This is page numbers 3947 - 4016 of the Hansard for the 19th Assembly, 2nd 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 know.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member Monfwi. Minister responsible for MACA.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Municipal and Community Affairs, we work with the community governments. That's our responsibility. If the communities come to us, we're more than willing to work with them. The Chief has identified an issue there. We had a conversation. We brought in support staff, regional and headquarters, to work with the SAO and their staff there at the water treatment centers. We're working with their staff. We are working with them. We are trying to address it. There are some challenges. And I feel very sorry that these challenges are happening but we are working with them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

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

Lesa Semmler

Lesa Semmler Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned in my Member's statement December 20th -- or December 1st, 2021, the Minister of Finance indicated that all GNWT employees would have the Living Well Together Training Program by March 31st, 2022. Today it's March 10th. Mr. Speaker, but my question will be directed to the Minister of Health and Social Services.

How many of the Department of Health staff and the NTHSS staff have completed the Living Well Together Training? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

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

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don't have the number with me of how many people have taken Living Well Together. That is something that I can provide to the Member.

I will say that Health and Social Services has an additional cultural safety training program for medical and social services staff with a unit that -- a module that was developed in-house and has been delivered at different places in the NWT during the pilot phase. And subsequently in the pilot phase, about 225 staff of ours participated. And then there were various opportunities to do the training again last year. So what I want to say about this is that Health requires that people do both training. Thank you.

Lesa Semmler

Lesa Semmler Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you for that, Minister. I'm glad to hear that our Health is supposed to get more training than most of the GNWT staff. Can the Minister explain how they reach out before hiring locums, doctors, nurses, any other healthcare practitioners that may be working with Indigenous populations, to complete this training before starting? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, cultural safety training is a standard part of the orientation process for new staff. However, that complete training program is not provided to locums and agency staff, and that's clearly a gap in the training that we provide that we need to address. Thank you.

Lesa Semmler

Lesa Semmler Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You know, with the rates of the locums and the way that we're going and agency nurses now, I'm worried that they're not getting this training but that's not my question.

Will the Minister -- looking at the position for the Indigenous patient advocates that this House has been championing and it was approved in our last budget, will the Minister commit to follow up on an exact date that the Indigenous patient advocate will be advertised? And if no date, commit that we will see these positions filled sooner than later, because I don't want to be asking this when I come back in May. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will come back to the Member with that information.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.

Lesa Semmler

Lesa Semmler Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if this government, this Minister, as well as all the other Ministers, is really serious about cultural safety for the Indigenous people in the Northwest Territories, they will add to their job description as a mandatory requirement on all job descriptions to have this training completed. Will the Minister of Health and Social Services commit to doing that? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this training is now mandatory for people who are hired on a long-term basis. So the gap in service that we've identified -- or in training is with locums and agency nurses. That's what we need to work on next. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.

Question 1023-19(2): Drug Decriminalization
Oral Questions

March 10th, 2022

Page 3951

Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Premier and whether she will take a stand and join police chiefs, public health officials, countless politicians, and most recently the Premier of BC, in asking Canada to decriminalize drugs? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Honourable Premier.

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to defer that to the Minister of Justice, please. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Madam Premier. Minister responsible for Justice.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And as the Member pointed out, this is not our -- we don't have the authority to decriminalize drugs in Canada. That is a federal responsibility. But we are keeping an eye on the situation across Canada and there are -- there are committees made up of all the provinces, territories, and the federal government, who are looking at this exact thing. They held their first meeting back in August. So there is a movement on this recently, and I really look forward to seeing what comes of it because the Member pointed out there was a couple overdoses recently. But that doesn't take into account the other drug-related deaths, the murders, the suicide. A lot of things -- people who moved out of the territory, you know, who brought their drug problems with them out of the territory who recently passed away. You know, I think we all know people who have been affected by this. So we are watching this closely. Thank you.

Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can appreciate that the Minister's at those tables and he's watching it closely, but I guess my question is what is the position of this government in regards to decriminalization? When we're sitting in a meeting with other Ministers of Justice, and clearly ones from other provinces are saying yes, let's do this, what does the GNWT say, Mr. Speaker? Do we have a position that it is time to decriminalize drugs? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The position is that we need to work with the Indigenous governments in the Northwest Territories because this is not our decision alone. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.

Oral Questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Premier on regulation-making by this government.

Cabinet did not engage with Regular MLAs on the development of the Cabinet operational guidelines publishing proposed regulations. I'd like to ask the Premier why that happened and compare that to the year-long negotiation with the intergovernmental council on the legislative development protocol? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Honourable Premier.

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Actually, there were multiple letters exchanged between the government and the chair of the Committee of Accountability and Oversight between March and June 2021 on these guidelines on how they'd operate, including the role of the standing committee and where the draft regulations would be published.

Mr. Speaker, traditionally, the creating of regulations is generally the responsibility of Cabinet and Ministers. This is by design. It's the Legislative Assembly that delegates regulation-making authority to Cabinet and Ministers. Regulation-making is intended to be less onerous than the development of acts, and that's why the regulation-making power is delegated.

The negotiation with the intergovernmental council on the legislative development protocol did, indeed, take time. The devolution agreement that was signed in 2014 provides for mutual cooperation in developing changes to land and resource legislation. This is a legal requirement that we are bound by and that respects the jurisdiction of the intergovernmental council partners. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.