This is page numbers 4935 - 4980 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 going. View the webstream of the day's session.

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Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

The Minister has been unable to answer my question. At some point, there is going to be a new campus built, and my understanding is it's going to be built in Yellowknife. There is going to be money needed for this, so where along this whole road does the decision get made that there will be a new campus in Yellowknife and that it will be the headquarters for the new polytechnic?

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

I am a little bit shocked. I am wondering if the MLA has more information than I do, because I didn't know that we were having a new campus in Yellowknife at this time. We are still working with the City of Yellowknife to define if that is a brick and mortar or if it actually is building on what they have already. So those decisions have not been made, and my commitment has been to work very closely with the municipal government to determine that need. Like I said, the first couple of years are around planning, and the definition of what headquarters looks like or where it will be will be future, down the road.

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker R.J. Simpson

Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. What I hear is the Minister is punting this decision down the road to the next Assembly so that she is not going to disappoint anyone, but I want to put on the record that this decision is going to have to be made. Whether we are talking about bricks and mortar, whether we are talking about distance learning, whatever it is we are talking about, this thing is going to exist somewhere and the Minister is going to have a make a decision about it, so at a what point is that going to come, if not some future Assembly and some hapless Minister of the day having to make somebody unhappy?

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

I think that I have been called many things since I have taken this position. However, I have not been called "easy" and I have not been called "lazy," so I am not looking for easy answers out. I am doing my job as a Minister, and that means protecting all people in the Northwest Territories, in all communities. As stated, I see benefits in all three communities. Climate change is affecting our northern communities more so than Yellowknife. Not to say it's not affecting Yellowknife, but it's affecting them more so. Would that not make sense to study there? If we are going to do ENR programs, does it make sense to do them in Yellowknife or does it make sense to do it outside the community? Those are questions we need to look at.

Before we even get to defining what the headquarters looks like, Mr. Speaker, we have to develop a vision. One of the recommendations says we try to do too much for everyone. We need to stop that. We need to look at what we are good at, what we should be specializing in, and what we should be leaving to other universities and polytechnics throughout Canada. So that is the first step, is defining what we need, what we are good at, what we should be focusing our energies on. After that, then we will be looking at the structures of how we support all three communities and all three campuses. Not only the campuses, but the 22 community learning centres also need to be in that picture, as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker R.J. Simpson

Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.

Cory Vanthuyne

Cory Vanthuyne Yellowknife North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am going to continue, then, on down the road of questions with regard to the polytechnic, but I guarantee I will not ask any questions about: where shall it go? Mr. Speaker, I will go down this road, however. There are some people who are very excited about this transition. Obviously, Aurora College has served the Northwest Territories very well. The government has accepted a number of recommendations with regard to the review. That means we are going to transition into a polytechnic university, so I would like to start simply by asking the Minister if she can tell us what work has been done so far to prepare for the transition of Aurora College, that has served us well, into this polytechnic university? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker R.J. Simpson

Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do want to take a moment to state that I do not see the MLA who just asked me the question as a coward. I see him as a very capable MLA, so I will start with that.

What have we done? What have we done so far? We put out the ad, and so again I will be releasing very soon where we are with the hiring practise. That will be coming up, by the latest, on Monday. I will be doing a Minister's statement on the polytechnic at that time. We have done visits, three visits to all three communities, and that was a lot. In fairness, when I went to the communities, there was a lot of fear-based. It took three visits to get them actually to feeling a place where they could see a future, that they can actually take hold of this and say it is the right thing to do, so that was very worthwhile, my time. We have also met with the community learning centres. Because there are 22 in different areas, we could not meet with them individually, so we had a teleconference with all of them to define what they see their strengths are and their needs are. We have done the draft of what the vision questions will be. I have submitted those to the MLAs. I believe I gave a timeline to get that information back so that the MLAs can give me final feedback on if the survey questions are appropriate. We are expecting that as soon as the beginning of next month. We will be submitting that out, the visioning out, throughout the Northwest Territories.

