are talking about current and relevant resources that could be available to schools to help encourage children to not take up smoking as a habit. Like I said, I asked the department to do some exploration around "Butthead" and see if maybe there is an opportunity to revitalize or reintroduce it, "Don't Be a Butthead," if it is something the public tells us they want. Thank you, Mr. Chair.