Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Unfortunately, I’m not exactly certain who is the Minister responsible for Seniors in this government. Whoever it is, that’s who I’m directing my questions to.
What kind of proactive work is this government doing to establish a survey or a database of information on the up and coming needs of seniors? We say we want to keep seniors healthy, we want to keep them independent, we want to keep them in the North and I would like to ask, how are we anticipating the needs of seniors as our population ages? Thank you.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The Minister responsible for Seniors, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The department has a good relationship with the NWT Seniors’ Society. We also have statistics on the ages of all residents of the Northwest Territories. We work closely with the local seniors’ societies, as well, to make sure that we’re aware of what’s going on in the communities, and we are doing a number of things to make sure that seniors throughout the Northwest Territories are informed. We did work closely with the NWT Seniors’ Society on the development of a Seniors’ Handbook, which basically outlines a lot of the different types of programs and services that are offered by the GNWT as well as other partners and NGOs. We are working to make sure that seniors are informed as much as possible, and we do collect statistics on population rates in the Northwest Territories on a regular basis.
I do recognize the department does do a lot of good work with the seniors and for seniors in the Northwest Territories. I’d like to ask the Minister, how does that information they have on the age, health status, housing conditions, how does that translate, that information, into a plan to ensure that we continue to support seniors in the appropriate levels?
All the information that comes in helps inform decisions that we, in this House, make on both sides of the House. One of the things that we’re using some of that data for within the Department of Health and Social Services is the developing of an Aging in Place Strategy for the support of all of our elders in the Northwest Territories. This Aging in Place Strategy was intended to be ready I believe it was October or November, but we didn’t have it done at that time. I wanted to see a few additional things put in there and have a few more conversations with committee, but I will have something to present to committee in short order with respect to the Aging in Place Strategy.
That is also good news. I would also like to ask the Minister what the government’s position is or strategy is with respect to the sustainability of the support for seniors given that some seniors do receive an extraordinary amount of support, basically living without having to worry about the cost of fuel or they’re living in government accommodation and they don’t have to worry about the cost of fuel or the cost of power. They don’t have to worry about who they’re going to pay to shovel the snow off their driveway. That cost, as compared to the cost of seniors who are much more supported, I think that would be a good way to describe it, what is the government’s plan to ensure the sustainability and fairness of the delivery of programs to seniors?
The bottom line is we know we have an aging population. We know that with an aging population we have additional challenges on our health care system, as well, on the supports that we do provide to seniors throughout the Northwest Territories. As the population ages, the costs will go up. We have to find ways to control our costs within the system. One of the ways we’re proposing is to support more aging in place and providing mechanisms to help seniors stay in their own homes for as long as they can before they have to transition into independent living or extended care or something like a dementia facility. We collect the data and we’re developing plans that will help us control our costs, recognizing that we will likely see increased costs over time.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to take this one step forward. Does the government or the Minister know of any program that provides for reaching out to seniors who are currently living in their own accommodation to see how they are doing health-wise, expense-wise?
You go into buildings and you read in newspapers now and it says if you’re renting accommodation and you’re spending more than 30 percent of your household income on rent, come to the Housing Corporation and we’ll give you a subsidy. I’m not saying that’s a bad program; I’m saying that’s a very a proactive program.
I’d like to know what is our government doing to ensure that we actually know what’s going on with seniors who may not be coming to the local health centre, may not be coming to the local clinic or may not be members of the local seniors’ society. What are we doing to reach out to those who may be in their own homes and who are suffering under the weight of either health challenges or cost of living challenges?
That’s an interesting question and interesting concept. One of the things we are doing is the Seniors’ Handbook, that I already mentioned, that identifies the different types of programs. That is distributed to seniors in the territory and they have access to it through their local and territorial seniors’ societies. But with respect to any other push-type activity, I will talk to the department to see what we have and I will get back to the Member.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
