David Krutko

Mr. Speaker, in response to an earlier question, the Premier mentioned that he did contact a few aboriginal leaders. I am wondering when he is going to contact all aboriginal leaders and, more importantly, have a briefing with Members on this side of the House so we can get an understanding of what’s in the proposal, what is being stated, so we will get a commitment from the Premier on when this will take place.

Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned in my statement, these facilities were put in place back in the ’70s so that they could provide elderly care in the regions I mentioned: Fort Resolution, Behchoko, Deline and Fort Simpson. Those were regional facilities. The facility in Aklavik is a regional facility. It also provides employment to people in the region and in those communities. I think that we also have to not lose sight that this is more than just simply building $10 million or $20 million facilities and regional centres so that you can fill them up with people from communities. That should not be...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of Health and Social Services with regard to my Member’s statement. Like I mentioned, the Joe Greenland Centre, which is a level 3 facility, is now 30 years old. I know that in previous years — and I’ve been looking through the capital budgets — there were dollars allocated to do a major retrofit on this facility. Now I see it’s nowhere to be seen in the books, yet we’re building new facilities. We’re building dementia centres; we’re building care facilities in the larger centres.

I’d like to ask the Minister where this department is going...

Mr. Speaker, we can see through the budget process the number of dollars being expended in facilities, especially in the larger centres, and I’m talking about the dementia centre and health care facilities like the Northern Lights Special Care Home in Fort Smith. There is very little by way of government direction for elders in the Northwest Territories. There were facilities built in Aklavik, Deline, and also in Fort Resolution and Behchoko so that people can be taken care of in the regions. They can stay close to home and family members.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. These facilities provide employment to people in the communities. With the social problems we see in our communities, where people are leaving our communities because they can’t find jobs and whatnot, this government has a responsibility to ensure that we provide services in communities, not all at the regional level. That’s exactly what I’m hearing from the Minister. Everything we do in the Mackenzie Delta, we have to go to Inuvik for our services. That should not be the case.

I’d like to ask the Minister again: when is this government going to decentralize programs...

Mr. Speaker, I don’t agree that the residents from my communities have to go to Inuvik for elderly care. If anything, I want them to remain in their communities and these facilities to function in our communities so they’re able to be provided with that service in the communities rather than having them exported out of our communities, because the elders do play a critical role in the social development of our communities.

So again I’d like to ask the Minister exactly when we are going to see some capital investment in the Joe Greenland Centre in Aklavik so that it can be brought up to safe...

Mr. Speaker, I’d like to recognize Mr. Tom Beaulieu in the gallery.

Laughter.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My statement today is in regard to the Joe Greenland Centre in Aklavik. This facility was built in 1978 and is now 30 years old. It is a level 3 facility, which provides 24-hour care for elders in Mackenzie Delta, Beaufort Sea and surrounding communities. This facility has provided a very top level of care for our seniors, our elders, a lot of whom have passed on. It is that sense of love and caring that only the Joe Greenland could provide. Over the 30 years a lot of people have worked in this facility, a lot of elders have lived out their days in this facility, but we...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I’d like to read out a fax that’s distributed to all the communities in the Mackenzie Delta. It comes from Beaufort-Delta Health and Social Services.

“Re: Reduction of Core Services — Susie Husky Health Centre, Aklavik, NT.

“The Northwest Territories is experiencing a nursing shortage, along with the rest of Canada. This means that at times the Beaufort-Delta Health and Social Services Authority has to restrict the services we normally provide to our clients. Your community will be affected as follows.

“Essential services only:

“From Friday, August 29, 2008, at 0830 a...

On another topic: the $2.9 million for Environment and Natural Resources in regard to our fire season. We go through this every year at the end of the fire season. But we are under-estimating the real cost. It seems like there are always these unforeseen costs of forest fire fighting, especially when we have fires that get out of control, especially this year with the fires around Behchoko and also around the Snare hydro site.

I know we would like to see the forest burn in regard to revegetation of those forests, but also we have to be proactive when there is a fire that could be controlled...