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.
