Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister of Health and Social Services.
In the 16th Assembly the Department of Health and Social Services cancelled funding for a respite program that was ongoing here in Yellowknife. It was a program that provided much needed relief to the caregivers of disabled children, and the families of those children and to the children themselves as well. The program was to be reviewed and revised. My understanding is that in the revision it was going to become a territorial program and expand well beyond Yellowknife and the three or four other communities than it was in the last Assembly. I’d like to ask the Minister whether or not that review has been completed and ask him if he can share the results of that review with the Assembly.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.
I’m sorry, Mr. Speaker, I didn’t hear the question.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Take it as notice? Okay. Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are addressed to the Minister of Health and Social Services with regard to the respite program which was cancelled during the 16th Assembly. I would like to know from the Minister whether or not the review that was scheduled has been completed and ask the Minister to share the results of that review with the Assembly.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Sorry about that. The department is completing a review. It is not complete. The plan is to expand the program from what was in only Yellowknife, to expand outside of Yellowknife. A few of the committees have been established. A territorial advisory committee has been established by the department to assist with a working group that has been developed, a territorial respite model framework that is the strategy that will take us to 2017.
Thanks to the Minister. The Minister says that the review is not yet complete. In Yellowknife here, the Yellowknife Association for Community Living was instrumental in delivering the program here in Yellowknife to some 25 or 29 families. It was an extremely successful program. It was a very valued program. I would like to know from the Minister, if this review is still ongoing, what role the Yellowknife Association for Community Living either has played or will play in the completion of the review.
Yes, the department is dealing or consulting with the Yellowknife Association for Community Living as it expands the current program, which, again, was in Yellowknife and the intention of expanding outside. There is consultation between the department and YACL to expand the program outside of just Yellowknife.
I guess I’d like a little bit more elaboration from the Minister on how the Association for Community Living is being used. There is great expertise there with their staff and the way that they deliver the program here in Yellowknife. I know they were assisting the other three or four communities outside of Yellowknife who were trying to get a respite program started. Could the Minister tell me a bit more about what the association is doing? It’s one thing to consult, but are you using the expertise that the association has? When this new revised program is up and running, will the Association for Community Living help deliver that program in other communities?
Both NWT Disabilities Council and YACL have agreed to provide data to the department in order for the department to develop the program outside of Yellowknife.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It will be short. My usual question: When can we see the results of this review?
I don’t have the date right now but I can get back to the Minister with the date.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. You got a promotion, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
