Jane Groenewegen

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The Member is not requesting a response from the Minister at this time. If there is anything he has a desire to respond to in this, maybe he could add it after the next Member who is going to provide general comments. Mr. Bouchard.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In follow-up to my Member’s statement today, I have questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services. In a budget document that we have just been considering during this session, there is an item under program detail called residential care, adults and children, and that number of $45.807 million is for children and adults who are receiving care for an extended period of time to meet their physical, emotional, spiritual and psychological needs, and it includes such things as long-term care facilities, group homes for adults and residential care both inside and...

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Any response, Mr. Lafferty?

Thank you. I’ll ask Sergeant-at-Arms to please escort the witnesses to the table.

Minister Lafferty, for the record, could you please introduce your witnesses.

Thank you, Minister Lafferty. At this time I’d like to ask the Minister if he’d like to bring witnesses into the Chamber.

Thank you. We will resume after a brief break.

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Good afternoon. I’d like to call Committee of the Whole to order and ask, what is the wish of the committee? Ms. Bisaro.

I just want to reiterate my phrase out-of-sight, out-of-mind. I don’t know what support there is for families, either, for seeing these folks’ family members who get referred to southern institutions.

Previously, in another Assembly when I was on the Standing Committee on Social Programs, we actually went and did a tour and visited many of the facilities. That was way back in the day when Michener Centre was still operating and we went to the Alberta Hospital. I believe Minister Miltenberger was the Minister of Health and Social Services, and off we went to see where our people were living.

It...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Specifically with regard to group homes for adults and children, are there any vacancies currently available here in the Northwest Territories in the group homes that already exist? It only makes sense to me that if there is no vacancy, the tendency would be to have to send them to southern placements. Thank you

Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. Minister Lafferty.