The Deputy Speaker Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Member. Members' statements. Member for Great Slave.

Katrina Nokleby Great Slave

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, November is Indigenous Disability Month. According to the most recent data, in 2012, there were over 2700 persons with disabilities in the NWT. Of those, 62 percent were Indigenous yet the total Indigenous population of the NWT in 2012 was only 48 percent.

Vital Abel was a former NWT Legislative Assembly employee who left behind a legacy of strength and inspiration. Vital Manuel Abel would have been familiar to MLAs in the '90s as the former assistant to Premier Stephen Kakfwi. Vital was from Fort Good Hope, where he was born with developmental disabilities caused by spina bifida. He spent his life in a wheelchair but was taught from a young age to not let his challenges limit him.

Vital's parents taught him to never depend on anyone. He arrived in Yellowknife in Grade 10 and attended Sir John Franklin High School in my riding. After graduating, he worked in MLA Stephen Kakfwi's office for over ten years. Premier Kakfwi referred to Vital as a good worker, who was faithful and positive and always on time. Vital was an avid churchgoer who never missed a service and was always the first to show up for worship. His parents were so proud of him and all he accomplished in his short life. Vital died in 2006 at the age of 32. Spiritually, he was incredibly strong and continues to be a source of inspiration to people in our territory.

Persons with disabilities in the North face many challenges, including having to relocate to Yellowknife to access supports. Often this means entire families move with children, as is the case of the family in Lanky Court I spoke of yesterday. As winter sets in, we must remember that what many of us take for granted, the ability to walk through the freshly fallen snow, poses great challenges for others. For people with disabilities, this means they can no longer go to school, no longer easily pick up groceries, no longer run other small errands. They fear fire because the simple act of leaving their apartment is no longer possible.

Madam Speaker, REITs, landlords, and Housing NWT all have a responsibility to ensure that the entrances and walkways of all the buildings in Yellowknife are free of snow and ice such that every person in our territory can move about freely, without barriers. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

The Deputy Speaker Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Member. Members' statements. Member for Yellowknife North.

The Deputy Speaker Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Member. Members' statements. Member for Deh Cho.

Ronald Bonnetrouge Deh Cho

Mahsi, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, as this is the final day of the fall session, I would like to commend my colleagues on both sides of the floor for understanding each other. We all come here to make a difference and to make life easier and better for the residents of this vast territory. It is very trying in our efforts when having to deal with limited and challenging budgets for all departments. The staff who put up with us day in and day out, you're all loved, and we appreciate everything that you do for us.

To the ones who live with deep depression and feel there is no other way out, believe me you are loved, and we are all here for you. Your life doesn't have to fall to pieces as there most likely is a better day. That could be later in the day, it could be tomorrow, or it could be the next day, and perhaps all the other days of your life. Please do not give up; we care.

I would like to commend the housing Minister for providing assistance to the young family with the baby in Paulatuk by providing them a warm house that gives them comfort from the cold environment of our North. Mahsi to the Minister.

Madam Speaker, in closing, I would like to wish everyone who may be struggling with addictions and chronic diseases the best of health and the warm embrace of our Creator. We don't ask for anything more than the simplest things that life has to offer. Mahsi.

The Deputy Speaker Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Member. Members' statements. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

The Deputy Speaker Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Member. Members' statements. Member for Nunakput.

Jackie Jacobson Nunakput

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Today, Madam Speaker, I just want to say thank you to all the Members here in the House, both sides that we worked the last three weeks together to try do good for our territory, and I think we did a good job and we'll just keep moving ahead and working together. There's some issues that need to be dealt with but we'll get them dealt with. And just by saying that, my colleague Mr. Bonnetrouge really said it well in regards to thanking the staff and really we're able to do our jobs because of them, all the research that goes into some of the stuff that we deal with.

I'd really like to thank all my community, my mayors, my councillors, my community corp chairs, the board of directors for the community corporations, the elders committees, my local DEAs, and especially, these days, is our recreation staff and the hamlet staff that are doing so much in all our communities to provide service for our constituents.

