Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I can provide a list, or the Member could read Hansard. I have just listed off all the services that are going to be in the old Stanton building. The only ones that are going to sort of need to be relocated because they don't exist in there now are extended care, physio, occupational therapy. The rest of them don't exist in the building now, so they won't be affected. We will be looking for temporary lease space to accommodate us during the retrofit of the old Stanton building. I don't know what that location is yet. That lease hasn't been let. I couldn't tell the Member what that location is going to be because it hasn't been selected yet. Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I guess I am looking for more than just a list, something like a Gantt chart that shows each of the services, where they are going to be located where that is known, and the timing over the transition period. I guess that is what I really want to know. I think, as we get closer to when that transition happens, the public is going to need to know that information, as well. Can the Minister commit to give us that kind of information? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we will provide some level of detail, recognizing that it hasn't all been finalized at this point. We are over a year out of this type of thing even starting. We are doing initial work. We are figuring those types of things out. I am happy to provide the Member with additional information as I become aware. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I understand this is in flux, but I am getting some questions about this. It is for members of the community, as well. I think we need to ramp up our communications as we get closer to that transition time, as well. I will just leave it at that. I understand the Minister has made the commitment. He will give us more information. I understand it is still in flux, but we need to start to think about how we are going to communicate this with the public, as well. That is all I have on this section. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Any closing comments on that line of question? Nothing from the Minister. I have no one further on my list. I will call this activity. Diagnostic and therapeutic services, operations expenditure summary, activity total, $26,103,000. Does committee agree?

Thank you, committee. The next activity begins on page 189, nursing inpatient services. Mr. Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. In regard to this here, I think there is one on page 190. Is this the section where we talk about chemotherapy? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I spent a significant amount of my life standing in front of an incredibly loud speaker. I didn't have the microphone in my ear. Rock and roll kills. Can I get the Member to repeat that question?

Thank you, Minister. Mr. Thompson.

I can't hear you. I think I was listening to hard country music, so my hearing is going, too. I wanted to ask you about chemo. Is this the section on it? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Sure. Yes. Nursing touches all areas. Nurses are involved in chemo. Yes, let's do it here. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. I will allow the Member to pursue this line of questioning. Mr. Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess this is going to be the area where I am going to go with it. We have heard about chemo, the treatment here being changed and to update our staff. Now we are looking into April, from the last thing I have seen in the news in here. Can the Minister please provide us an update on exactly where we are going on it? Because I have a number of constituents who have to make the trip to Edmonton. They are concerned. They would like to be able to do it here. Can the Minister please provide us an update on the status in this area? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, to start off, I just want to be very, very clear. Not all residents of the Northwest Territories who require chemo have received care or chemo in the Northwest Territories. Many of our residents have always gone south for chemo, depending on the nature of the cancer, the type of treatment they receive. We did provide chemo services in the Northwest Territories, in Stanton in particular, for certain types of cancer and certain types of treatment.

Since we have come to a single authority, we have been reviewing operations and delivery of services in different areas. We did have a review done of our chemo services here in the Northwest Territories. When that review was done, there were a number of recommendations on how to make improvements to Stanton; better training, some other operational things, some current modern standards. This field is changing all the time. We need to be able to keep on top of it.

As a result of the recommendations, there was a decision made that the best way, the quickest way to get this work done would be to actually temporarily shut down the chemo unit. That would allow us to do the training. The other day, in oral questions, I went through some of the detail on the types of training that are happening. There is some onsite training, book-learning-type stuff, and then there is some clinical practice in Alberta that our staff are going down to participate in and then some practice so that they can consolidate learning.

There are a number of things that are happening. We decided it was best to shut down; send our staff to where they are going to get the best training possible; work on our guideline; make sure that our guidelines are remaining current, remaining fresh; have the mechanism to update appropriately. In that time, we also recognize this is actually an opportunity for us to refresh some of our equipment that we are using in the chemo unit.

As a result of the time it has taken to train our staff and get these regulations done, we felt we didn't want to rush back before we are ready. We are taking a couple of extra weeks over what we initially planned of four to eight weeks, and we are looking into April before we go live. When our patients who can receive chemo in the Northwest Territories come back, we want them to be getting the same high-quality professional services that they are receiving at the Cross in Edmonton today. We have received a lot of feedback from our residents who are going down there about the quality of the service they are receiving. We want to make sure that we can provide the same thing to those residents who will receive chemo in the North.

Thank you. Mr. Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, I understand that chemotherapy, depending on the cancer, goes back and forth, you know, down to Alberta. I guess, fortunately or unfortunately, my constituents who seem to have it were able to do it in Yellowknife. That was the big thing, as they recognized the service that was here was great. They said nothing but positive stuff about it. Then when they went down to Edmonton, they didn't see any difference. They didn't see any difference in service and that.

They were informed that it was going to January; now, we're looking into April, so when can the department say firmly that we're going to have the service back here in the Northwest Territories? Is April going to be it? I guess we just need a true deadline. When is it going to be happening? Thank you, Mr. Chair.