Wendy Bisaro

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to follow up on my Member’s statement and ask some questions of the Minister of Health and Social Services around the infrastructure needs for seniors in the NWT. I mentioned some statistics in my statement, and the numbers of seniors that will be increasing are really quite scary, particularly here in the city of Yellowknife where we can expect the number of seniors to triple in the next 10 or 15 years. Yet it seems to me that Health and Social Services is ignoring the results of their own studies and the recommendations from their own reports. We see very...

I’m very concerned that the badly needed Avens expansion and renovations will not get the government support it needs to begin construction in earnest next year.

The government needs to find a way to support the Avens project. It’s imperative that they assist them to find the necessary funding so that Avens can advance their vision for seniors and their expansion project. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just have a few general comments and I feel the need to pretty much repeat the comments that I made yesterday when we were considering the Housing Corporation’s budget. It follows up on my statement and my questions to the Minister earlier today, and that’s my concern for seniors’ housing.

The Minister has advised that yes they are, they recognize that the numbers of seniors are going to increase, that they are using an Aging in Place Strategy, but he has yet to recognize, in my view, that we have seniors right now who need supported living and there is no space for them...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t think I heard an answer to the question there. We can assume that residents will be there, but in order for Avens to go to the bank, they need some kind of a guarantee from the government that, yes, we will actually put people in there and yes, we will provide the funding for operations and maintenance. I know that the Minister knows that the need is there and I don’t yet understand why we can’t get that done.

My last question, my usual question, has to do with timing, and the Minister says that he is looking at getting this renovation, this expansion into the...

Thanks to the Minister. I appreciate the work that the Minister is doing. I know that he supports the project as much as I do.

The Avens kitchen has long been known, and it has been evident, that it’s deficient – it’s been many years now – and it is in need of upgrading. If Avens does not get the funding that they require to renovate this facility and to do their expansion project, which is an integral part of it, it may be closed down by the very department which is actually responsible and funds the whole facility.

So if that comes to fruition, what will the Minister do to avert such a...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move we report progress.

---Carried

Thank you, Mr. Chair. My comments are quite similar to those of my colleagues, but as I’ve said before, I think they bear repeating.

I too am pleased with the work that the Housing Corporation has done over the last number of years. There have been a number of changes that have been made. I like to think that the Housing Corp is thinking beyond the box a bit, that they are analyzing where need is and they’re responding to that need. I think the changes have been very positive on certainly the government but also, I think, on the people that are in public housing and the people that are...

Thanks, Mr. Speaker. My last question has to do with – it is kind of a timing question again – the city will have an upgraded and adequate dispatch system by quarter one of 2015 they’re telling us. So the technical capabilities will be in place for 911 for dispatch, the technical capabilities are there from NorthwesTel’s perspective, as far as I am told. So once this study is out, I’d like to ask the Minister how soon will we be able to move forward on this. The technical stuff is there, we simply need the will of the government. Thank you.

Thanks to the Minister. I understand, as well, that Municipal and Community Affairs did a survey of attendees at the NWT Association of Communities AGM in May, I guess it was, of 2014, earlier this year. I’d like to know from the Minister, if there are results from that survey, are those results public, would he commit to share them again with Members and the public? Thank you.

The NWT has been the beneficiary of federally funded FOXY programming, and in the absence of that federal funding next year, it is incumbent on the GNWT to fill the financial void, to find the funding necessary for FOXY to continue. This is a successful program, one that serves NWT youth – and that’s a stated goal of this 17th Assembly – and it is a program that is growing. It would be a crime to let this program fade away. As business plans are being finalized, I urge Cabinet to find the funding for this worthwhile program. If FOXY ends next April and we have sat idly by doing nothing to...