Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I recently became aware of a growing problem in our health care system in my community here in Yellowknife, and in the NWT in general, and it’s important enough that I need to bring it to the attention of this House and the public.
I have constituents in my riding who are a family with a disabled adult child, one who needs supervision 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The parents are aging -- something we all do, unfortunately -- and they realize that at some point they will not long be able to care for their child at home.
In an effort to be proactive, to plan for the future, to establish some peace of mind for themselves in regard to their child’s welfare, about four years ago now they began to look for alternative accommodation for their child outside of their home. What is needed is assisted living, independent living with 24/7 supervision, and there are assisted living accommodations here in Yellowknife as well as in other NWT communities, but they are few and far between. From what I can gather, there are only about 12 or so places in Yellowknife that would suit this family’s needs, and all of these spaces are filled and will remain filled for the foreseeable future.
You can imagine the surprise, the consternation and the frustration of these parents when they learned after four years of being patient, of asking questions, investigating and following the protocols, when they learned that there is no assisted living space available for their child to move into in their home community, not now and not in the future.
The parents have been working cooperatively with the Yellowknife Health and Social Services Authority for the past four years, and now the authority has done all that it can to assist the family. But with no available housing, Yellowknife Health and Social Services can only leave the child on a wait-list.
This is an unacceptable situation, Mr. Speaker, for my constituents and for all adult disabled children living with aging parents. We cannot expect families to continue looking after their disabled children into old age. That’s not good for either the parents or the child.
The Department of Health and Social Services must show some initiative and get out ahead of this problem. The number of adult disabled children here in Yellowknife currently being cared for at home by aging parents, those children who need to transition to independent living, will only increase in the next 10 to 15 years. To avoid a crisis -- and I call placing these children in southern institutions a crisis -- the department must begin to work now to find appropriate housing for them.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
The Department of Health and Social Services, working with the NWT Housing Corporation, can develop the necessary assisted living facilities for these vulnerable residents of our NWT society before it is too late.
I will have some questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services at the appropriate time. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