I'd also like to say thank you to my CA Vince Teddy. Thank you for all the hard work that you do for me. And I wouldn't be able to do what I do without my wife Jenny. I'd like to thank my wife Jenny because I wouldn't be able to do what I do without her support back home. And also would like to make sure that on November 11th, making sure that we keep that special day and all Members make sure, if possible, to make it to the Remembrance Day ceremonies wherever we are at the time. Make sure to do so in our great territory. Also I would like to thank our veterans for their service, our active members, 1 CRPG, and all my Ranger brothers and sisters, to have that day close at hand. And everybody, we'll see you in two weeks. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

The Deputy Speaker Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Member. Members' statements. Member for Kam Lake.

Caitlin Cleveland Kam Lake

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, health system researchers identify two potential ways to reduce health system costs - prevention through public health education and ensuring people take their medication. When I was a university student, our high school English teacher and his wife were sent to Edmonton where their baby was born premature. I went up to U of A Hospital where they sat teary eyed waiting for their tiny baby to finish her first surgery. Their baby Katie survived her surgery, persevered through childhood, set territorial records at this year's Canada Summer Games, and is now a third year university science student with a 3.95 GPA. Today, Katie is the NWT's only resident with cystic fibrosis.

Katie, who's sights are set on speech pathology, is deciding where to accept a job offer on graduation. But the cost of her medication plays a key role in deciding where to call home. Katie takes two medications - a nationally publicly-funded Trikafta at $300,000 per year and a second one that the GNWT helps support at $12,000 per year. If proposed changes to the specified disease program move forward, Katie will no longer receive GNWT support for her medication. Ironically, half of the Canadian provinces, also desperate for speech pathologists, will cover Katie's second medication.

Madam Speaker, Katie's story is one of many. I also serve single parents who exceed the income threshold but live on the poverty line with the North's high cost of living. NWT residents who sit above the income threshold but whose medications would cost roughly $20,000 a year, and others who would choose more opportunities for family and reduce medications for themselves.

The income threshold chosen by the GNWT are below liveable wages, and liveable wages do not account for high costs of life saving medications. Beyond the strain this will put on northern residents, this also stands to further strain our healthcare system.

With this change, many Northerners will join other Canadians who face decisions to not fill their prescriptions, take smaller doses than ordered, or cut back on food, heat, and family expenses to try to cover drug costs that, for some, will be suffocating, and mismanaging medications ultimately drives up hospitalization.

Hospitals now dominate all healthcare systems in high income countries. Canadian annual hospital care is roughly $77 billion. The average hospital stay in the NWT is almost twice the national average at just over, ironically, $12,000. Madam Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement for the first time this sitting.

---Unanimous consent granted

Very big thank you, colleagues. Madam Speaker, this is not a whole-of-system thinking policy change. This is a quick fix that looks at one budgetary line item in a vacuum with potentially harmful impacts to the health of other Northerners and the health of the system's collective bottom line. I urge this government to reconsider. They do not have a grasp on how many people will no longer qualify for support and, ultimately, what the cost will be to the system. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

The Deputy Speaker Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Member. Members' statements. Member for Nahendeh.

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, with COVID pandemic moving to an endemic we are seeing the closure of events moving to opening of events. I'm happy to advise the House that Open Sky hosted its 20th festival at the beginning of September. I was able to partake in some of the events during the September long weekend. The festival is usually celebrated annually, and this was the first festival since 2019 and the beginning of the COVID pandemic.

They celebrated with a weekend full of workshops, vendors, and music. For this special festival they chose the theme of "Deh Cho Boogie" with a logo designed of a guitar playing kiwi bird. This year was special to them and the community as it was their 20th anniversary and to remember the late founding member Lindsey "Kiwi" Waugh.

Throughout the festival, they counted about 95 to 120 visitors per day, which was a great turnout for them. Visitors were able to participate in one or more of the 15 different workshops offered during the weekend, such as soapstone carving, earring making, or painting, Listen to some music, meeting with friends, and enjoy some of the local bakery and seeing what the other eight vendors had to offer in locally made arts and crafts.

One of the highlights was the cake cutting on Saturday. The hosts were lucky to have Pat Waugh, her daughter and grandchildren, do the cake cutting. This event attracted lots of people to stop by which then enjoyed other activities being offered.

Organizers would like to thank everybody who joined them in celebrating the 20th anniversary, participating in the workshops, and Fort Simpson for being such a welcoming community. As well, a huge shout out to all the sponsors without whom they wouldn't be able to offer such an amazing event.

Madam Speaker, we are already looking forward to next years festival. Thank you, Madam Speaker.