Mr. Speaker, I don’t have a problem meeting with anybody who wants to meet with me, but I want to assure the public and the Members here that we respond to inquiries that we get from the public and this specific issue in question, we have responded. I have asked staff to meet to explain what the rules are and what the government has in place in terms of the work that we are doing to regulate some of the professions. We have been open and communicating. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I had an inquiry about this issue. I have asked my staff to meet with people in question. The meeting was held. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I am open to continuing to have meetings. We are working with the staff that are affected with HR. We are working on recruiting and training the new staff so that we could have a transition. We will have a continued dialogue with the community. We want to continue to work with the elders and leadership of the community because we want this to work, and the only way it is going to work is to have support from the communities. Also, we continue to work with the two residents that are in the centre. We talked to the families and listened to their input about what they would like to see happen with their families. We are working together with the community. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, absolutely. We are committed to working with elders and community leaders and the MLA to make sure that we work together and work well in this transition.

I am very happy to hear about the community meeting that they had where the elders were able to come out and have a discussion. They asked for access to more home care support workers. They would like to see Meals on Wheels. They talked about the possibility of either going to the Joe Greenland Centre to eat or have food brought to them. They were very interested in having

recreational programs and other programs to bring the elders together that would also connect with the youth. We are very positive and we are very excited by hearing from elders about what sort of support they would like to have. We understand that the transition and change is always difficult. We will continue to communicate with the community. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, we see that by changing the use of the Joe Greenland Centre we will be able to increase the assisted living space there in partnership with the Housing Corporation. We are going to be going from eight to 15 beds in that facility. We are aware that there are elders and persons with disabilities who are on a wait list to move into the Joe Greenland Centre. From the Department of Health and Social Services’ perspective, our expanded coverage of home care will be able to provide better service at the Joe Greenland Centre for the existing residents as well as the new residents that will move in there. Mr. Speaker, those who are in need of assistance will be able to get it at the Joe Greenland Centre. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to update the House that the transition in the elders program for Aklavik is going well. We have hired an extra home support worker who will begin on April 1

st

. We are in the process of going

through the competition process for the third home care worker. This will triple the coverage of home care workers for elders in Aklavik. We plan on extending hours of home care support to include weekends and evenings. We will continue to deliver an elders day program out of Joe Greenland Centre.

Mr. Speaker, I can also advise you that there was a public meeting held with elders on February 22

nd

.

Approximately 30 elders attended the meeting. They had a lot to tell us about what kinds of things

they would like to happen; Meals on Wheels, they wanted more vehicle service. They like the fact that we are going to have more home care workers. We are working with the community to transition. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I repeat, we are reviewing the situation. I want to assure the profession that they are allowed to practice in the meantime with the licence they have, we are looking at that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I want to assure the Member I get what he is saying. I get what the Members are saying, Mr. Speaker. This is about a capacity issue. It is about a priority issue. It is about the traffic jam we have with the legislative office.

Mr. Speaker, we have, as I stated, outstanding that we have been working on to regulate licensed nurse practitioners who we need to regulate. We need to regulate psychologists who are numerous in numbers who do a lot of work in the Northwest Territories. We need to regulate emergency responders and we need to regulate chiropractors. I said, and I will say it again, I get it. I am saying that

we are reviewing the possibility of including that. I fail to see the issue here. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am happy to advise the House that Dr. Bob Bromley can call himself Dr. Bromley and if MLA Abernethy were to get a PhD, he could call himself a doctor. However, Mr. Speaker, Section 82 of the Medical Profession Act of the NWT prohibits anyone from using the title doctor, surgeon or physician that may lead people to believe that she or he is a medical practitioner licensed under the act. Individuals are free to practice as a naturopath practitioner but may not refer to themselves as a doctor or a physician. This is based on legal advice we received from Justice. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.