We should remember that our people are assisted in different ways and under different programs and by different professionals in varying degrees in our communities depending on their needs and the capacity in our communities. Respite care is not a solution to everything. There are some people who need more intense care than respite care. So we should remember that there are varying degrees of programs that are in line with the needs of the people.
Mr. Speaker, I state again to the Member that the department sees respite care and expanded home care as an important element in the delivery of our health and social services care. We want to enable our people to stay in our communities, be supported by their families with support from home care and respite care. We have a long way to go. We just began our three-year project outside of Yellowknife. We had a pilot project outside of Yellowknife and we’ve had a pilot project in Yellowknife. I believe it’s time to put them together, look at it in a comprehensive approach, find efficiencies where we can, but we are committed to moving forward. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On Monday the Minister, in response to some questions that I had for her, was using the deficit as the reason why the respite care funding cut was made. Mr. Speaker, this is a very poor excuse, as I mentioned in my statement. Nothing’s been done to address the root cause of these growing deficits in the seven years that I’ve been here, and certainly in the past three years that the Minister has been at the helm. I know in response to questions my colleague Mr. Abernethy had, the Minister said that moving forward we’re going to work out some details on getting the $250,000 reinstated and trying to find a way forward to fund the program and the details would be coming. But, Mr. Speaker, my question for the Minister is: How are we supposed to believe that when where were the details when it came to the funding cut? Mr. Speaker, we just had business plans and the Minister didn’t mention anything to us about a funding cut to the respite care program. Thank you. Where were the details then?
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m not sure if I can convince him that the wall behind you is grey, I don’t think any information I give him can convince him of anything, but let me say, and like I said today, and I’ve given a lot of information already, Mr. Speaker. We have had a two-track process when it comes to the respite care program. We’ve had a pilot project in YACL for Yellowknife only. We’ve had a three-year pilot project outside of Yellowknife. I am suggesting that it is time now for us to look a territorial respite care program. We have heard from families in Yellowknife who are saying that those programs are valuable and essential to their children’s well-being, as well as their families’ well-being and we have never questioned that. We support respite care for the families.
At the same time we have a lot of families in many different communities outside of Yellowknife with much less facilities and programming than Yellowknife, who are taking care of their families with limited resources. So we, as a government, are going to re-evaluate that program and we are going to come to the Standing Committee on Social Programs. That is the regular process and we are going to present a territorial respite care program. So it’s not about $250,000 and it’s not about black and white simplistic answers. I am announcing today, and if the Member wants to receive that, it’s up to him. We are working on a territorial respite care program. That’s the way to go and I’m committed to that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I certainly don’t need to be convinced of the value of respite care, whether it’s here in Yellowknife or any of our communities, and I think that’s a step in the right direction that the government is going towards.
Again, I’m having trouble understanding how it is the Minister could go through the business planning process and not advise the Standing Committee on Social Programs that this funding cut was coming. Again, where were the details then? She says she’s coming forward to the Standing Committee on Social Programs with details on this new program. Eighteen months ago when I spoke about it, when I spoke about it in my statement, the same Minister came before the Standing Committee on Social Programs with a deficit-fighting plan; a nice, glossy plan. It never saw the light of day, Mr. Speaker. So how we are we supposed to believe the Minister that this will actually happen? Thank you.
I don’t think this is a question of lack of detail. I think that I can explain the details. I don’t even know if I have enough time, Mr. Speaker. I have said it’s already been said that THAF was until 2009-10. We were able, and we were lucky, to get an extension of two years. The budget for 2009-2010 does not include THSSI funding. This is why it’s not called THSSI instead of THAF, and I keep telling the Member and he doesn’t want to believe me. He says there’s a lack of detail. He’s not accepting the answers. We just approved a supplementary appropriation approving THSSI, so we have a different internal kind of budgeting processing going on here. We approved money for a respite care program outside of Yellowknife through the main budget and we approved THSSI and THAF funding under supplementary appropriations. Mr. Speaker, if he wants any more details on how we fund respite care program, I’d be happy to provide that, but just because he doesn’t agree with it, it doesn’t mean that the details are not there. Thank you.
Again, I appreciate the Minister’s response, but the Minister has been very evasive when it comes to actually answering questions about this funding cut. She won’t tell us who ultimately made the decision to cut the $250,000 or where the $250,000 is going and what it’s going to be spent on. Mr. Speaker, again, it’s a fairly straightforward question. Who is responsible for cutting the $250,000 out of the budget? Thank you.
