Norman Yakeleya

In our planning for our elders and our long-term care facility in Norman Wells, which is going to happen for a territorial long-term care facility, we also have this additional independent senior housing unit in Fort Good Hope.

Can the Minister inform me if it makes sense to look at the training or this training happens in the upcoming years, that the residents in Fort Good Hope will also have the opportunity if the training is assessed and that they can also be tagged on to the training program that is scheduled for the territorial long-term care facility that is going to be located in Norman...

Mr. Speaker, I would like to acknowledge Mr. Wilfred Jackson from Fort Good Hope, who was presented the 2014 Elders in Motion Active Elder Award on February 11th.

The Elders in Motion seek to improve access to physical activity opportunities for NWT elders. Elders in Motion works to enhance independence and efficient mobility for older adults.

Mr. Jackson is well known for his endeavours and active lifestyle both in the community and out on the land. He is a master trapper.

Mr. Jackson is a positive role model for our elders and communities across the Sahtu and NWT.

Please join me in...

Thank you, Madam Chair. My comments are going to be general and we’ll go through them in the detail. I do want to acknowledge the hard work by the Department of Human Resources to achieve the level of recognition across Canada for the second year in a row. I know there is lots of creativity from the staff members at the department and their efforts are certainly demonstrated by being recognized as an employer to be reckoned with across Canada, even though it’s a small jurisdiction. I want to offer my congratulations for the hard work of the people in that department.

Now, while I am saying that...

I appreciate that and the Minister’s confidence that it will be on schedule and it will be built in Fort Good Hope and on schedule.

I want to ask the Minister if there are going to be any positions associated to that building in regards to the overall maintenance and care of that facility. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I would clarify my question to the Minister. I know the building is going to be built; there is a schedule there. I want to know within… Maybe the Minister won’t be able to answer this question here. Once the building is there, is there a position from the government that’s going to go with the building in terms of how that building is going to be taken care of and the positions with that building? Thank you.

I appreciate the Minister’s willingness to have some continued dialogue on this and see where we can go with it. This has been achieved in some of our vision and goals that we set out in the 17th Assembly.

So I’m going to ask the Minister, given this, can the Minister provide some of the basic economic dollars as to the communities that do not have health centres or communities who do not have RCMP officers? What are we looking at in terms of the dollars that would be required, and have some discussion to see if we could at least move towards that direction?

The Minister and I haven’t gone out for supper, but we’ve had a lot of discussions on this issue. I’m asking for a plan. In the last 10 years of being in this House and being a Member of the Legislative Assembly, when are we going to stop talking about a plan, given that we have a lot of vacancies? Let’s do one community this year, let’s do another community next year or the year after. We know from the previous Ministers and even this Cabinet, they tell us the amount of money to staff an RCMP officer or the nurse in the community.

I’m asking, when do we start the plan other than give reasons...

Looking at the schedule from the Housing Corporation, the seniors are expected to move into the independent seniors facility in Fort Good Hope in the spring of 2015, I believe.

I want to ask, do we have enough time, I guess, to say, yes, we can look at an additional one or two staff members, given that there is going to be a caretaker there, and that we also need to have some kind of medical personnel at that site also?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of Health and Social Services. Although I know that the Housing Corporation will be building independent living housing for seniors in Fort Good Hope in 2014-15 and that there’s a schedule already set out by the Housing Corporation and they’re working with the community of Fort Good Hope, I’m hoping that all plans are on target and that construction would begin, with elders moving into the facility in the spring of 2015. I wanted to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services about the programs and services of that facility.

Will there...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member, Mrs. Groenewegen, talked about being thankful, and I also want to support her on that theme here. In the Sahtu communities, in Fort Good Hope, we’re thankful for the elders. There are 64 elders that are 60 years and over. In Fort Good Hope there used to be an old folks home, they used to call it, an old seniors home, and that got condemned and now it’s all boarded up.

People in Fort Good Hope have always asked for a seniors independent living facility when the government is going to look at continuing supporting them in that initiative, and my understanding...