Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to follow up on my Member’s statement and ask some questions of the Minister of Health and Social Services around the infrastructure needs for seniors in the NWT. I mentioned some statistics in my statement, and the numbers of seniors that will be increasing are really quite scary, particularly here in the city of Yellowknife where we can expect the number of seniors to triple in the next 10 or 15 years. Yet it seems to me that Health and Social Services is ignoring the results of their own studies and the recommendations from their own reports. We see very little indication that they are working on providing infrastructure for seniors housing.
I would like to first ask the Minister a bit of a background. The cornerstone of the Avens renovation and expansion project is Aven Manor and the renovations to Aven Manor, and they have been identified for quite some time. Soon Aven Manor kitchen may be actually declared unfit for use.
So I would like to ask the Minister initially, where the renovations to this territorial facility, Aven Manor, are on the capital planning list for Health and Social Services. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Minister of Health, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have been working closely with Avens on their desire to increase their facility as well as improve the current facility. We have put together a committed team, a steering committee that consists of the Department of Health and Social Services employees as well as some proponents from Avens itself, and we have contributed $25,000 to this initiative, to Avens, so that they can have their individual participate.
We are doing a number of things, exploring opportunities for funding and trying to come up with the most appropriate way to move forward with the construction of this new facility and the renovations to the current facility. It isn’t yet on the capital plan. We are waiting for this particular work to be done and we are waiting for that group to submit a proposal to Cabinet and the Regular Members so that we can figure out how to move forward with this project. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thanks to the Minister. I appreciate the work that the Minister is doing. I know that he supports the project as much as I do.
The Avens kitchen has long been known, and it has been evident, that it’s deficient – it’s been many years now – and it is in need of upgrading. If Avens does not get the funding that they require to renovate this facility and to do their expansion project, which is an integral part of it, it may be closed down by the very department which is actually responsible and funds the whole facility.
So if that comes to fruition, what will the Minister do to avert such a closure, a closure of the kitchen, and a closure which would then force shutdown of the whole Aven Manor facility? Thank you.
We are aware of the desires of Avens to expand the kitchen and improve it. We are working closely with them to make sure that we can find a way to move forward collaboratively together. We will continue to do that. We are waiting for the report to come from this committee, this steering committee, on the whole plan for the Avens facility, and we look forward to seeing it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister, in terms of funding, I know it certainly has been an issue for the board when they discuss this plan that they need to get a guarantee of use of their new facility in order to get the backing that they need from the bank, and it’s my understanding that the Avens board of governors, board of directors, can find mortgaging, can find funding for the facility, but they need to get a guarantee from the government that they will actually use the facility once it’s built.
So I would like to ask the Minister, why is it that I haven’t yet heard that the board of directors has gotten that assurance from our government that once we build a facility for seniors that we will guarantee that we will actually put people in there? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The funding to actually run the Avens for their O and M comes primarily from the Government of the Northwest Territories. We provide about $3.6 million per year for O and M to run the Avens facility as well as about $3.4 million for the Dementia Facility. If we move forward with the expansion together with Avens, we are also going to likely be on the hook for the additional $3.6 million to run that facility. If this facility gets built, it’s fair to assume that northern residents will be utilizing that facility.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t think I heard an answer to the question there. We can assume that residents will be there, but in order for Avens to go to the bank, they need some kind of a guarantee from the government that, yes, we will actually put people in there and yes, we will provide the funding for operations and maintenance. I know that the Minister knows that the need is there and I don’t yet understand why we can’t get that done.
My last question, my usual question, has to do with timing, and the Minister says that he is looking at getting this renovation, this expansion into the capital plan. I had no indication of any kind of timeline. I know it takes a while, but I’d like to know from the Minister if we’re talking about a year or if we’re talking five or 10 years.
We are committed to working with Avens. We will continue to work with Avens. We’re waiting for them to come forward in this collaborative team, this steering committee, to come forward with a plan and a suggestion on how we should move forward. We don’t know that that’s going to be full-on GNWT capital or whether there are going to be some other opportunities. We’re exploring all of those opportunities at this time, and obviously, we’d like to see some partners come in on this.
At the same time, this report, this work that the committee is doing will come to us shortly. But the Member knows that we have an extensive capital process and the Member knows that there are a large number of projects on this capital list that are on the line, schools, health centres, hospitals. All these things are in the works, so we need to fit that into the plan. I can’t say where Avens will fit in the plan, but we do know that we need to increase the number of beds in the Northwest Territories for seniors, and we will do that in the fullness of time.
Order! Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Mrs. Groenewegen.
