This is page numbers 4981 - 5018 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 community. View the webstream of the day's session.

Recognition Of Visitors In The Gallery
Recognition Of Visitors In The Gallery

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Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh

Marsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Today, I would like to recognize our interpreters, Mr. Tom Unka, interpreting in Denesuline Chipewyan language, and Maro Sundberg, in Wiilideh Tlicho language. I would also like to recognize two Pages from Wiilideh, Joshua Drygeese and Ben Colas. Thank you.

Recognition Of Visitors In The Gallery
Recognition Of Visitors In The Gallery

Page 4986

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Item 6, acknowledgements. Member for Sahtu.

Acknowledgement 19-18(3): Thomas and Denise Manuel
Acknowledgements

February 22nd, 2019

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Daniel McNeely

Daniel McNeely Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is my pleasure to announce my in-laws, Thomas and Denise Manuel, celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary this past February 20, 2019. The celebrations were held in Fort Good Hope and enjoyed by the family, community of Fort Good Hope, and the guests from the surrounding communities. Here's wishing you many more years of happiness together. Mahsi.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Acknowledgements. Item 7, oral questions. Member for Hay River North.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Further to my Member's statement, I have questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services about the eight-month-long wait list in Hay River to receive mental health counselling services. How many staff are allocated to the Hay River Health and Social Services Authority community counselling office, and how many of the staff are actually in the office? 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. I would like to thank the Member for his statement. I agreed with pretty much everything that he said, that this is a problem, this is something we need to be fixing, and it's unacceptable to have these kinds of wait times. I do take a little bit of a disagreement with his comments that these issues have fallen on deaf ears. I do not believe that to be the case, and I think the staff in the authority and in the territorial authority are working hard to resolve some of these challenges and to improve services to the residents of Hay River, so I do take offence at indicating that these issues have fallen on deaf ears.

In Hay River, Health and Social Services has three vacant community counsellor positions, and full staffing complement is six, so we are down a number of positions in Hay River. There are three mental health and addictions counsellors, two community counsellors, community wellness workers, and one clinical supervisor. As the Member indicated in his statement, the clinical supervisor position is currently vacant. The mental health and addictions counsellor and community wellness worker positions are also currently vacant. We are actively recruiting for a clinical supervisor as we speak. We are actually intending to do interviews for the position next week. We just completed hiring the one vacant mental health and addictions counsellor position, and we expect that that person will be starting in March.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

I did not mean any offence, but when I bring these issues up, I know the Minister listens, I know the department listens, I know the authority listens, but I need to see some results. Otherwise, I have to make those kinds of statements. It's good to hear that some staffing is occurring. What are the challenges to staffing? Why did we get down to this skeleton crew? I know it's been going on a long time, so what are the challenges with staffing this office?

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

When somebody says the issues are falling on the deaf ears, usually to me that means that he is suggesting or somebody is suggesting nobody is listening. I am happy to hear that the Member does acknowledge that we are listening and that work is happening in this area.

When it comes to staffing, the Hay River Health and Social Services is currently reviewing the job descriptions for the mental health and addictions counsellor positions to make sure that the required qualifications that are identified do not create any unintended barriers to staffing those positions. They are also exploring the possibility of a mentorship model with applicants who are either recent graduates or have experience but don't necessarily have the academic criteria.

They have also been actively recruiting for these positions, both territorially and nationally. They have posted positions on the website for the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association, national organizations, Longwoods, Indeed.com, Facebook pages, websites. They have gone to university job boards that offer the programs. Staff are also reaching out to colleagues for who might possibly be interested. I know that they are also reviewing the current program delivery model in order to improve wait times, service delivery, and staff retention.

Just to be clear, and I think I said this in response to another Member's question, these are what would be considered non-emergent cases. I do acknowledge that cases evolve over time, but emergency cases are triaged and they get supports right away.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Yes, as I mentioned, emergency cases are heard. They receive appointments within a month. That is a pretty fast and loose definition of "emergency."

I know that the health authority is a separate legal entity, but they receive their money through an allocation through the Department of Health and Social Services. We are ultimately responsible for them. Can the Minister reallocate some resources from the public service, from his department, to help with this backlog in Hay River?

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

Although Hay River Health and Social Services is technically outside the public service at this time, we would still like to bring them in, which I believe may actually help with some of our recruitment challenges in that area. We do consider them part of the team, and we do work closely with them.

The territorial authority has reached out to other NWT regions for assistance in Hay River. Fort Smith has agreed to accept some of the referrals to help with the wait times. Fort Simpson has agreed to offer some level of clinical supervision until such time as we can hire somebody. Unfortunately, the rest of the NWT, when it comes to community counselling programs, are facing significant shortages as far as staff, as well, so this is a territorial issue. Hay River certainly has the longest wait times and they are certainly feeling the brunt of this, but we are working hard to address that, and the territorial health authority is working closely and offering expertise and support from other regions.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister has mentioned a lot of the things that are happening. I have spoken with the CEO about this and the public administrator, and I know some of the things they are doing. I know there is work going on behind the scenes, but when can we expect this situation to be solved and put it behind us, and when can we know that we are going to go forward and people are going to be able to receive the services they need in a timely manner? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

When it comes to providing services through staff in positions that have high turnover, we can never say with certainty that this problem will be gone. We may be able to resolve it with a full-stocked complement of staff, but if turnover occurs again, we could have some blips. That is why working with the other regions is so important.

