This is page numbers 5027 - 5084 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 services. View the webstream of the day's session.

Topics

Kieron Testart

Kieron Testart Kam Lake

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Deh Cho, that Committee Report 13-18(3) be received by Assembly and moved into Committee of the Whole for further consideration. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker R.J. Simpson

Thank you, Mr. Testart. There is a motion. The motion is in order and is non-debatable. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried.

---Carried

The report will be ready for consideration on Thursday, February 28th. Reports of standing and special committees. Item 5, returns to oral questions. Item 6, recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Range Lake.

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Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to recognize one of the Pages, young Ms. Brooke Vallis, who is a member of Range Lake, and we are really honoured to have her here as a Page. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker R.J. Simpson

Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Nahendeh.

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Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to recognize two Pages from Sambaa K'e, Adam Lamalice and Aiden Kotchea. As well, I'd like to thank the principal, Donna Fradley, for recruiting our great Pages here. Thank you very much.

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The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker R.J. Simpson

Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

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Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too would like to recognize Pages. I'd like to recognize Taylor Schear and Victoria Beaulieu from K'alemi Dene School. Thank you.

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The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker R.J. Simpson

Recognition of visitors in the gallery. If we missed anyone, thank you for joining us. Thank you for sticking it out with us today. I want to welcome everyone in the gallery and everyone listening and watching in the Northwest Territories and around the world. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Item 7, acknowledgments. Members, at this time, I will call a brief recess.

---SHORT RECESS

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The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker R.J. Simpson

Welcome back, Members. We had left off on item 7, acknowledgments. Item 8, oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services. During the last session, the honourable Member from Frame Lake addressed an issue that I would like to follow up on today regarding the wait time for people who see hearing specialists or audiologists in the NWT. One of the Minister's responses last session was that Health and Social Services was going to release a review on addressing wait times for audiologists. When can we expect this report to be released to the public? Thank you.

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker R.J. Simpson

Minister of Health and Social Services.

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am going to have to go back and review the previous audit because I don't recall saying we are doing a review that we are going to release on audiology.

We are currently reviewing a number of our services in a number of the areas that we are providing. We certainly were working to address some of the challenges and wait times that we were feeling in our experience in audiology. As a result, last sitting, last budget session, we actually increased the number of audiologists in the Northwest Territories by creating a position in the Beaufort-Delta. Currently, all three of those positions, all three of the audiology positions we have in the Northwest Territories, are filled, and we are hoping to see some improvements in our wait times as a result of those investments. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh

It looks like the Minister has answered some of my other questions, but maybe I could ask a question a little bit differently. The department has some plans, long-term plans, to reduce the wait list in the future for audiologists. Can the Minister explain what some of those long-term plans are?

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

As I indicated, one of the primary things that we did to help with our wait times is we actually created a position in the Beaufort-Delta that will be providing audiology services to both the Beaufort-Delta and the Sahtu. Initially, those services were provided out of Yellowknife by the two different audiologist positions that we had, and they are done by way of travel clinics, five-day travel clinics per year.

Those travel clinics are no longer required, because they will be handled by the audiologist up in the Beaufort-Delta, and those five day clinics that the Yellowknife office was providing will now be provided in the South Slave, so we will be enhancing the number of audiology visits that we have in different jurisdictions within this territory.

We believe that that will help us bring down the wait list times. I do want to be clear, though. As with the mental health wait lists that we were discussing earlier or later last week, where there is urgency or risk, we do get our patients in immediately. Where they are considered non-urgent, that is where the wait lists exist.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh

Back in October of last year, during session, a story came out on the way that Health and Social Services was looking at the priority list. It said priority 1 was 72 hours, working its way down to four months on priority 5. The reason that I am asking questions today is because there is an elder from Detah that is telling me that he was told that he had to wait maybe two years before he would see somebody that could work with him.

I am wondering if there is any plan for addressing people that may not have the greatest need, but do need to see someone sooner than two years, or maybe even sooner than four months. I am wondering if there is any sort of reprioritizing of the list.

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

My list shows that our wait times in 2017-2018 for adults was about 47 weeks, and that is non-urgent cases. It is about 40 weeks for [2:09]. If the Member is aware of an individual who has been told that it is going to be over two years, I would suggest that the best way to deal with that is to meet with me and discuss that particular file. I am not prepared to discuss the file of an individual here in this Assembly.

Having said that, Mr. Speaker, we have filled that position in the Beaufort-Delta. That was filled in December. We are only just now fully staffed with the three positions. We are only now able to provide those services in the Beaufort-Delta and the Sahtu without having to do the travel clinics. We are only now in a position to roll those travel days that were allocated to the Beaufort-Delta into the southern part of this territory.

We now are in a position to start seeing some improvements in this area, and we will continue to monitor to make sure that we are improving those wait times and providing the services that the residents expect and hope for.

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker R.J. Simpson

Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister is telling me now that all of the positions are filled. Does that mean, essentially, the priority lists would come down? I think at one point you said just now 47 weeks, but would that list now go down to a reasonable amount so that all people that are waiting for this service can be seen within a month? Thank you.

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

We do have a long way to go, as the Member knows. We have a bit of a backlog that we need to work our way through to the point where we can actually have quicker turnaround times on all of our files, to have a standard or a more reasonable wait time for initial assessments, but we need to get rid of some of the backlog. We need to work through some of the backlog.

It is going to be a lot of work. I can't say that we are going to see immediate improvement and a more reasonable wait time immediately. It is going to take us a bit of time, but we are now in a position to start knocking off some of those wait times and bring down some of those wait times. 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. In my statement today, I spoke about the need for us to continue to preserve our Indigenous languages. My questions are to the Minister responsible for Official Languages.

Mr. Speaker, the Tlicho people are doing many great things to preserve and promote their language. They have guides for teaching how to read and write. They have some online resources, such as apps, and they even have a Tlicho dictionary, as I mentioned in my statement.

I would like to ask the Minister: what are some of the initiatives that our government is undertaking to protect and promote the NWT's Indigenous languages? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker R.J. Simpson

Thank you. Member, there is no Minister of Official Languages. Would you like to clarify who you are directing this to?

Cory Vanthuyne

Cory Vanthuyne Yellowknife North

Thank you. That would be the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Sorry.

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker R.J. Simpson

Thank you. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do want to put a shout out to the Tlicho government for the work that they have done. They actually gave me a copy of their language resource that they are using in the school and the teaching guide, and I was quite impressed with what they do, but the question was: what are we doing? That is important.

We did table our Indigenous language action plan; I believe it was last year. It is called Shared Responsibility, recognizing that preserving and revitalizing language is a shared responsibility. We all have a role to do in that. The action plan really focused on two big priorities: one was revitalization of languages and the other was access to languages.

The revitalization actions include working with the federal government to try to get funding for Indigenous languages and then providing that money to the Indigenous governments so that they can do their own language revitalization actions. We also provide funding to the schools to implement language revitalization in the schools, language knowledge for the younger children, and as well, we train government employees on how people can get access to the 11 official languages. We actually also supplement GNWT employees who use a second language in their work, if it is required for their work.

We are doing quite a bit. We have more to do. Languages are at risk, but it is something that we are actively pursuing. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.