I know at the beginning the MLAs had asked me in committee if I would have an implementation plan, and I actually did not want to do that because I took the recommendation that said ECE is too entrenched, so I wanted to hold off, but I could not wait. As a person, I am a little bit "get her done," so we have started a draft implementation plan. Once this person is in place, they will take that draft and they will actually make it a final implementation plan. So we have done a little bit of work. We have much to do, but I am excited about the work to come.

Cory Vanthuyne

Cory Vanthuyne Yellowknife North

Thank you to the Minister for the reply, and I appreciate the preparation that is under way. Residents, though, Mr. Speaker, although they are very excited about the opportunity that another level of education will provide to Northerners, they are still a little bit troubled to understand exactly what is undertaken, or what does a polytechnic university look like. Can the Minister maybe describe to us exactly what a polytechnic university looks like? What distinguishes it differently from Aurora College? Thank you.

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker R.J. Simpson

A very broad question. In responding, can the Minister please take note of the time and the fact that we are not even halfway through questions? Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

Okay. I am going to really try because, you know me, I like to talk. What is a polytechnic university besides Aurora College right now? A polytechnic university is actually really hand-on learning. It looks at taking in practicum plus the academic learning with that. So what it gives us that it does not have at Aurora College is that Aurora College is limited because it is a college. They have partnerships that can access university monies, but they don't actually get that money themselves. I don't know this money. It came out in a city report. I believe that it said that there was, like, $500 million floated through that we didn't access. We could only access a couple hundred thousand dollars of that money.

Moving into the polytechnic university will give us specializations in what our strengths are in the Northwest Territories, and it will also give us access to a lot more research money, which will lessen the dependency of Aurora College on the Government of the Northwest Territories, which is critical for sustainability.

Cory Vanthuyne

Cory Vanthuyne Yellowknife North

Thank you to the Minister for the reply. The Minister has indicated a couple of times in previous replies and earlier in mine that there is soon, I guess, to be announced a new associate deputy minister. Once this particular ADM is hired, what will be the actual first steps and actions that this position or this person is going to have to take?

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

One of the first things, of course, that that person will have to do is get used to what he is walking into, or she is walking into. They will have to look at taking over the overall supervision, the operations of the normal day-to-day operations within all the campuses. Because we will be starting the vision exercise, they will be actually working with that close vision exercise, not only for the Northwest Territories, but taking that vision and then what we define as a vision of the Territories, they will be defining what the vision is for the polytechnic university. They will be taking our draft implementation plan, whatever state it is in, and finalizing that work. As well, they will be looking at their management team to make sure that they have the best-placed people in the best places. They have a lot of work to do in a short period of time. Like I said, I am a pretty hard Minister, and I want this done. I will be on them constantly to get er done.

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker R.J. Simpson

Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.

Cory Vanthuyne

Cory Vanthuyne Yellowknife North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the Minister for the reply. Clearly, there is lots of work to be done. As we know, we have little to no resources actually identified in this particular budget with regard to this initiative. There is a little bit of a concern toward how much are we actually cementing this initiative into the mandate of this Assembly. I would like to ask the Minister: what can we expect that will be done on this file in the remaining life of this Assembly? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

Sometimes, in honesty, I think that sometimes we work too slow. Then I have to remind myself I only got this portfolio in April. I won't even have an actual year until it is finished, but I think we are making a lot of progress. What can be done? The person will be hired as our associate deputy minister. Our overall vision statement for the Northwest Territories and for the polytechnic will be done in this Legislative Assembly.

We will be doing that drafting of the framework for the evaluations of the programs, the education and the social work. That was a personal commitment and a personal concern of my own. That will be done. We will also be bringing forward the legislation to guide and make sure that all post-secondary education within the Northwest Territories is providing quality education to our students. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker R.J. Simpson

Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.