Community counselling services in Hay River, as the Member said, at 35 weeks is inappropriate, and we need to work together with our partners to bring that down. There are apparently about 55 clients on the wait list. The authority is managing the wait list based on a priority or a risk assessment process and offering programming from group programs, which keeps clients connected with the community counselling services and provides them with the tools that they need to manage some of their situation.

There has been lunchtime and evening mindfulness group sessions, as one example of the types of things that are happening. Hay River has entered into a contract with a licensed psychologist until March 31st to assist with the clinical supervision to support staff, assist with the wait list, assist with the recruitment and review of current programs and delivery models. They have also been referring eligible clients to take advantage of the employee assistance program available through the GNWT. There are also Health Canada programs that referrals are being made to, and the health authority is recommending that anyone who needs mental health support and is not able to be seen through the existing counselling program to come to the health centre or go to emergency if it is an urgent situation.

There are a number of things that are happening. We are working hard to close this gap, and we will continue to do so.

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, earlier in the sitting, my honourable friend from Yellowknife North asked the Minister responsible for Infrastructure some questions surrounding security delays of the YZF Airport. At that time, the Minister identified that the Canadian Air Transportation Security Authority staffing was the biggest problem and the cause of these delays. A recent CBC article, on February 20th, had a response from CATSA on these delays, and they said that an additional security line was never part of the airport renovation plan that they submitted to the agency, and if the government wants additional screening lines, it needs to present a business case that would include staffing and those extra levels of resourcing. I would like to ask the Minister: has CATSA been engaged and been asked for the things that they are saying they were never asked for? Is their information correct? Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Minister of Infrastructure.

Wally Schumann

Wally Schumann Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The CATSA system, they set their own levels of service, Mr. Speaker. As I said in the House the other day, we are tracking the number of people who are going through the line-ups. I have said that the reduced wait time is down by 30 percent. We engage CATSA regularly, because we have to engage them on when we did the expansion for the space for them and put in the new CATSA Plus system, so those discussions are ongoing.

I am sure the Member is going to have a number of questions, but when we talk about CATSA Plus setting their own service levels, our understanding, based on the information that we have right now, the rating that we have is 1.2 lines for the CATSA Plus system. For us to get to two lines, there is going to have to be a significant more amount of traffic that has to take place for us to work with them to make a decision to install an extra line. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Kieron Testart

Kieron Testart Kam Lake

That is a bit more clear, that there is some policy behind it. Is that what CATSA is saying? Has the proposal been brought forward to the Crown corporation for an additional line? Because that is what the people want, and I don't know if the Minister has done it.

Wally Schumann

Wally Schumann Hay River South

I am not sure if the Member is listening to what I am saying. I am saying CATSA Plus sets their own service levels. Right now, there is a 1.2 rating for the lines. To go to two lines, there is going to have to be a significant increase of traffic. As I said in the House the other day, we are monitoring the amount of traffic that is going there, the wait times. We are doing it manually. We are going to put in an automated system to be able to collect this data to be able to say, you know, CATSA, it clearly states that we need to have two lines in the Yellowknife Airport. Until we get that documentation, how can I just say I am going to put in an extra line and request for this information? It is no different than us answering questions on that side of the House. We have to have data, and I have to have data for CATSA Plus.

Kieron Testart

Kieron Testart Kam Lake

If the Minister doesn't have the data, then how does he know that security lines have been reduced by 30 percent? His officials are telling the City of Yellowknife it is going to be 60 percent. He is telling this House it is 30 percent, and now he is telling this House he doesn't have the numbers to justify additional expansions of security time. How is the Minister getting his information?

Wally Schumann

Wally Schumann Hay River South

As I said, clearly the Member is not listening to what I am saying. We are collecting data out there. Our data has clearly told us that the reduction of wait times is down by 30 percent. We are doing it manually. We have a person sitting there collecting that data. We will get this information more clearly when we put in an automated system. We are at 1.2 lines right now. There have to be two lines to have more significant more traffic at the Yellowknife Airport for them to make a decision to install two lines.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Kieron Testart

Kieron Testart Kam Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am listening to the Minister. I don't know if he is listening to my questions. He is providing some answers, but I'd like to know if he can produce this information. Will he table the numbers he has so far so the public can clearly understand exactly what the issues are and why we can't get this enhanced system that, again, people are asking for? Thank you.

Wally Schumann

Wally Schumann Hay River South

I don't have a problem tabling any of this information. Clearly the Member is playing on words, here. We are doing our due diligence to try to improve the system. We are working with CATSA Plus. I want to get even more information out there for the general public, and I want them to know this. When we work with CATSA's system, we have to supply the space for free. We have to supply the electricity for free. We have to supply the heat for free. It's not like this is just some ad hoc thing we're doing. We are trying to improve times at the airport for the general public.

As I said, there is a lot of pressure on the system. I said yesterday in the House that we are working with CATSA Plus. There is definitely a deficiency around the number of people who are employed out there. We work with them closely. I mentioned the type of signage and stuff, and that we have worked with CATSA Plus to improve wait times and try to get people through the line-ups faster. Some of these people who are travelling through our airport are definitely not savvy travellers. They're not on an airplane every week, like some people are, and we are working with them closely to improve these things. It's not just something where I can snap my fingers and ask the federal government and put another line in. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.