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.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Member for Kam Lake.

Kieron Testart

Kieron Testart Kam Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the response to questioning during the review of the 2018-2019 Main Estimates, the Minister of Health and Social Services said, and I am quoting from unedited Hansard February 28, 2018:

"We are talking about the resident being able to block their record from being seen by certain individuals within the healthcare system, including certain specific information. The initial system as designed didn't really have that available, but we have been working with the developers to see how we can incorporate that in, and we believe there is a mechanism. We are not a hundred per cent sure, and I may come back and say I was wrong, but at this point we believe there is something we can do."

I would like to ask the Minister if that system he was referring to in that quote was the MediPatient system referenced in the recent Information and Privacy Commissioner report. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the system I was making reference to was the electronic medical record system that we have incorporated in the Northwest Territories. I have had some further discussions. We believe that we will be able to put a system in that will allow our residents to block some individuals from seeing their information. We have not formulated that or put that in place yet, but we believe it can happen.

Kieron Testart

Kieron Testart Kam Lake

So, I have it here. The electronic medical record system is a system of patient information used in healthcare clinics for scheduling, longitudinal charting, and billing to support the delivery of patient care, and it's available to all health authorities, whereas the MediPatient system referred to in the Information and Privacy Commissioner report indicates that it's local hospital patient information used by several NWT health and social services authorities and includes admission, discharge, radiology, rehabilitation, and scheduling functions. So are some authorities still using the MediPatient system, or is the electronic medical record system replacing the MediPatient system?

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

No, we are moving to the electronic medical record system in the Northwest Territories, so it's going to be one system where we can have patient information, they can see what their test results are, all of those types of things. There are three communities that do not have that system in place yet. We are still rolling it out in the Northwest Territories, but we intend to have it everywhere in the Northwest Territories.

Kieron Testart

Kieron Testart Kam Lake

So when the Health Information Act first came into place, the department identified 15 separate information systems. I will not go into them exhaustively, but they all seem to do different things: MediGent, MediPharm, ORMED, Risk Monitor Pro, Vital Statistics System, Health Suite. So, with these 15 separate information systems, are any of these going to be retained, or is this all rolling into one?

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

The Member did indicate a few systems, Vital Stats and a few others as an example. Those continue to exist. They are collecting data for a different reason, and the inputs are coming from a different mechanism. Electronic medical record is a system where individuals' records are kept and maintained. It does provide some statistical data so that we, as Members, can make informed decisions. We have 32 indicators that we are monitoring and reporting on, on a regular basis.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Kieron Testart

Kieron Testart Kam Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. What I am trying to get at with the Minister here is that, yes, there are diagnostic systems, there are different systems like that, but it seems like there are a number of systems that are used for patient information, and we still have this issue with masking, that the functionality does not seem to be there. So I will ask the Minister: what is the work that is undergoing to modify the electronic medical record system to allow masking of patient information? What are the costs and projected timelines of that? Thank you.

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

What we are referring to is allowing a patient to block certain practitioners from seeing their information so that not everybody who is in the circle of care can necessarily see the information. That work is under way. We are still trying to figure out the exact magnitude, the cost of it. There are some challenges with it. For instance, if somebody chooses to block something today, and then 10, 15, years from now their situation changes and there is a critical incident and somebody needs to look at that information, if it's blocked, it could adversely affect their care. So we want to make sure that we understand all of that, and, until we have a better understanding of that, we will not have a full idea of the cost implications or the scope. We are doing that work. When I know, the committee will know. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Premier as the Minister responsible for Intergovernmental Affairs. There is major concern with the impacts of Site C dam project, now proceeding on the Peace River in British Columbia. UNESCO, Amnesty International, International Union for the Conservation of Nature, they have all opposed this project. Yesterday in this House I tabled a letter that was signed by 14 downstream Indigenous governments, including four from the Northwest Territories, calling on the British Columbia government to cancel the project. I would like to know from the Premier whether our government has ever told the British Columbia government it is opposed to the project and, if not, why not? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. The Honourable Premier.

