Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, at this time I can say that the -- I don't have the exact details, but I will get back to the Member. But what I will say is that the extended health -- or the extended care moved over to the Liwego'ati from the old Stanton -- from the Stanton hospital, the new Stanton hospital back to the old Stanton hospital, and then we just most recently opened up one house of the long-term care beds, and it is kind of a phased approach over the two floors there, so. But I can commit to getting the numbers of how many beds we have available right now and how many are filled. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'll certainly be happy to receive that information, of course.

Now, I understand that Avens provides long-term care supports similarly and as a partner for the overall solution, so I'm getting towards the next part of the question, which is I believe they provide approximately 59 beds, Mr. Speaker. And that partnership is so important.

With the changes that are coming in long-term care, does the department of health, NTHSSA, plan to continue and foster its decades long important relationship as a pillar of health care in this community? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, Mr. Speaker, Avens and with the NTHSSA is a very important partnership. I believe that the bed projections are built around accommodating -- like, the future of the need was why Liwego'ati was built; however, it's not to replace the beds that are at the Avens Manor. And I think to be very clear, like, that partnership is ongoing, and I -- and just as most recently, I know that there is -- discussions have started as those contract discussions have started with the NTHSSA. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

And thank you, Mr. Speaker. All that was for the -- the crescendo here is, where the question's going ultimately, is that the Minister's aware and many of the Members, of course, is the federal government and the territorial government have some increased long-term obligations, and there's some requirements for these obligations that are going forward. That said, I would like to hear if the Minister -- will continue to support the extra costs due to the changes for long-term care that the federal government's requiring and the territorial government's now supporting and will Avens continue to be a pillar in this health care continuum? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as NTHSSA is -- you know, I can bring that back to the health authority. The contract is with the health authority, and the health authority is the one that will be negotiating with them on the new contract, and I'm sure that those discussions are happening in regards to standards and best practices. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wanted to ask questions to the Minister of Health and Social Services following up on the statement that she made earlier today about Deh Cho patient journey mapping, which does sound like a very important and promising approach to reforming our primary health care to really respond to what people's needs are. So it talks about a process that is going to be following the real experiences of residents, and it sounds to me almost like a research project, so I'm wondering if the Minister can explain is this a research project we're talking about? I know in the past, HSS has partnered with institutions like Hotiì ts'eeda to do research around cultural safety and health care and primary care reform. Is this a research process, or is it like a government consultation process that's going to have sort of --

-- thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this process is being led by the NTHSSA in collaboration with our community, culture, and innovation division at the department. I think it's really important to know that, you know, since coming in and looking at the priorities and knowing and hearing from constituents that there's a real inequity across our territory when it comes to the different health authorities that were amalgamated, and so right now this area is where we've seen the highest -- like, some of the highest needs in -- the highest amount of cabin communities and how it relates into the bigger picture of accessing care, and so this is being led, and a lot of the work has already started through NTHSSA. They've met with the staff and, like I said, and the cultural safety and anti-racism unit and their staff. And so this journey part is just another piece of the work that's ongoing. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So given that -- certainly by talking to residents, you can understand their experiences but they may not understand the why of different things that may happen to them in the healthcare system, and some of these why answers could only come from talking to the practitioners. Will this process/investigation that's happening involve interviewing and talking to the practitioners at every stage of the journey to understand some of the whys as to what is happening to patients along the way? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned in the first response, the NTHSSA has engaged with the staff within the Deh Cho region, and this piece of it is now following the journey of the patients as I mentioned in my Minister's statement. Part of that is going to be seeing the successes through that there are the -- the things that we are doing good, so we don't disturb those things and then the gaps. And part of that will be the analysis afterwards is how do we work with our health professionals and our residents in the region to help fill those gaps. And it has to be driven. And then this is why we're saying this is kind of the driven from the ground up, not -- you know, it's coming from the patient's perspective so that when we can find ways to have these resolutions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, finally, when will we see some sort of outcome or change coming out of this project? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there's already been some changes. I know that when they went and did the assessments, some of the actual assessments had to do with building codes and when the NTHSSA did the visits to the health centres, you know, there was collaborations with other departments to make sure that these things were being repaired. And so right now as we move forward, anything that can be implemented immediately, we will be implementing. Anything that will need to be assessed more and if there is a financial means, that has to go through our processes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member from Frame Lake.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have our federal engagement strategy that really focuses on some of the big-ticket items that we need from the federal government, whether it's transportation, infrastructure, or housing or firefighting equipment, but we also have the day-to-day business of working with the federal government, engaging with them, letting them know what our needs in the territory are. And through that process, we do have a lot of engagement. We explain to the federal government, you know, these are the areas where we need some support, these are areas that could change. And then as Ministers, in our conversations with federal Ministers, we raise those types of things. But having a comprehensive package to share, say with the Minister of Northern Affairs, is not something that we currently have in place. The question is, have I considered it? Yes, I have considered it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And the reason I bring it up, Mr. Speaker, is because I'm suggesting that for some of the projects that they're advocating for to move forward, we need more capacity in our regulatory system. So what I'm asking the Premier is not just have you considered it, but would you consider bringing this forward as a change to the way we're doing engagement to help our system move forward so that the projects we're trying to advance can actually advance through the system. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I expected this to be the second question, so I didn't want to answer it right off the top. But I will work with the other Ministers to put together a package, a more detailed package with specific requests and suggestions to the federal government as the Minister is -- or sorry, as the Member is recommending. I won't say it will be part of the, you know, federal engagement strategy necessarily, but it will be how we -- how a number of us do engage with the federal government. I think a handy reference chart that we can say, you know, these are the changes that we need here to ensure that we're getting -- we're able to support mineral development in the territory is something important and will be very valuable. So I look forward to doing that work. And thank you to the Member for raising it.

Thank you, Mr. Premier. Oral questions. Member from Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, with the creation of a new Northwest Territories Power Corporation board announced, the board now no longer has a -- sorry.

The board now no longer has a board made up of just deputy ministers but qualified members of the public. Could the Minister responsible please talk about when or what impact this Minister now sees on this having on the power corporation, Mr. Speaker.