Jackson Lafferty

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker…(English not provided)

Mr. Speaker, I, too, would like to endorse my full support for this motion that has been brought forward by Mrs. Groenewegen for Hay River South. This has been an issue in the communities for quite some time now. When I spoke in my language, I spoke about the importance of elders' wisdom in the past, where our elders spoke and kids were quiet around the table or even discussion periods. Nowadays when you go to communities, kids are all over the place. The parents are out somewhere and the kids are running loose.

Now is the time I see...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, with the program delivery in communities, there is always room for improvements. The current system may not be enough. It may not be working for the communities. As a follow-up, would the Minister consider working with the communities to develop better strategies and programs such as aftercare programs to deal with addictions and investing in people as the Minister puts it? Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. (Translation) Mr. Speaker, I mentioned this in my Member’s statement regarding an Aftercare Program. Is there currently an Aftercare Program in place? That is my question for Health and Social Services. (Translation ends)

I would like to focus today on the Aftercare Program where we send out community members or even individuals going for treatment for a month, 28 days, whether it be down south or Hay River. The Aftercare Program is vital to recovery road. I would like to ask the Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, can the Minister please outline...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. (Translation) We live in the Northwest Territories in isolated communities, but we have problems with alcohol problems in our communities. Everyone is affected in the whole family when someone is drinking in the family and we know this problem exists all over the place. Although they go for treatment for one month, whether in Hay River or further south, the problem is the aftercare programs. They have nothing in place for these people. How can we help these people once they return to their communities? Do they have counsellors in the communities to help them? Do we have...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker…(English not provided)

Mr. Speaker, I’d just like to highlight my support for this motion that’s in front of us today. I’d like to thank Mr. Yakeleya from Sahtu who presented this motion, and Mr. Pokiak as seconder. As we travel the North we hear right from the grassroots people that the power bill itself is extremely high in the small isolated communities. We just visited one of the small isolated communities over the past couple months; Ulukhaktok. When we went there and Tuktoyaktuk, we were just having discussions on the side. A person was having a $1...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’m glad the department’s really focussing on the seniors’ home that’s in poor condition right now and the plan to replace that building within five years. But at the same time, Mr. Speaker, the immediate plan is a short-term plan. When is the repair going to be initiated? Because we’re dealing with this issue now. I’m getting so many calls from the communities, especially the elders. When is it going to be happening? Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in March, the Minister committed to working on seven major areas of deficiencies as a short-term solution that were found in the seniors’ home. Has the department or can the Minister provide an update on the report? I realize it’s coming in June, but what has the department done to accomplish the deficiencies? Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. (Translation) Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Housing Corporation staff has visited our North Slave district. They looked firsthand at how our people are living in this housing. They also met with the chief of Behchoko. They have never visited our community before. So the community is very thankful that housing staff has visited our community. They said they were going to revisit the community again at the end of this month so that we can work together and make some changes. We would still like to hold them to this. (Translation ends)

Last month, the...

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, at this time I move to report progress.

It’s a shame and we haven’t really changed that to reflect the high cost of living in the North. The gas is going up, the diesel is going up, the propane is going up, everything is going up but the subsidy stays the same. It doesn’t make sense to me at all. At the same time, the stores in the communities increase their price due to the high cost of power. It’s unfair to put that demand on the community members, when an elderly lady, granny from Nahanni, other people in the North are suffering from this. We are here to speak for them. We need to listen to the northern communities, Mr...