Sandy Lee

There have been studies done. I don’t know if that was specifically to the Joe Greenland Centre or in terms of facilities and requirements for the entire NWT, but I will look into it to see what we have and give the Member a copy.

Mr. Speaker, I’m advising the Member that we have to look at the community of Aklavik to see what the needs are. I’m not going to presume to know all of the cultural and demographic make-up of Beaufort-Delta, but there is a very close connection between Inuvik and Aklavik. If we’re going to have two centres, we need to make sure we’re not repetitive in our services...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the question from the Member. I’ve been to Aklavik many a time, but I didn’t have the opportunity to visit the Joe Greenland Centre until my recent visit there in May. I want to tell you that the department is very well aware of the demographic trend of the NWT population, which is in line with the rest of Canada. It says that the biggest growth over the next ten to 20 years will be with our elderly or older population because baby boomers are aging, and they’re going to live longer and healthier. The community of Aklavik’s demographics follow that line. I...

Mr. Speaker, once again I want to state that dental surgery is not an insured service. Government does not provide that service. The federal government provides the services to our aboriginal population, and we are trying to accommodate that. Having said that, Yellowknife has a very vibrant and very reputable dentist and dental surgeon population. Anywhere else in Canada dental surgeries are provided by private clinics. There’s no reason why the private clinics in Yellowknife couldn’t look at opening that. If the dentists and dental professionals in Yellowknife want to talk to me and work with...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I was very pleased that the officials were able to work out an agreement with the federal government and that surgeries have been booked. It started being delivered in Hay River as of Monday. I was hoping to be there for the opening, but I couldn’t make it.

I think what’s really important to note here is that the dispute we had with the federal government was that there are costs associated with dental service, and the federal government is only paying for these non-insured health benefits to our aboriginal population. Dental surgery is not an insured service. I...

We expect the facility to be open in December. The community of people who work with persons with disabilities in Hay River are overseeing that work through a committee.

We have not finalized the staffing model yet, because we’re going through the budgeting process with the Building Our Future Strategic Initiative Committee. Those monies have to be approved for staffing. I look forward to working through that process with the Member and keeping the Members advised of the details.

I can tell you that from the information I have, the CEO has chosen to leave his post for personal reasons. He has enjoyed being in Hay River, and he has done a good job in delivering services there.

I don’t want to get into too much detail in this setting, but Hay River seems like it’s a destination of choice for others, for people who want to work there. I look forward to having the public administrator going down to Hay River and having more discussion on what’s in the plan, as well as keeping the Members informed.

We do have some ideas about how to address that, details I really don’t want...

What I was suggesting is not a centralization in Inuvik. I support the idea of decentralization. What I’m saying is that we have to avoid duplication. If we built the same facilities in all communities, that’s not going to work. We can’t afford that. What I’m saying is that Aklavik has a growing elderly population, and as much as there are elderly who can live relatively independently with support from the community, we need to have a facility there that meets that need. We don’t have that in Aklavik right now. I’m willing to work with the Member to put that into a planning process so that we...

The Joe Greenland Centre is over 30 years old. There have been renovations worked on. The board suggests that it is not possible to revive it to the level that it needs to be to function the way it was meant. I have to tell you that we are not going to be able to have a long term care facility in every place, but we need to make sure that whereas the regional centres like Inuvik or Yellowknife could have more acute care programs, communities like Aklavik need to have a facility that meets the need of the community to look after their elders. It will be more of a level 1 and level 2 care, and...

Mr. Speaker, I’m willing to explain as long as I need to, to get the point across. What I’m saying is that any dentist in the Territories could provide this service for those residents who are eligible under NIHB, which gets funding from the federal government. A vast majority of the population in the Territories gets employee benefits, or it’s a private practice situation. We are covered by third party insurance.

Because we have facilities in Inuvik and Hay River that are not being used that the government is paying for, we are looking at opening a facility there. Yellowknife is over capacity...

Mr. Speaker, the plan is that those who are eligible for non-insured health benefits and dental surgery, from and including Norman Wells and south, will be travelling to Hay River. Until we opened the clinic in Hay River, they had been travelling to Edmonton. Now they will be travelling to Hay River, and they will get their services there.

We need to work on how we best use our facilities. Hay River had a built-in dental surgeon who’s been doing it for 30 years. We had a waiting list there. We need to use that facility. There are no surgeries being done in that hospital, when we are paying for...