With all due respect, that’s a really irrelevant question. I am Minister of Health and Social Services. Whether I am involved directly or not, I am responsible for whatever happens in health and social services. That’s the very reason why he asks me questions and it’s my job to answer them. So what’s the relevance of who cut it? What we know is the respite care program is important. I’m presenting to the Member that we want to go forward on this. The funding under THAF is sunsetted. It doesn’t show up in future budgets. We were able to get extra money from the federal government, so we are putting it back in under supplementary appropriation. We use approved funding for 2010-2011 under a supplementary appropriation and the Member knows, and everybody here knows, that we fund various programs under 2010-2011 and we will go through the same process for 2011-2012. So that’s a very esoteric internal budgeting process. Mr. Speaker, the Member also knows that we talked together and agreed on budget items as well.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Your final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is the same Minister that on Monday, in response to a question that I had, she said we are not able to expand any programs. The respite care program was a pilot project and was time limited.
Mr. Speaker, again, I want to ask the Minister whether or not she herself knew that this was a proposed funding cut and when she found out about that cut. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, on Monday I said that because, as the Member knows, the funding has sunsetted. It’s not in the books. It’s not there. THAF funding ended as of ’09-10.
We got extra money for two years for ’10-11 and ’11-12. We did planning for 2010-2011 through supplementary appropriation. The budget for 2011-12 has not been before this House. For the information of the public and everybody, when we go through the budgeting process, we work closely with the communities.
So, Mr. Speaker, I said what the Member said I said and those are accurate. The money has sunsetted. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.
Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Today I talk about the importance of respite care in Tu Nedhe communities. I have questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services.
Mr. Speaker, Tu Nedhe is a part of the Yellowknife Health and Social Services Authority. I want to ask the Minister what the plan is specific to communities in Tu Nedhe. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I stated, we have begun to have a respite care program outside of Yellowknife for the last three years. We are not in all of the communities yet. We have started in the Beaufort-Delta and Deline and I believe we have a couple of respite programs in Simpson. So we need to continue to work together to find respite care programming in communities across the Territories. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I have a couple of situations in Tu Nedhe that need immediate assistance. I have a disabled couple taking care of an elderly uncle who’s I believe in his nineties. Could the Minister tell me what kind of assistance would be available for family members caring for people today? Thank you.
In situations like that, the Yellowknife Health and Social Services Authority, which is responsible for Tu Nedhe, would do an assessment on that individual and the family and provide either home care assistance, occupational therapy assistance, and work out a care plan for the family. Where there is a respite care program like Yellowknife, they could access those. But where there isn’t, home care and local health and social authorities would look to assist the family. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, the situations in Tu Nedhe where individuals are being cared for by family, that’s happening without any compensation to the family, and what’s happening is the elders are now getting to a point where they feel that they’ve become a burden because they recognize that the family is doing this, taking shifts doing this on their own. Some seniors are even refusing care because there’s no money to support the families that are trying to help them.
Does the Minister and the health authority, I suppose, acknowledge the fact that respite care would, in the long run, save a lot of money for the government? Thank you.
In the long run we will always need support of the families to take care of our elders and we’ll always have to rely on the families who look after children with disabilities and all kinds of family members who need assistance, which is why respite care is important to these families. It gives them a little bit of breathing room and helps them cope with the challenge of the extra responsibilities that they have. So I don’t think the government will ever be in a place where we could do 24-hour care for everybody.
We need to work together with the families. In cases of elders and persons with disabilities, government works to provide home care programming. Home care is very multi-faceted. Sometimes it’s nursing coverage and sometimes it’s light housework. So the program is different. Where there is a respite care program, it just gives the families a break while they take care of their loved ones.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mr. Beaulieu.
Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. In Tu Nedhe we still have more seniors in institutional care than we do in some sort of respite care, even though there is no money with the respite care. There are still individuals taking care of their aged and disabled family members. Does the Minister acknowledge that disabled and aged people have a better quality of life with family members under respite care rather than institutional care? Thank you.
Absolutely. Institutional care is always more expensive, usually far away, it’s less humane and less personal. So in all ways, we should, as a government, minimize that. We do also accept, though, there are situations where there is no choice but to give institutional care for some of our elderly and some of our residents because their needs are so acute and so expansive that no individual or families can provide that. This is why we have under the Foundation for Change action plan as a goal to enhance and expand home care and respite care. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister has put on record clearly that respite is a valuable and needed service. I thank her for that because it certainly makes some of these questions a lot easier.
