The wait times vary per facility. They usually average between one to six weeks for the wait time, but there have also been situations where we have had to have patients wait for up to two months. That is the one answer I know, and I can get back to the Member on what the process is. I just want to make sure that I give the Member the right answer, so I will get back to the Member with the process. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I hear the Member's concern. We both live in the same community, and it is a big issue for us, but not only just us, for a lot of communities in the Northwest Territories. I am going to commit to that. That, for me, is a third yes today.

Yes. The Health and Social Services staff works closely with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, and we support opportunities to work with youth on drugs and alcohol education. One example I want to bring up is we sponsored The Dope Experience, which is a multimedia workshop that engages youth in art and discussion on substance abuse. Staff are also partnering with the Northwest Territories Association of Communities and Western Arctic Moving Pictures to deliver these workshops.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Absolutely. This is something that our department will continue doing, but not only that, if you look at the mandate, Mr. Speaker, a lot of the different priorities talk about working in partnership. It is important that we continue to work within all of the different departments rather than working in silos. I think that is important. All key stakeholders in the communities, we need to work together and continue to do better for the youth and all of the residents of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As I mentioned, we are doing the research now. We will be coming together and hiring a position to be able to oversee this project. It is right, you know; we talk within this government that it is not just a government approach. We need to reach out and involve our Indigenous partners and other stakeholders in the Northwest Territories to be able to have positive results as we work through the alcohol strategy. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

There are a lot of barriers as a result of this report. I mean, it basically told us we are failing under the Canadian Alcohol Policy Evaluation. Our department is working with and receiving funding from Indigenous Services Canada so that we can support this problematic substance abuse, and we are looking at hiring a special advisor for this substance abuse. We will continue to be tasked with looking and coordinating the alcohol strategy in the Northwest Territories.

Yesterday, I mentioned that there was a research RFP out. This is a preliminary research and discussion paper towards the development of an NWT alcohol strategy and was recently tendered. The results of this discussion paper will be presented in the full-day workshop that is held next month, March 12^th, at the Chief Drygeese Centre. The purpose of that workshop is to set the direction for a whole-of-government approach towards the development of an NWT strategy. This will be led by our Department of Health and Social Services.

The next step during that process is to be able to talk about the CAPE report, as there were recommendations under the 11 domains.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Member. I was able to print out the CAPE report. Unfortunately, the Northwest Territories scored very low. We only have 33 percent. As part of the report, it came under 11 policy domains. I want to speak a little bit about the report, because it is very disturbing, and it is something that our department needs to improve on. I do want to talk about some of the things that we are doing.

In 2016, the GNWT created an opioid task force, and recently, under the mandate, the task force group has been expanded to include alcohol and drugs. That is one part of it. Last month, the group renamed as the territorial committee on problematic substances. Its mandate is to develop a comprehensive response to the ongoing issues related to substance abuse in the Northwest Territories.

One of the deliverables for the Northwest Territories will be in the form of a whole-of-government alcohol strategy. It has already been identified in the CAPE, as it is an evidence-based review, as having a specific territorial strategy to discuss alcohol-related harms in a coordinated approach that will have a measurable impact.

The whole-of-government approach is 11 policy domains, as I mentioned, as part of the CAPE report, and many of them fall just outside of the Health and Social Services, hence the importance of having a territorial approach.

The plan is for the committee to report to the chair of the deputy minister's committee on child and family. As this is an inaugural meeting, it was identified to the committee that the development of an alcohol strategy would require community input through active engagement and determine the scope of work. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Absolutely, we do. I can get back to the Member on the process of being able to have this looked into.