Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I’d like to talk about the issue of repatriation. That is, northern residents in southern placements. Over the years we have spoken of this often. We have often calculated how many northern residents are in southern institutions. We call them southern placements for a variety and a number of reasons with different types of challenges.
I think that from time to time we need to review that list and that expense for many reasons. For one thing, if we can have Northerners in the North, that’s a good thing. If Northerners in the North need to be looked after, having other Northerners look after them, that’s a good thing. It brings Northerners closer to their families where there is a different type of support. It possibly creates employment in the Northwest Territories, and there are just a whole lot of reasons why it is best, if we can, to have these folks in the Northwest Territories.
I recognize and realize that there are sometimes very specialized needs that residents have that there is no solution other than a southern placement in order to most effectively address the needs of a client, but I think that this is something that we need to constantly be monitoring and watching, because I think that when front-line workers run into situations where they need help and support, and perhaps accommodation for an individual sometimes if it’s not readily available in the North, the quickest thing is to refer that client to a southern institution, and once they’re in that southern institution, I would hate to think that out of sight is out of mind and that perhaps it’s easy to put that cheque in the mail every month to that institution where that person is being cared for.
I would like to explore today in question period a little with the Minister of Health and Social Services what types of services that are being procured for our residents in the South that might be possibilities for repatriating to the Northwest Territories with a longer view than just the immediate need of the client and to a bigger picture kind of view.
I’ll have questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services later today.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The Member for the Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
