Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Growing old in the Sahtu is no picnic for our people. When the Minister of Health and I did a tour in the Sahtu region, we heard from many elders and heard from the leaders how hard and difficult it was for our old people to have family members live with them and to support them by cutting wood, hauling water, looking after their house, helping them with their medication.
Last week I heard my colleague Mr. Blake’s account of elders in the Mackenzie Delta who had to leave their families in the communities to live in home care. Over a number of years I have spoken about the support of our elders. What I want to talk about this afternoon is the government’s practice to claw back on income support for families and fuel subsidies, who have families living with these elders.
Many elders need help around the house and the elders need company. In my culture, family helps the older people and families stay together. This is one of the real strengths of our way of life. Coincidentally, it helps us govern too. It meets the objective for healthy, independent people. The problem is this government is not putting its money where its mouth is. Instead it is penalizing elders who have families living with them. An elder may be poor and broke, but if anyone lives in their house and makes a little money, income support will claw back. It’s the same story with the fuel subsidy. If there’s family income, someone has to pay Grannie’s fuel bill.
There are many ways to keep our people down and the clawback is one way. We talk about the Anti-Poverty Strategy in this House, and believe me, we need one. We have too much poverty with our elders. Instead of helping our people, this government clawing back on our elders will just make things worse. It’s time to change the policy. I urge this government to help our elders. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
