Our counsellor just left Tuktoyaktuk. He has gone to Behchoko, so they took our counsellor, but good for him. I am happy. He wanted a change, right. As MLA for Nunakput, I am obligated for the health and safety of my people that I represent. I am asking the Minister: Could we find, through the COVID secretariat, through MACA, is there a possible way? I used to take people, athletes, to go up and do hockey schools and talk about bullying and stuff like that in my communities, but this is different. This is more a thing we could work towards, of getting somebody professional into the communities instead of tel-emerg or telehealth or whatever you want to do. You have to see the whites of their eyes, I guess you could say, to actually try to help. I think something like this is going to be really good if it's possible to hit even the Beaufort-Delta, our communities in the Beaufort-Delta, where people in the small communities are really hurting with different types of grief and depression because there is nothing going on. Mr. Speaker, I am asking the Minister to try to work with me, with the MACA Minister, the Premier, to try to get something like this started for the region.

Again, I thank the Member for Nunakput for bringing this forward. It has been a very difficult time. We know that. There have been many deaths, not because of COVID necessarily but just in the natural course of doing things, and because of the limitation on funerals, the grieving has not taken place in the way we are accustomed to. This has left people feeling at a loose ends. I cannot promise to bring resources to his community, but what I can say is that we will endeavour to fill that counselling position as soon as possible and that, in the meantime, there are phone and video resources available. If anyone is able to drive into Inuvik, they might be able to make an appointment there and see a counsellor. We have instituted a new process for taking people into counselling, where there is no waiting list. There is no waiting time at all. You can be seen on the day that you make your appointment.

The only people who could drive in are from Tuktoyaktuk. I represent the most northerly riding in the territory. Our government gets $38,000 per year per person to provide services. Our government is obligated to provide service in regard to that and to our communities. I really want our government to take this recommendation seriously, to try to work with me. Just say yes. I will use some of my constituency budget when we fly into the communities to go and do it with them. I really want to know. The pandemic changed everything. To try to fly into Inuvik to see a counsellor would be, from Sachs Harbour, probably $700 to $800 one way, from Ulukhaktok, a thousand, so we can't do it. It's too expensive. We need help. Communities need help in the delta. Communities need help in my riding. My people need help, so take my recommendations and just say yes.

I do appreciate the Member's passion for helping his constituents, and I do appreciate that three of the four communities in his riding are not accessible by road. He started off by talking about his own community. I have to say that it's easier for his constituents to use the helpline to make a virtual appointment for counselling than to wait for Health and Social Services to fill empty positions in the community or to gather the resources together for a travelling team, so I really encourage him to contact me about the resources that are available right now that he can refer his constituents to.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Nunakput.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for that, but I just want to remind the Minister and the government that they are responsible for all people in the Northwest Territories. During this COVID-19 pandemic, please provide services to my people who I represent in Nunakput and across the delta. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I take that as a comment.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister of Justice.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Member for her persistent advocacy on behalf of her constituents. This is a very concerning situation with some history. The Member's statement was quite a retort to my statement, and it explained the long history of this. I will not be tabling that report. When this report was initiated, the staff were told that it would be kept confidential.

While there was obviously a risk of it being released once it was distributed to all staff and to other parties, that was a risk that we knew we had to take. Despite the fact that it is publicly available, I will still be treating it as confidential and upholding that bargain that we had with staff. However, I have committed to providing updates as we make progress because, if I do not stand up here and say what we have been doing, it could just be another report that gets shelved. If I don't hold myself publicly accountable, we risk that happening, so I will do my best to ensure that we keep the public and the Members updated. Thank you.

I hear the Minister saying that he won't table the report because it was completed by employees with the intention that their words would be kept confidential, so I can only respect the Minister's decision for that one. In regard to what the Minister said today, the Minister made reference to a deputy ministers' meeting that was held in December where they discussed updating training, more recruitment, recertification. This House has seen an influx of training and an influx of dollars before. I'm just wondering how this will be different than what this House has heard before, and how this is actually going to create the change that Ministers before this one, and now this Minister, has also said will come as a result of these moves.

The Member is right to be sceptical. She wouldn't be here if she wasn't; none of us would. Governments say lots of things, and sometimes they don't happen. I don't know if there is anything I could say that would assure me as a Regular Member. It has to be proven. We have to actually do the work. We have to come back on a regular basis and show that we're doing the work, and that's really the only way to prove ourselves.