She’s told the House repeatedly that THAF was extended by two years, which carries this government into the budget years of 2011-12. So THAF funding -- which is the Territorial Health Access Fund, for anyone who doesn’t know what THAF stands for -- started in 2009-2010 and is carried into the second year, which is the 2010-11 and, of course, now we are really coming down to what’s happening in the third and final year.
Mr. Speaker, I thought the question as to who cut the money was very relevant because it goes simply to my question. Did the Minister of Health and Social Services provide direction, instructions, a directive or any message to cut, trim or change the scheduled funding for respite services at all in any form? If not, is she tracking the person down who did make this instructional choice to do this, to freeze any changes until we find a solution for this problem? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The fact is we are getting distracted by how this information was communicated. I would rather focus on moving forward.
Mr. Speaker, the federal government gave us $50 million and we have to plan on budgeting accordingly. Both THAF and THSSI -- and Member Bisaro asked what are we going to do with that money -- it’s important for everybody to know that that money is spent as part of our health care budget. We pay nurses, nurse practitioners, midwives, doctors, diagnostics, we pay for health care out of that THAF funding. There is a two-year time limit. We need to find ways to change the way we deliver programs and that is why we need to use some of that money on the Foundation for Change action plan.
The reason why I say it’s really unfortunate how this was communicated in that way is because if this government is going to provide a respite care program, it’s going to provide a respite care program. We need to come up with the money to do that. Everybody knows we have limited resources, so this is why it is important for us to have a territorial respite care program. We need to use the resources of the department and find ways to continue to provide respite care programs for families in Yellowknife as well as outside of Yellowknife. This is why we need to do a territorial respite care program. Thank you.
I kind of find it unfortunate that the Minister keeps saying it’s unfortunate that it was brought to us in this method. To be quite honest, Mr. Speaker, if this message of respite care wasn’t brought to us by constituents, it would be so unfortunate it would have been long gone before we ever found out.
Mr. Speaker, the Minister keeps saying it’s a distraction about trying to find out what happened. I think that’s kind of the blueprint of finding out what we can do. Mr. Speaker, where is the money for the budget year 2011-12 going to be allocated to? In short, Mr. Speaker, it has been allocated to two years towards respite care. So we are trying to track down where this money is now going to. Why isn’t the Minister agreeing in this House to stabilize the money for respite? Thank you.
The Member knows that in the February budget session we debate the 2011-2012 budget. Thank you.
It’s really sad we can’t debate this line item very clear here in the House, because it’s unfortunate. It won’t be tabled before the House until February. Mr. Speaker, how much has the Minister committed to respite services to date and how much will she be committing going forward to demonstrate respite services will be protected and enshrined in our health system? Thank you.
The Member knows that we will be debating the 2011-2012 budget. We just had a preview of that and there is a respite care program in there that we approved. The respite care program under THSSI is handled differently because it’s federal funding and we did it through a supplementary appropriation. I look forward to the support of the Members on the other side when we work to develop a program on respite care. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t doubt that the Minister has a passion for this issue. I wouldn’t doubt that the Minister cares about this particular issue, but everything seems to be hurry up, let’s wait. Stop distracting the issue, just wait. Well, unfortunately, we’ve got a lot of families who can’t wait and proceed on blind faith.
Mr. Speaker, the Minister has allowed -- and, as she said, she takes full responsibility for the department – she has allowed this cut to be proposed and she is defending the cut. So what is her plan to bridge through this cut? She could make that very clear here, because we have four months until the February session to work through and we’ve got families waiting to find out what the plan is. Mr. Speaker, that is the question, to ensure that these families are protected. Thank you.
Let’s just be clear that this House will debate the budget for 2011-2012. I will include the money from the federal government.
Mr. Speaker, let’s be clear about one more thing, which is that we are committed, this government is committed to having one territorial respite care program for families in need of a respite care program, which would include Yellowknife families. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In regard to my Member’s statement, I mentioned the lack of respite care services in a lot of our communities. In the communities I represent -- Aklavik, Fort McPherson and Tsiigehtchic -- in Aklavik alone I have 24 people identified as disabled; Fort McPherson, 10, and one individual in Tsiigehtchic. Mr. Speaker, that’s 35 individuals in the Mackenzie Delta riding that are disabled. These individuals are asking for nothing less and nothing more than what’s being provided in the larger centres.
