This is page numbers 3721 – 3766 of the Hansard for the 18th Assembly, 3rd 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 women.

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we take the protection of privacy of the NWT residents seriously, and we understand the importance of protecting the personal health information, the custody and control of information. We have enhanced training for all of our custodians. We are making sure that all of our people are trained, to make sure that they understand their obligations under the Health Information Act.

There were a number of recommendations that came forward from the Privacy Commissioner. We are looking at those. We accept those recommendations. We are trying to make improvements. I have asked the department to reach out to the Privacy Commissioner to see if she could provide some guidance on what clauses she thinks need to be amended in the legislation to help improve clarity.

We take this very seriously. We are committed to having quality and professional privacy protection, and of course, the authorities are committed to protecting the privacy of our residents. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Kieron Testart

Kieron Testart Kam Lake

I am not sure if that was a yes, no, or a maybe, but I will ask for more specificity perhaps. This is a very progressive piece of legislation, it is a very complex piece of legislation, and it allows patients a lot of control over their information. Can the Minister confirm if there are systems currently in place to allow patients to protect the privacy of their medical information from health care practitioners?

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

When the rights and principles of the Health Information Act are shared with patients, they are supposed to be told that they can request to stop their information from being shared with certain practitioners. If they make that request, we do our best to make sure that happens. I can't say that every resident who has approached that understands that, which is why we are trying to improve our training; so that people can understand that.

This is new legislation. We are open to making improvements as we go. The Privacy Commissioner for the Northwest Territories has made a number of recommendations. We are reaching out to the Privacy Commissioners to make sure we have a complete comprehensive understanding of what they are suggesting so that we can continue to make this better for residents of the Northwest Territories.

Kieron Testart

Kieron Testart Kam Lake

Will the Minister engage with the relevant standing committee at the nearest available time to go over the kinds of changes they are contemplating, the kind of work plan that they are going over? Will the Minister commit to providing the standing committee with more information on how the department is meeting its statutory requirements under the act?

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

I look forward to getting a letter from committee making that request, and I look forward to following up with them in response.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Kieron Testart

Kieron Testart Kam Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister also commit to providing more clarity on the types of information systems that are being used by the health authority? Previously, I spoke of 15 different systems. I understand some are going to be retained and some are going to be rolled into one. Can the Minister provide some clarity on that or commit to providing more clarity on that? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

I understand that the committee just had a review of the information Privacy Commissioner's report. There were a number of recommendations.

I am looking forward to, once again, hearing back from committee by way of letter or other correspondence indicating the types of things they want to know. If this is included in there, I will absolutely provide that information. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You're just one person.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Yesterday, when the Minister was answering questions from the honourable Member from Frame Lake here in regards about -- that is Frame Lake; right? Kam Lake. Sorry. I got it wrong.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

No, this is Frame Lake.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Yes, this is Frame Lake.

Some Hon. Members

Order.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Order. Was asking questions to the Minister about foundational review and that. Can the Minister advise us if he is giving the same messaging to the college as he has given to us? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, our department has been working closely with the Aurora College and always has been having a good partnership with them.

As our contractor has been doing the work around the foundational review, we have been getting updates and ensuring that the Aurora College and the staff know what the process is, the process that I explained yesterday to the Member for Frame Lake. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

I appreciate that answer from the Minister. I guess my concern is that, you know, yesterday after the exchange here on the floor, I got a couple of phone calls from students asking me, "Well, it's not what they're being told." I guess the question to the Minister is: what is the messaging that the college is getting, because it seems that the students and maybe some of the staff are not getting the same message.

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

As I mentioned yesterday, those two specific programs, we did stop taking enrolments in the programs. The students who are currently in there are going to continue to get the support that they need to graduate, complete their programs, and I've said that in the House on numerous occasions. We will follow up with the staff at Aurora College as well to make sure that they're sending the same message to the students that we want to support them, we want them to graduate, and also to support them if they want to go to another post-secondary institution.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

I appreciate the Minister's answer to that. Don't get me wrong, the staff have been clear with the students and have been very supportive and have been giving the messaging, but I guess the students have been hearing different things at the college and that. Has the college given an email to the students saying, this is the process that the program is being reviewed and that, after the time this program is being reviewed, so the foundational report, whether it's the social work program or the teacher's program, after it's done, then they're going to make a decision?

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

We can have some staff follow up with Aurora College and make sure that information that's been portrayed to the students since we've started this process, that it will be relayed to the students. It is an operational component, so we will check with Aurora College on that.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Minister for doing that. At the end of the day, I guess the students out there who are looking at the social work program and the teacher's program, what can we tell them that is going to happen? Is the NWT seriously looking at providing this program or are we going to maybe potentially do a modification of it? Because if you look at our Skills4Success, some of the hugest needs are social workers or teachers and that, and our early childhood. Can the Minister elaborate on that? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

I think the message here is that anybody who wants to go into a social work program or education program, that we will continue to support them. I've always said that we have one of the best student financial assistance programs in all the country. If they want to get into that program, we can help them identify an institution, whether it's outside the Northwest Territories, getting that program in place. I think also a focus right now as we're moving forward, and I've said this to Members, is making sure that we get that foundational review done. It absolutely isn't a program review. I've mentioned that we've looked at things like governance, the operations, accountability, student retention, and I've mentioned that many times in this House. I think the main thing is that we get this foundational review done for our own Aurora College here in the Northwest Territories. Any student who wants to get into social work or into the education degree program, we will still continue to support them with our Student Financial Assistance funding. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Kieron Testart

Kieron Testart Kam Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Following up on my honourable friend from Nahendeh's questions, I'd just like to ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment: if there are students who don't want to leave the Northwest Territories to take training in in-demand jobs like social work and teacher education, what do we tell those students? Thank you.