Michael Nadli

Michael Nadli Deh Cho

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier I spoke about the situation in Fort Providence of dental services, or the lack of dental services. My questions are to the Minister of Health and Social Services. You know, we are elected here to serve the interests and the well-being of the public and ensuring we provide efficient programs and services. With that in mind, can the Minister sketch out for us the way that dental services are delivered in our small communities, including responsible parties, and how this compares to services in regional centres and in Yellowknife? Mahsi.

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker R.J. Simpson

Thank you. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Recognizing the time, I will try my best to do this quickly. Dental services are not provided by the Government of the Northwest Territories. They are provided by private clinics and private practitioners. That is for all residents of the Northwest Territories. Dental services are not an insured health service.

However, the department does administer portions of the Non-Insured Health Benefits Program (NIHB) on behalf of the federal government, who do have some responsibility for ensuring that dental services are provided to those who are eligible for NIHB. The health authorities have and do enter into contracts on behalf of NIHB with dental providers, private businesses, to travel to the regions and communities that do not have local or resident dentists.

The actual dental services, as I have indicated, are provided by these private providers, and they will actually invoice the federal government directly for the cost of those services. Dental services are based on self-referral. Every resident can call a dental office or other to book their own appointments. They would do that directly with the dentist, not through the Health and Social Services system.

If dental services are not available in a home community, like Providence as an example of residents, those who are eligible for NIHB can make arrangements to travel to access dental services and have some of those costs covered through NIHB. In larger centres that have private dentist offices, individuals who are eligible for NIHB also book their own appointments directly with the dentist, and the dentist will invoice the federal government for coverage under NIHB program.

If services required are not covered by NIHB, which is the case for some procedures, or they exceed the benefit levels that are covered, then the cost is the responsibility of the individual. That is similar to individuals who are covered by employee dental insurance programs and other things, like our GNWT employees, who have some of the best benefits in the country. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Michael Nadli

Michael Nadli Deh Cho

I think the Minister covered a lot of information. I wanted to talk about the location of the services whenever it arrives in Fort Providence and perhaps at least acknowledging that communication has been problematic. Talking specifics about Fort Providence, residents have asked me why the dental team is using the old dental room at the Snowshoe Inn Centre when there are facilities and a new health centre. Can the Minister explain?

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

I have asked the department to provide me with some clarity on the use of the Snowshoe Inn Centre. It is my understanding that the dental providers out of Hay River actually weren't under contract with NIHB to come. They had actually made those arrangements themselves and made their arrangements in the community.

Having said that, we did construct the new health centre in Fort Providence, which we opened in 2015. Subsequently, a dental room was requested to be added to the new centre. The dental room has been completed, and the required dental equipment has been installed and commissioned in that health centre. Although the authority is currently exploring options for a dentist to be available to residents of Fort Providence who are eligible through NIHB coverage, we are talking to the federal government right now about doing an RFP or some other mechanism to find a dentist who will come in on a regular basis into that community to use those facilities.

Michael Nadli

Michael Nadli Deh Cho

The department is doing some very important work on oral health for infants, children, and youth. I don't want to take away from that, but I am also mindful of adults in need. How is the department taking action to improve adults' oral health in the NWT?

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

We did release the oral health strategy here in the Northwest Territories, and the focus is on prevention rather than the actual provision of services, because the provision of services is the responsibility of private dentists and others. We do accept and we do agree with everything the Member said about the value of oral health and healthy gums, a healthy mouth leading to overall health. We do have the oral health strategy. There is a lot of focus on youth, as the Member has said.

However, with regard to oral health initiatives for the adult population, there are a number of action items within the oral health action plan that will benefit adults as the action plan is implemented over the next three years. Some of those notable examples include the provision of oral health toolkits for all residents of long-term care facilities in the Northwest Territories; large-scale oral health promotion programs into the general population; the expansion of community water fluoridation in the territory; upgrading and replacement of dental equipment in dental rooms across the Northwest Territories, like we did in Providence; and augmenting oral health services for expectant mothers through prenatal oral health programs. There are a number of things that we are doing that are focusing on supporting adults as well as youth and children.