Mr. Premier. Oral questions. Member from Frame Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this week we've been seeing in the news news about funding to the Spruce Bough lapsing. I wish I had time for two Member's statements but I know you like to run a tight ship so I'll get to the question.

How does the Premier envision non-profit programs like the Spruce Bough, who deliver critical services on behalf of the GNWT, fitting into the mandate stemming from the Assembly's priority of increasing access to health care? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Member, can you tell me -- oh, the Premier? Mr. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I don't want to preempt any mandate discussions that we need to have as a Cabinet, as a Caucus, but non-profit organizations, non-governmental organizations, are going to be essential -- and they are essential right now, but to the future operation of the territory they will be essential. They have significant expertise, significant ability, and flexibility to do a lot of the work that we need to get done, and so as we develop that mandate they will be at the forefront of my mind. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Premier. Oral questions. Member from Frame Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Premier for the answers. Certainly myself and a number of Members have been pressuring him about the importance of long term funding for our NGOs, and I do appreciate his attention to the matter.

What are the government's plans to ensure sustainable and sufficient funding for the Spruce Bough program? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, of course the Government of the Northwest Territories was providing funding for the operations of the Spruce Bough, and that was federal money that we were using and, of course, we always knew that that funding was going to run out and so, unfortunately, there wasn't a way to extend that funding. And so we're not at the point where that funding is going to expire. We have found some funding to allow the operation to extend for a few more months to buy us a bit more time. I believe that there are meetings happening maybe today or tomorrow with the most senior government officials and representatives from the Spruce Bough. So there are ways for us to work together. And that is actually the way to go forward. There are opportunities to unlock other pots of funding, find other funding from the federal government, maybe other sources, but we need to work together. We need to share information. And we need to have that same goal in mind and go in the same direction. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I've said, and I think many members have said before, that what we need our NGOs to be focusing on is doing the work and not necessarily looking for funding, and we do hope to see the GNWT supporting them in that.

Mr. Speaker, just to the point of buying time, I question the Premier, we constantly seem to be caught off guard by these funding pots lapsing that we've known years in advance are going to lapse. So why is the GNWT failing to plan ahead and ensure long term and sustainable funding for these critical programs in such a way that we don't have to buy time at the last minute to ensure that they continue? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And the Government of the Northwest Territories certainly wasn't caught off guard. It was well known that this funding was time limited, but this is not a Government of the Northwest Territories program. And so what this does is it highlights the need for closer collaboration with the NGOs and, you know, to my earlier point, for information sharing between the government and NGOs so that these types of situations don't sneak up on anybody. Thank you.

Mr. Premier. Final supplementary. Member from Frame Lake. Member from Monfwi.

Minister of Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for that question. Mr. Speaker, you know, we've heard in this House many times from many members, especially the representatives from the small communities, on health care in the small communities and, you know, we were -- we're going -- not just the Northwest Territories but Canada has been struggling with health care service providers, getting -- hiring permanent nursing, permanent doctors, so I think that there has been some work done. And I've mentioned this, you know, working with the paramedics in the small communities when needed to make sure that there's access to care. There's been the launch of the 8-1-1 service across the territory 24/7 over the phone to a registered nurse to provide residents with immediate health care assistance. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Since that motion was brought forward, can the Minister assure this House that the health care provided in small communities has seen some improvements? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, Mr. Speaker, I can't understate the challenge that we face in the Northwest Territories. You know, I assure this House that we are actively working to improve health care. I've had many discussions with my staff. I've had discussions, you know, from what I've heard from other Members. And one of the discussions that I have been having is, you know, ensuring that we're looking at the communities and the model that we're providing in the communities, and that is something that I will be focusing on during my time as the Minister of health, is how, you know, the -- how do we support smaller communities and the residents in those small communities so that they're not having to leave the community as much as they have to, you know, so that they're getting preventative care in the communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister for social services. Supplementary. Member from Monfwi.

Thank you for that. Yes, Mr. Speaker, there have been dozens of stories, stories over the years of health centres prescribing Tylenol to very sick or even dying individuals seeking medical attention only to be dismissed or minimized and unheard. Does the Minister agree that Tylenol is being overprescribed to residents in our smaller communities? Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I thank the Member for raising this. In the small communities, we -- you know, we tend to get a lot of concerns -- we gotten a lot of concerns in this House when I was a Member, and we continue to hear stories but what I can say is we -- like, I cannot comment on individual cases in this House, but every report that every time there's a complaint, every report that's given to -- you know, that is put forward is looked into.

The other thing that I wanted to say is, you know, the Office of Client Experience is a new department. It had its one-year anniversary. This is something that the 19th Members, you know, we all together worked hard to get Indigenous advocates. We -- you know, we -- and from that the Office of Client Experience has also been created so that people in the Northwest Territories can go directly to them when they're having concerns or if they have a complaint, and they can be helped through that. They don't need to go through the MLA to get a consent form. They can do verbal consent through that office. And so I encourage the Member to -- you know, and all Members, to ensure that their residents know about the Office of Client Experience. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Final supplementary. Member from Monfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister share with us how many permanent long-term health workers that are living in -- currently living in small communities across the NWT? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that specific detail I don't have here, but I'm willing to work with the Member and all Members in that hence to get that information and provide it back to the Member on the permanent -- how many permanent health care nurses that we do have. Thank you.

Social services. Oral questions. Member from Range Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I said in my Member's statement, I have constituents who have been waiting years for any kind of clarity on recreational land leasing. So I'd like to ask the Minister responsible for Environment and Climate Change, can the Minister commit to a consistent and transparent land leasing process? Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Minister of Environment and Climate Change.