Julie Green

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Paid Family Caregiver Program was indeed a pilot project. It has been evaluated and found to be worthwhile in the communities where it's operating, which is I don't remember off the top of my head exactly but it was about half a dozen communities and 30 clients. There is money for this fiscal year. There is money for next fiscal year. And we're looking to continue the program indefinitely. Thank you

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. For the past several years, the health and social services system has been undergoing an important transformation. Today I am presenting an update on the ways that system governance has changed and how those changes help empower communities.

The transformation of governance and management of the health and social services system began in 2016. This change combined the separate regional health and social services boards into one entity the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority which works alongside the Tlicho Community Services Agency and the Hay...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Member for that question.

The criteria for escorts is set by Indigenous Services Canada which pays most of the $44 million bill for medical travel each year. If the person receiving care is a minor, the parent goes with that child. But there is no provision at this point for the other children to go with that parent.

Having said that, I am aware of times where this issue has arisen and social services has been able to help with the voluntary services agreement. So if the Member knows of someone who needs this service, I suggest that they contact...

Yes, thank you it's true that there is a twotier approach. There are people who have insurance through their employer, including the GNWT, maybe through the federal government, through the school boards and so on, and people who don't, and the approaches are different and the benefits are different; one of the reasons that we are currently reviewing the supplementary health benefits. So the concept of providing benefits to employees is to compensate them, as part of their compensation, and it's also a part of the usually the retention strategy that people want employees to have these benefits...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, at this point I don't think there is a plan for Trailcross. This work that I described in my previous answer needs to take place first. I don't know anything about the age and the condition of the building and whether it needs repairs before it becomes whatever it's going to be next. So these are very much live questions, and I appreciate the Member's interest in creating an aftercare facility. I think that there's some potential that we could repurpose surplus buildings for those kind of reasons, but we don't have a firm plan at this time. Thank you

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the question and the opportunity to talk about this issue.

The situation is that attendance at the Trailcross treatment facility has declined over the last several years. At the end of May, it was 12.5 percent. There is no waiting list. There are no outstanding applications. And the best practice now is not to treat youth and children in institutional settings but rather to create closer to home therapeutic foster homes for children who need and youth who need this kind of care. Thank you

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have enough money to continue running the program at the scale it's at now. In order to have a larger program, we would need a greater investment from the federal government who pays for a portion of home and community care and has been paying for this program. Thank you

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Member for the question.

Mr. Speaker, in 2015, we created bed projections based on historic occupancy of the longterm care and projections of the population going forward. We had reason to revisit that in 2020, and we learned that in fact there weren't as many beds required all across the NWT as we previously thought. And so at that time the bed projections were revised, and 20 is the number, as my colleague said, for Inuvik. Thank you

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the issue of compensation for GNWT benefits is handled by the Department of Finance, and so I don't have that information available. Thank you

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is a trial project in Edmonton called Gobacare, which is being offered by Sahtu beneficiary, to help people in Edmonton navigate their appointments. And that's something that the Department of Health and Social Services has been funding, and we're very interested to learn about the results and whether this is something we want to scale up. Thank you