Marci cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services on my Member's statement. I would like to ask the Minister if there have been any instances where a senior or seniors, a senior couple, have had their homes retrofitted to a barrier-free state and are now embroiled in full homecare for that unit. Thank you.
Minister of Health and Social Services.
Mr. Speaker, I am not off the top of my head aware of the specific retrofits that may have been conducted through programs available through the organizations like the Housing Corporation, but I'm happy to sit down with the Minister responsible and figure that out and get back to the Member. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, this is, I guess, a question to the Minister of Health, because my assumption is that, when homecare is involved, even though the Housing Corporation may be responsible for retrofitting the unit, it would fall under Health and Social Services, but I'm not 100 percent sure. I would like to ask the Minister if he is aware if the Housing Corporation and his department have any plans to create barrier-free units out of home ownership units for seniors so they can age in place?
As I have said before and I will say again, this government is committed to aging in place. Following up on the Member's statement, I agree with much of what the Member said as far as finding ways to keep our elders in their homes and their communities for as long as possible. I don't agree with all of his conclusions as a result of long-term care, but we are committed to aging in place.
With respect to the Housing Corporation, they are working on a senior housing initiative that will help them actually make the determination in this particular area. When it comes to homecare, every homecare activity has to be based on a medical-type referral. In order to receive homecare, you have to have some type of a referral. That may include homecare support workers or occupational therapists or others to help them keep seniors in their homes. So, yes, the Housing Corporation is working on that.
I'm aware that homecare can be applied in houses that are owned by the NWT Housing Corporation for seniors' housing, but the main target group, as I see it, would be the homeowners. I would like to ask the Minister if there is any plan to budget any actual money? Maybe it would be a better way to ask: is any money actually put in place to allow seniors to age in place in their home in their communities?
It is my understanding that the Housing Corporation is actually working on that exact initiative to find ways to support homeowners who need to do retrofits to help individuals age in place. Related through Health and Social Services, we can have occupational therapists, when there is a referral, come into people's homes and help them with other supports to help support activities of daily living, to identify the types of grab bars and other things that might be valuable or alternatives to ramps and those types of things. So occupational therapy, upon referral, can go into communities to help make those assessments.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is really an initiative or a mandate that requires good timing. The mandate says taking action so that seniors can age in place, so, according to the mandate that we set out four years ago, we should actually have seniors aging in place in their homes right now, but we do not, and we are just crossing the last budget. I am asking if the money is going to be used from homecare now in order to hire new staff so that we can expand homecare, so we can allow seniors to age in place, so we can meet that mandate. That is an important mandate. I think the federal government knew that when they put $6 billion into homecare when they were elected. So I would like to ask the Minister again: will there be new staff, new money, put into the field of homecare, targeted at our mandate of aging in place?
Thanks to the Members, earlier in this Assembly we actually put $1.5 million, and some additional dollars as well, into the creation of new homecare positions throughout the Northwest Territories. We have struggled to fill all those positions, but those positions have been created. We are also moving forward with an initiative to support aging in place through family and paid community caregivers. We are getting ready to roll that pilot out as we speak. It should be out early in the new year. I also understand that we already have the CARE Mobility program in place, which is where homeowners can apply for money to make upgrades to their homes to help them age in place. We have the ability for our occupational therapists, upon referral, to go in and help individuals determine what kind of supports they might need in their homes to help them age in place.
Mr. Speaker, we are committed to supporting those who age in place. We are currently in the middle of the homecare review, which we anticipate will be completed on March 31st. That will help us make informed decisions on where additional resources need to go, but it will also give us the ability to refocus the dollars we have into areas that are actually going to make a direct impact.
As I mentioned earlier, we have put in a number of home support positions as a result of the budget that the Members supported. We are having some difficulty in some of our communities filling those positions, and I am certainly willing to and I will be reaching out to the leadership in those communities soon to figure out how we can work together to fill those positions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am glad to have the opportunity to just ask a couple more questions, a little bit of a change. I want to thank the Minister for the responses. I appreciate that. However, I would like to ask about the caregiver program. The Minister just mentioned the caregiver program. The caregiver program could be a huge part of aging in place. I would like to ask the Minister if there has been some sort of program developed for caregivers. Thank you.
Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we are moving forward with a pilot on that particular initiative, family and/or community caregivers. There are a number of different opportunities how this might roll out in the future. We want to test a couple of those, so we are going to be moving forward with a number of initiatives in different communities to test that exact principle. From there, we will be able to build a business case in whichever model seems to be the most effective so that we can build a business case to roll out at a territorial level. We are looking to go out in pilot on April 1st. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Following up on my colleague's questions, I have a general question about homecare funding as represented in yesterday's budget. The budget seems to indicate a significant decrease, of more than a million dollars, in homecare spending, and I am wondering if the Minister can tell us how that relates to the answers he just gave to my colleague. Thank you.
Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier in this Assembly, we had a large amount of money put into homecare. We used those monies to create a number of positions. There was more money allocated than the positions that we had identified, and we had been trying to use those monies for different programs.
Unfortunately, there was $600,000 that was lapsing. Recognizing that we were going to be lapsing the $600,000 in this coming fiscal year, we had to make a decision on where we could get best bang for buck on those dollars, and it was decided to put them in, for this fiscal year, to Child and Family Services, which is an area where we are experiencing some significant difficulties.
Having said that, Mr. Speaker, that is not the only pot of money that we have. We have been working very closely with the federal government, and we are anticipating making a number of significant announcements over the next couple of weeks on areas where we are going to be investing in homecare with federal support, which will offset some of those dollars that we are now focusing into Child and Family Services.
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the Minister's answer. What I heard him say is that there was more money than there were positions filled. If I have that right, could he tell us how specifically he is going to strengthen recruitment for homecare?
I am not sure that's exactly what I said. We created a large number of positions as a result of that budget, but not all of those resources were specifically for positions. When it comes to recruitment, we filled most of the positions, but, in some of our communities, we have gone out time and time again and we haven't had any success. I have had conversations with a couple of the MLAs about the challenges that we are facing in the regions, and we will be reaching out to leadership here shortly to find out if there is any opportunity to work with them to identify people in the communities who can do these home support worker positions so that we can provide training on the job to fill those.
Could the Minister tell us what the requirements or qualifications are to work in homecare?
It really depends on the job. Homecare nurses must be registered nurses. We have also got homecare LPNs. They must be LPNs. When it comes to home support workers, normally we need somebody who has got some skills in areas related to resident care or other things. There is some training that is available in the Northwest Territories, but, personally we believe that's a job where we can train on the job. We have the regional recruitment program that we are certainly willing to use to train people to do those jobs on the job, without necessarily coming in with the skill set prior.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my final question is: where the department has been unable to or the authority has been unable to recruit the appropriate homecare supports, then how is homecare being delivered, or is it not being delivered at all?
Not everybody in every community, obviously, needs homecare. It's based on a referral system. If we do not have a home support worker in the community who can do that, there are other opportunities to have individuals like CHRs provide the support that they can and other nurses provide the support they can and other professionals that happen to be in the communities. It's not ideal. We have created these positions to provide a certain level of support.
In some cases, they may not be receiving the full scope that has been requested under their medical direction, but we are trying to fill these positions, and we will continue to do so until we fill them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I would like to table the following document. It's a letter dated February 7, 2019, from the Union of Northern Workers to the Minister of Finance, regarding arbitration on GNWT and Northwest Territories Power Corporation negotiations. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Tabling of documents. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to table the following document, a letter from February 7, 2019, addressed to the Premier and Cabinet from Samantha Morandin, Student Association President at Aurora College.
Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Monday, February 11, 2019, I will move that Bill 34, Mineral Resource Act, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I will now call Committee of the Whole to order. What is the wish of committee? Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that the Chair rise and report progress. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. There is a motion to report progress. The motion is in order. All those in favour? All those opposed?
Carried
I will rise and report progress.
Mr. Speaker, your committee has been considering Minister's Statement 13118(3), Sessional Statement, and Tabled Document 32218(3), Main Estimates, 20192020, and would like to report progress, and Mr. Speaker, I move that the report of the Committee of the Whole be concurred with.
Masi. Do we have a seconder? Member for Kam Lake. The motion is in order. All those in favour? All those opposed?
Carried
Orders of the day for Friday, February 8, 2019, at 10:00 a.m.:
Prayer
Ministers' Statements
Members' Statements
Returns to Oral Questions
Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery
Acknowledgments
Oral Questions
Written Questions
Returns to Written Questions
Replies to the Commissioner's Opening Address
Replies to Budget Address (Day 3 of 7)
Petitions
Reports of Standing and Special Committees
Reports of Committees on the Review of Bills
Tabling of Documents
Notices of Motion
Notices of Motion for First Reading of Bills
Motions
Motion 31-18(3), Request for Government of the Northwest Territories to Enter Binding Arbitration with Union of Northern Workers
First Reading of Bills
Second Reading of Bills
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Minister's Statement 131-18(3), Sessional Statement
Tabled Document 322-18(3), Main Estimates, 2019-2020
Report of Committee of the Whole
Third Reading of Bills
Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, I wish to remind Members that the Standing Committee on Priority and Planning will be meeting at the rise of the House today.
Masi, Mr. Clerk. This House stands adjourned until Friday, February 8, 2019, at 10:00 a.m.
---ADJOURNMENT
The House adjourned at 3:10 p.m.
