Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On the heels of Mr. Nadli’s speech about disabilities, I have to bring forward an issue that’s in the community of Hay River. It has to do with the handi-van services that have been provided by the Hay River Council for People with Disabilities and the fact that the last few years they’ve been striving to get private funding to operate this service. This service is being used by seniors and people with disabilities to get around the community, to get to job interviews, to get groceries and to actually get to medical appointments. Because of the increased costs, the council has had difficulty and had to basically eliminate all the transportation that the handi-van currently is providing. They continue to provide some services to some of their members that are in schooling, but they’ve eliminated that to seniors and to people with disabilities.
It’s a vital part of our community. It’s a vital need that’s in our community, and we’ve had lots of constituents that have come forward to us not only in Hay River but in other ridings such as Enterprise and K’atlodeeche that have used this service in the past to get around and to have for people that are seniors that need a facility or a vehicle that actually has wheelchair accessibility, that is easy to get into and use. We’ve also asked the Minister of Health for information on funding, and he has also indicated to us that it would be the municipality’s issue. The difficulty is that this is an issue that has to do with specific individuals, seniors and people with disabilities. It’s not public transportation. It’s specific to a group of people that need it mainly because of their medical condition.
I will have questions for the Minister of Health and the GNWT, I guess. I am going to specify my questions to Health because I think that’s where the dollars should be coming from, but it is GNWT-wide. There may be a couple of departments that have that issue, but I need the GNWT to get together and find a solution to assist and fund the handi-van services in Hay River.
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. The Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
