Thank you, Madam Speaker. The Member is referring to the Territorial Treatment Centre, which was formerly known as the Receiving Home, and the psychologist services are available to clients, but there is not a resident psychologist on site, so clients are driven to appointments with a psychologist. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

I can see some of the Members are pretty happy over there. I am not sure about a study, but it is something we will look into. Oral health in the communities, like I said in my Minister's statement, is very important. There was a question in the House by Inuvik Twin Lakes asking me last month: will the department look at establishing a territorial chief electoral health officer role? That is something our department is looking into. We need a position in place to be able to go. We look at some of our health centers, and the hygienist chairs are empty. I recognize that. Our department needs to go in and have a look at the system and see what is required within the legislation or perhaps make changes to it. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Apparently, I need to go back here and just talk about the -- I'm going to go back to the Member's original question because I think I might have gotten confused here. We have an action plan. The action plan is currently in progress until 2021. The Member had asked if the dental hygienists can go unsupervised. They can go, somewhere around the question. The dental hygienist does not require direct supervision. They do require indirect supervision. The action plan that the Member is referring to that I receive updates, yes, we can provide the updates if that is what the Member and all the MLAs are requesting.

Under the current legislation, the dental hygienists are allowed to practise independently with only indirect supervision. Professional oversight is required. The direct supervision is not required, just the indirect supervision. Yes, we can look at the legislation.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. The Oral Health Action Plan is currently in place, and it's in place until the 2020-2021 fiscal year. The outcomes are updated as the work progresses or completed. As this work progresses, and some of the work that's completed, as Minister, I am updated. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Madam Speaker, good oral health is important to our overall health and quality of life. Healthy mouths and teeth in children promote healthy growth, nutrition, speech development, good school performance, and social well-being. Cavities, however, are the most common chronic infectious childhood disease, and they place a substantial burden on our population. Poor oral health contributes to a child's inability to eat, speak, sleep, and learn. In adults, oral disease has been linked to diabetes, heart disease, pneumonia, and Alzheimer's.

Madam Speaker, it is important to note that, while dental treatment services are not an insured service paid for by the Northwest Territories Healthcare Plan, our government is working to reduce oral disease among children and youth through the Oral Health Action Plan released in October 2018. This plan outlines four key areas of action to improve oral health outcomes to promote oral health throughout the entire Northwest Territories population; to establish systematic supports for improved oral health services; to implement the Northwest Territories Oral Health Service Delivery Model; and to provide high quality, sustainable, and culturally-safe care.

Some highlights of what has been done since the release of the action plan include the addition of a registered dental hygienist in Norman Wells and the rollout of daily brushing programs in daycares and schools in our communities. There have also been investments in dental equipment across the Northwest Territories by the federal government to

support the delivery of dental services in communities where there are no established dental clinics. As part of this action plan, front-line primary healthcare providers have begun to integrate oral health screening and education for children and expectant mothers during prenatal and Well Child Record appointments, as well.

The Department of Health and Social Services and health authorities are also collaborating with community partners to deliver a multi-age group oral health literacy program. This program will feature arts-based learning in schools and at community gatherings. Finally, a territory-wide oral health social marketing campaign will be launched this spring to encourage better oral health self-care to promote oral health outcomes in the NWT.

Madam Speaker, research shows that starting good oral health practices in early childhood will ensure that children will continue to practice brushing and flossing as part of their daily routine. This is why we partnered with the Northwest Territories Literacy Council to provide parents with a brushing song book that they can sing along with their children aged one to four.

Our Ever Awesome NWT Brushing Song book, which I will table later today, was illustrated by Neiva Mateus and written by Tlicho Dene author Richard Van Camp. Funding was provided by the federal governments' Children's Oral Health Initiative. The aim of this book is to provide parents with a resource that makes brushing and flossing with their children something that is a fun, daily, family activity. The brushing song book also promotes the importance of snuggling, reading to one another, and sharing time with each other. It honours the gift of family by looking after their health and spending time together.

Over the months of March and April, Richard Van Camp will be touring communities in the Northwest Territories to raise awareness about the book and the importance of oral health. The book will be translated into all the NWT official Indigenous languages, and the audio files for the song will be made available on the department's website. An animated storyboard promoting oral health for older children is also being produced in all the NWT official languages. We are looking forward to the first screening of this original media project later this summer.

Madam Speaker, oral health is an important part of our overall health. This book is one of many resources that we will be developing for parents and caregivers to help them teach good oral health practices to their children. I want to thank Richard Van Camp, Neiva Mateus, and the NWT Literacy Council for partnering with us to raise awareness about good oral health.

I encourage all parents to embrace the idea of fun-filled brushing and flossing time with their children, and encourage everyone to give oral health the time and respect it deserves as an important part of overall health and wellbeing. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

I say yes to the concept and the idea because I feel it is important. I feel like if there are many ways that we can get our elders from their facility into their community, it is very important. I also do want to remind the Member that the 48-bed facility in Hay River and Inuvik is still through the design process, so there is an opportunity for our department to work with the Department of Infrastructure to have a look at the designs and to be able to see what works for the communities. I mean, we need to build these facilities so that they work for our elders and for our communities. If that's one way of getting the elders out into the community, then, of course, that's something we would look at.

There are some limitations in delivering some of the programs for a variety of reasons, lack of suitable space or lack of transportation for elders. Every region is different. You look at some of the regions. For example, I'll use in the Beaufort-Delta. We have a very strong elder day program where the elders come from their homes into the elders' day program, and they have a variety of activities. There are supports in place. However, there are limitations. I understand the Member's concern about the lack of possibly transportation or whatever the case may be.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I do want to start, and I will get to the Member's question. I do want to recognize that enabling seniors to age in place with dignity is one of our priorities. If you look at the mandate priorities, it is a partnership, not only with the Health and Social Services, but also the Department of Education, Culture and Employment and the department of housing. If you look at the three objectives, number one, we need to increase supports so that seniors can stay in their own homes and communities. That's number one. Number two is fun actions that can enhance inclusion, safety, and remove community barriers. The other one is to help protect seniors from abuse or neglect. These are some of the areas that we are looking at for our mandate, but in addition to that, I do want to talk a little bit about what the Member's asking for, what are we doing. We have a variety of activities that are in our regions, and I do want to speak about a couple of them. We have adult day programs, including the elders in motion exercises, meal program, meals on wheels, and other recreation and social activities. Thank you, Madam Speaker.