Tom Beaulieu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are working with the health and social services authorities right across the region. We are compiling some diabetes work which will be completed this month, or I suppose has been completed, and we’re trying to put the rest of the program together to expand out. We did the pilot projects in Norman Wells and the Yellowknife Health and Social Services, and Tlicho Community Services Agency in Behchoko, and the intention is to try to develop a diabetes program that can be applied right across the territory to all of the communities in the NWT. Thank you.

Thank you. In all fairness, we do fund the Seniors’ Society, the territorial society as well as the local seniors’ societies, but I am prepared to have the discussion at the Member’s request. Thank you.

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. As Minister responsible for Seniors, I don’t have a specific budget under that ministry. However, I have access to budgets within the other departments. So far I’ve been meeting with the NWT Seniors’ Society, the group have fairly regular contact with the Seniors’ Society, and their requests come through me, and then I take those requests and go back to the various departments depending on which department they’re making a request of. So we are engaging the Seniors’ Society definitely. Thank you.

I am prepared to have the department and the Beaufort-Delta Health and Social Services Authority engage the Gwich’in Tribal Council to see if it’s feasible for us to do some wellness work at that camp.

As a result of the program, the plan is to release the final evaluation next month in April 2013. Then in collaboration with the chronic disease management people, we’re hoping that once we release the report that we will start to develop a framework through the Healthy Choices Framework and Health Promotion to start to deliver the program soon after that. I would anticipate that sometime this summer or this fall we will roll out the programs as a result of those pilots that we had run.

Mr. Speaker, definitely, language and culture is a huge part of our diabetes work. In fact, we work with the home care…(inaudible)…Canadian Health under the Aboriginal Diabetes Initiative. We get funding from that and the work is more or less in the chronic disease prevention. So this is the work we do. We specifically get money for the Aboriginal Diabetes Initiative, so language and culture would be very important in the delivery of that specific program. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, yes, I will work towards producing a discussion paper to be shared not only with Cabinet, but the rest of the Legislative Assembly, on looking at consolidating budgets under my responsibility as Minister of Seniors. Thank you.

Thank you. As the current structure is set up, we do go through the budget process, business planning process, and within the provisions of those business plans and those budgets there are seniors programs from the various departments. So if there is a consideration that those budgets would be pooled and put under the Ministry of Seniors, then that’s something that we would have to have a discussion not only with Cabinet, but I think an open discussion with the entire Legislative Assembly. Thank you.

Thank you. We confirm that two previous Health Ministers had said that anybody over 65 years old would get a medical travel escort. However, the policy does not indicate that. That was never written down. It was said in the House. It’s fairly clear in which case we allow non-medical escorts for patients, but age is not one of the factors. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, like I’ve indicated, I don’t have the community-by-community breakdown of that budget, but I suspect that if the wellness plans are completed that on April 1st they would be able to start funding the plans. Thank you.