Statements in Debates
Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following two documents entitled "The NWT Community Counselling Program Client Satisfaction Report 2016," and the "Public Performance Measures Report 2016: NWT Health and Social Services System." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. These questions came up, very similar questions came up, a week or two ago. At that time, I indicated the Department of Health and Social Services is absolutely open to doing a pilot in this area, harm reduction, managed alcohol, but the first thing we need to do, Mr. Speaker, is get the sobering centre up and running. It will be our priority once the sobering centre is up and running. We'll be in a better position to design a managed alcohol program. In my mind and I think the mind of others, the two of these come together quite nicely, and this would be the...
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Once again, ultimately all the decisions on the old hospital are decisions that would be made by the P3 proponent in the property manager which is Venture. From my perspective, from the perspective of Health and Social Services, we see a great opportunity to work with Venture to, you know, hopefully obtain more space for possibly more long-term care space.
We will obviously be pursuing to see if there's a business case in that; we'll be working with committee if there is. We will certainly pursue more space in more space in Stanton recognizing that ultimately the decision...
Mr. Speaker, I'm already on the record, indicating that I've already directed the department to begin the work on the development of a sobering centre. In fact, we're out currently looking for a location for a sobering centre here, in Yellowknife. As the Minister responsible for Homelessness pointed out, initially, we're intending to fund that from within. We need to get it in place, figure out what the costs are going to be, and move forward accordingly.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the planning study for the Lutselk'e facility has been completed, and what it's proposing is a retrofit expansion for that facility. We are just waiting to find a way to get it into the queue when capital room is available.
It would be competing with Fort Simpson, assuming we get it done, which I anticipate we will, Tulita, Jean Marie River, and a number of other projects. We're trying to move all of these forward as quickly as we can.
The earliest that it would be in the budget would be 20182019, recognizing once again Tulita, Fort Simpson, Jean Marie River...
Mr. Speaker, traditionally, we have supported some of the different senior societies around the Northwest Territories who have done a lot of this work. But in our design of independent living units and other facilities around the Northwest Territories, we have actually allowed for space where seniors can get together and do programming, whether we are delivering the programming or whether it is community groups who are delivering the programs.
I would suggest that the Member or any of the Members have an opportunity to take a look at one of our new independent living units put together by the...
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, when it comes to health centres, health clinics, health cabins, those types of things, the Department of Health and Social Services is essentially the client. We are identifying the program and the magnitude of programs and services that we need to be available through a facility, and the facility must be designed to meet those needs, but Public Works and Services is the builder.
Also, Public Works and Services, for Health and Social Services as for all other departments, has a responsibility for property management, which means they are managing leases, they're...
Mr. Speaker, I have mentioned it before. We are working on a continuing care services action plan, which is helping us to quantify the needs and demands out there for things like home care and other supports that we can be providing for our seniors. We hope to have that action plan done by the end of this fiscal year, at which point I will be coming to committee to have some discussions on the plan itself and how we can work together to roll that plan out and make sure that we are meeting the broad range of needs of seniors across this territory.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The budget for the planning study is in Public Works and Services. We have been working on this project for a number of years. We had obviously hoped to have this moved forward previously but we had more difficulty gaining community acceptance of the parcel of land that would be utilized for the new health centre. It took longer than anticipated, which obviously delayed our ability to do a planning study. You can't do the planning study until you have the land because, if you're talking about design, build, how the facility is going to look, what programs you're going to...
Mr. Speaker, as I indicated we're currently hiring an individual to do our transition planning. We're trying to get somebody local; somebody from Norman Wells. Once that individual is hired, we hope to begin the development of a plan moving forward. It does involve multiple bodies, many departments, but I'm happy to have a sit down with the Member to go through how we plan to move into that building over the next number of months.