I, for one, sit here listening to the discussions here in the House. Mr. Speaker, we have individuals in our communities that are stuck taking care of their elderly parents, people with disabilities, special needs in our communities that are 24-hour care, 365 days a year, and the only program we have for respite care is they’ll take the elders out of our home communities and send them to the Inuvik hospital and put them in the long-term care facility or the Joe Greenland Centre.
Mr. Speaker, I’d like to ask the Minister why we are having to send our elders away or individuals from our communities for respite care to the regional hospitals and not assist them and keep them in our home communities and support the families.
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is absolutely right. He’s talking about the situation that we deal with every day. We have unlimited demand for services in our communities. There are lots of program needs across the NWT, especially in small communities. This is the reason why the government has used the Strategic Initiatives committee Building Our Future funding to introduce and expand respite care programs in communities outside of Yellowknife for three years.
What I said this morning is that the government wants to keep moving forward with that and include Yellowknife programs into that program, and I would need support from the other side to institute this program. How far we expand and how much we can do would depend on the priorities we need to make on our budget, and everybody here knows that our budget is under pressure from all fronts. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, also in my statement I made reference to the elders in our communities. In Fort McPherson alone, I mentioned we have 66 elders over the age of 70 to 97 years old. Those elders we want to keep in our communities. The facility in Inuvik, the long-term care, is full. There are 25 beds. It’s full. We have eight beds in the Joe Greenland Centre. The only place those individuals can go is either to Inuvik, but if it’s full, they will have to send them to other facilities such as Yellowknife and elsewhere, and that’s not what we want, Mr. Speaker.
I’d like to ask the Minister exactly what are we doing to enhance the elder care programs in our communities such as home care, respite care and, more importantly, care facilities and care professions in our communities to take care of those most vulnerable in our communities.
That is the challenge of this government and all governments across the Territories for the next 10 to 20 years. There is no simple one-word answer to that. We need to work on prevention. We need to work on a long-term care facility strategy so that we have the right facilities in all different regions. We need to enhance support in small communities, especially for home care and respite care while we wait and while we don’t have all of the programs that are readily available in larger communities. This is why this department, and for the last three years I, as the Minister, have introduced and expanded respite care programs in small communities. But it’s meeting very, very small needs right now, so we need to look at this program and the program in Yellowknife and programs outside of Yellowknife as one program and find economy, find efficiencies, make our dollar stretch so that we can serve more communities and more families in need of respite care which is present everywhere in the Territories. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I know the Minister is making reference to the territorial-wide program and expanding the program outside of Yellowknife to include all 33 communities in the Northwest Territories. I’d like to ask the Minister exactly when are you intending to roll out this program to all 33 communities in the Northwest Territories.
Mr. Speaker, I don’t believe we will be able to roll that out to all 33 communities. What we need to do is expand as much as possible to communities. We have begun that process three years ago. We have to do a lot of work to do that, but we have started that. We have about four or five communities outside of Yellowknife. So we’re going to work in conjunction. We’re going to provide it to communities outside of Yellowknife as well as Yellowknife. The important thing is we have begun the work and we have to move as quickly as possible. The resources are what are needed to do that. I look forward to coming to standing committee to see how we can move forward together, because I’m going to need the support of the Members on the other side to put this in. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Your final supplementary, Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That wasn’t too encouraging, the Minister’s last answer there. I find it kind of hard to believe that you’re not going to provide similar services throughout the Northwest Territories for people in the same situations, same status, and yet people are treated differently. I’d like to know, from the Mackenzie Delta riding, when can I see respite care being delivered in the communities in the Mackenzie Delta.
One of the first expansions of respite care programs outside of Yellowknife was started in Inuvik. We have been working with the NWT Council of Persons with Disabilities to do that. We had to lay out the foundation to begin that work, Mr. Speaker. It is our desire and wish that we can have this program in all 33 communities. What I’m saying is, practicably, I would be… Well, I wouldn’t be able to meet the commitment if I said we will do 33 communities next year. What’s important is that we have it in our action plan. We have laid the foundation. We have staff at the department who have been designing the program. We will look to NGOs to help us to do that if that does get to go. I think, Mr. Speaker, this is an opportunity for us to look at this comprehensively and try to be fair and equitable to all communities. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
