Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister responsible for Seniors. I want to ask the Minister in terms of working with the seniors, working on their issues. We have an issue here, Mr. Speaker, in Fort Good Hope where a senior had to wait almost a couple months to get his house fixed, in terms of frozen water and sewer lines. That senior had to wait a long time. I was up there last Friday and the senior was still waiting for somebody to take care of his place. I want to ask the Minister what type of mechanism is in place to help our seniors in terms of what things within her control that she could make sure that these types of situations are not happening in the North, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister responsible for Seniors, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Minister responsible for Seniors, the issues that MLAs and our residents bring forward to my office pertain to various government departments and programs. I work with the relevant departments and their Minister to resolve some of the issues. I’m not familiar with the particular case that the Member brought up, but I’d be happy to look into the situation and see what we can do and what has been done. Thank you.
That’s the point I want to make with the Minister. What mechanisms would make her familiar with some of the issues that the different departments have to deal with seniors? It seems like things are still not quite yet connected as the Minister responsible for Seniors, in terms of giving them a strong voice within the departments to tell the Housing go to Fort Good Hope, fix this senior’s house up. This senior’s wife is crippled. The senior was living on the land. The senior comes back and yet the house is not done. What is this Minister doing to make sure that there’s a strong voice for the seniors? Because right now it doesn’t seem like we have it.
As the Member knows, all of the Ministers here work with the other Ministers when issues are brought up. When I was in Fort Good Hope we had heard from seniors about various issues, and on our return we had conveyed those concerns, whether it be housing or other departments. We’ve communicated those concerns to the respective Ministers. I will look into seeing how that was followed up, Mr. Speaker.
The Member knows that a Minister does not direct another Minister to do things, but, obviously, we work together to resolve issues that get brought up the by Members and residents. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I want to ask the Minister, in terms of being a responsible Minister and being responsible for the seniors, there doesn’t seem to be a very strong voice for the seniors, coordinating the different departments to help the seniors. As, again, a case in point, this senior, his house was frozen up. It’s been like that since even last Friday. It doesn’t send a good message that we’re taking care of our seniors. How does it, within the government, coordinate these types of issues to get looked at as a priority for our seniors? It doesn’t seem like it’s working, no matter what type of system we have. I want to ask the Minister if she is interested or willing to look at different mechanisms, that this senior doesn’t have to sit for two months while his house is frozen up and run through all the bureaucracy and yet, as of last Friday, still no one has come over to fix their place.
Mr. Speaker, obviously there is an avenue for a Legislature or next Legislature to consider reorganizing portfolios for seniors or whatever. But from my personal point of view -- and I have had many discussions with the Member about this -- so many things that the seniors need and help with cover different departments and those departments are complex and they need to specialize in those areas, whether they be Health and Social Services, or Housing or income security. Those on their own are vast programs.
Mr. Speaker, for now it appears that the Member has a very specific situation respecting an elder in Fort Good Hope who needs attention to his housing repair needs. I think, for me, I am interested in getting the information from him and see how we can solve that as soon as possible. I will undertake to do that. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I bring up one specific issue in Fort Good Hope; there are many in the Sahtu on helping the elders. Maybe in other communities they may be the same. I am asking the Minister if she is now looking at the 17th Assembly to look at this. Is there anything in the works that could bring this discussion? I know we are both hoping to do it right away. Can the Minister look at some type of paper or discussion as to how we could help the seniors on various issues?
Mr. Speaker, I agree with the Member that this is a big issue in our small communities. There are a number of seniors who are in need of housing repairs and I think it is a multi-faceted issue. I think it is something that the government, in different departments, as well as local leadership need to work together on resolving this. Because in so many of our communities there is lack of capacity, lack of tradespeople, lack of programs to repair some of the not just houses but lots of things that go in the house like a furnace and all sorts of things. It is something I think the government should look into. I would be happy to have that discussion with the Housing Minister. But in the meantime, with this senior in Fort Good Hope that needs help from us, I would undertake to look into that right away. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