Bob McLeod

Bob McLeod Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Government of the Northwest Territories fully participated in the environmental assessment process associated with the proposed Site C hydroelectric project. In submissions to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, better known at CEAA, the Government of the Northwest Territories provided technical comments and concerns about potential downstream impacts from the Site C dam. The Government of the Northwest Territories also provided recommendations to address potential downstream effects to aquatic ecosystems, traditional harvesters, and communities in the Northwest Territories, specifically that the cumulative-effect assessment should expand in scope to include the Slave River and Slave River delta and should include assessment of the combined effects of Site C, Dunvegan, and Bennett Dam on water quality, quantity, and the health of the aquatic ecosystem.

Despite the input provided by the Government of the Northwest Territories and some Northwest Territories Indigenous governments, CEAA's decision concluded that the project could go ahead but provided 80 conditions to reduce the potential downstream effects. CEAA also concluded that no effects from the Site C dam are likely to occur in the Northwest Territories.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

I would like to thank the Premier for that level of detail in his response, but, after the CEAA panel was held, the British Columbia government, the Premier, announced that they were reconsidering the project. So, during that reconsideration, did our government write to the Premier of British Columbia at any time and oppose the project? Can the Premier tell me that?

Bob McLeod

Bob McLeod Yellowknife South

In the Mackenzie River basin, every province and territory is responsible for water management within their own jurisdictions. Transboundary agreements are bilateral in nature and, as such, address waters that flow between two jurisdictions. The waters of the Peace River flow directly between British Columbia and Alberta.

The Northwest Territories-Alberta Bilateral Water Management Agreement deals directly with waters that flow between Alberta and the Northwest Territories, such as the Slave River. This is the approach defined in the Mackenzie River Basin Transboundary Master Agreement. As Alberta has made commitments related to water quality and overall ecosystem integrity in the Northwest Territories-Alberta Bilateral Agreement, they must ensure those commitments can be kept as they continue to negotiate with British Columbia towards their Alberta-British Columbia Bilateral Water Management Agreement.

The Northwest Territories-British Columbia Bilateral Water Management Agreement covers our directly shared waters with British Columbia within the Liard River Basin. British Columbia and the Yukon have recently signed a bilateral water management agreement related to their shared waters in the Liard Basin.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

I would like to thank the Premier for that response, but I want to give him a heads up: I have gone off-script. This was not a question that I gave to him ahead of time, but it is in response to the first question that I asked.

Once again, at the conclusion of CEAA panel review, after that was completed, the Premier of British Columbia announced that their new government was going to reconsider whether they should proceed with Site C. There was a process there where they were going to look at whether they should proceed or not. During that time, did our government write to the Government of British Columbia and oppose the Site C project at any point?

Bob McLeod

Bob McLeod Yellowknife South

After the three-year environmental assessment that was approved in 2014, construction of Site C began in 2015. The estimated completion date for Site C is 2024, and as the project had already received approval, we had already submitted our comments, and we did not write to the British Columbia Premier or the British Columbia government.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Merci, Monsieur le President. I would like to thank the Premier for that. I wish we had written.

The Northwest Territories is a member of the Mackenzie River Basin Board, which provides a forum for discussion of basin level issues at a multi-jurisdictional level, but the board has no teeth, and it can only make recommendations. It doesn't seem to really have any control over upstream actions of jurisdictions once removed. Does the Premier believe that we need to push for a basin-wide regime or agreement to deal with projects like Site C? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Bob McLeod

Bob McLeod Yellowknife South

I believe we already have such an agreement, the Mackenzie River Basin Transboundary Waters Master Agreement, in which negotiations began in 1960, was signed in 1997, and commits the Governments of Alberta, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, Yukon, and Canada, and now includes Nunavut, towards cooperatively managing the water and aquatic ecosystems of the entire Mackenzie River Basin.

This agreement makes provisions for the parties to negotiate bilateral water management agreements to waters that are shared directly between two jurisdictions, and as per the master agreement, the Northwest Territories signed transboundary water management agreements with the Yukon in 2002, and with both Alberta and BC in 2015, and that process also includes dispute resolution processes. 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. I would like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services if the territorial health authority is meeting its statutory requirements under the Health Information Act? Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.