I will note that there was one difference, something that's never been done before. That is that this is not just an effort of the department, and it's not just an effort of the department staff. We also have the UNW involved at a level they've never been involved at before, with reporting to the deputy ministers of Finance, of Justice, and to the president of the UNW. I think that gives a much stronger voice to the staff than has happened previously, and it's going to force a lot more collaboration and more positive outcomes.

One of the common undertones of what I'm hearing from the Minister today, I believe, has to do with communication; communication amongst staff, communication with members of the department, and also communication with this House and with the public. I think that's really, really important, an important kind of undertone to carry through this entire process. With that, what I'd like to know is: Part of getting buy-in for this process and from front-line staff is including them in it. In order to create positive change, the people who you are trying to create change for need to be involved in the process. Also, given that each of our facilities, our correctional facilities in the Northwest Territories, are so different and have such a different clientele, I am wondering what the Minister will do to ensure that staff are part of the process and have a say in what changes occur and how they occur at each facility.

I think communication causes most problems, not just in corrections, but everywhere. Lack of communication really leads to misunderstandings; it leads to problems not being resolved. The first thing that happened after this report came out is that senior staff, senior management, went to the different facilities. They presented this information, and they listened to the staff to hear what they had to say directly, not through a consultant. From that, they are compiling a "what we heard" report so that they can then distribute it to staff and say, "Are we hearing you correctly?" Because, sometimes, when you tell the government something, they don't necessarily hear what you're saying. Maybe they hear what they want to hear, so we are starting a feedback loop. That is one of the first things.

As part of the plan going forward, there is also a communications plan, so that everyone will know how they are going to be engaged and you can ensure that it's happening. There will be something to fall back on or to check off the list: This has happened. That's going to hold people accountable for making sure that communication happens.

As everyone here knows, communication is tough. Sometimes things change quickly, so we just have to put the effort into it and do our best. That's the plan. I think, if there was better communication 20 years ago, the Member wouldn't be able to make that statement about all of the past statements that have been made, so this can be beat. I've talked to some employees from the correction service, and they tell me about times when things were good. There were times when there was good communication between staff and management, and so I know it can happen again. This is not something that we can't overcome.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I heard the Minister refer to two separate reports, one just now and one in their Minister's statement. The one in the Minister's statement was an HR plan, and this one was a "what we heard" report. I'm wondering if the Minister can clarify if those are two separate reports or one and the same, and if both reports are intended to be tabled in this House during this session or when we can expect to see them in committee, as well. Thank you.

There is an overarching framework here that is going to guide how we move forward. Under that, there is a communications plan, so everyone knows how people are going to communicated with. The "what we heard" report is really when the management went out in December and talked to staff. They put together a report saying, "This is what we heard. Are we hearing you correctly?"

Those are all different documents. There are a number of moving parts here. I'm happy to keep the committee updated to the best that I can. There are some operational and security sensitivities with things like the framework that would prohibit me from tabling a document like that. That being said, we do have to prove that we are making progress, so we'll find a way to ensure that committee is kept up to date. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have all heard of Brian Sinclair, Joyce Echaquan, and our own Hugh Pakik. These situations were caused by someone's opinion. Who advocates before it gets this serious? My question for the Minister of Health and Social Services is: What option does someone have immediately if they feel they are not getting the help they need or feel that they have been treated unfairly or with discrimination in the Health and Social Services Department, which includes the hospitals, clinics, health centres, and social services offices?

Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I appreciate the question. My suggestion would be that the person and/or the people who are with that person speak to the nurse in charge or the patient care coordinator. If they continue to be unsatisfied with the answers, they should call their MLA, who will be able to direct them to quality assurance and other resources that will help them to be heard. Thank you.

Next time, I will make sure, when I'm treated badly, I'll call myself; and I did. Would the Minister consider a position in each of the hospitals or regional centres that would assist with being an advocate for patients who need help navigating the system? Because not everybody, when they come in from a small community, knows where to go, knows how to communicate, and they are afraid of the healthcare system. We do have history of not trusting the healthcare system in this country, Indigenous people.

I'd like to think that everybody in our large healthcare facilities, and in our small ones, too, is a navigator who is there to help patients access the care that they come to the hospital or the healthcare centre for. We do have the quality assurance people, although they tend not to be standing in the foyer of the hospital, ready to give advice, but there are people who work at the front desk in the Inuvik Regional Hospital and at the Stanton Territorial Hospital who should be able to direct patients to the places they need to go and to direct them in the language of their choice. We have committed to providing culturally safe healthcare, and being able to direct people efficiently and in their language is certainly central to that.