Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In follow-up to my Member's statement, I have a few questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services. This issue is between many departments, and I think that it's time that we put all of our resources under one department. My constituents want to know why we can't have long-term care facilities in our smaller communities like we did in Aklavik at the old Joe Greenland Centre. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I hear the Member's concerns, and I hear those concerns from his constituents. I have heard them across the Northwest Territories. It's been asked several times. The answer is still the same. When it comes to long-term care, we are looking at level 3, 4, 5 acuity, individuals who actually have some high, complex needs, and, when we build long-term care facilities, we need to build them in close proximity where a greater range of services are available, things like doctors and other professionals who can provide support to those high-need patients. When it comes to levels 1 and 2, those are the types of things that the Housing Corporation has already moved forward with in building independent living units for seniors across the Northwest Territories. We have worked really closely with the Housing Corporation on that, and they have actually created space in these new independent living units where we, Health and Social Services, can offer programming out of to make sure that elders and seniors throughout the community can benefit from those facilities, not just the individuals living there.
Once again, I hear the Member's frustration. I hear the Member's concerns from constituents across the territories, but, when it comes to levels 3 and 4, we must provide safe services. They have to have a certain level of care able to be provided, and that can be provided in regional centres, where there are doctors and a greater range of services, as opposed to smaller communities, where in fact we could be putting people at greater degrees of risk with those facilities.
Will the Minister work with the housing Minister to hire staff to work in our elders' homes as a start?
We do have homecare workers throughout the Northwest Territories. In his riding, I believe we have three or four, I will confirm the numbers, who are providing supports to individuals who are staying in their communities and who want to age in place. Those home-support workers can go into those independent living units, where they exist, and I know there is one in Aklavik. I know that, hopefully soon, we will have one done in Fort McPherson, as well. We already are working with the Housing Corporation and, more importantly, we are working with the residents who are referred to these services to make sure that they get the services when they can.
That's good news. We are also looking forward to the opening of the elders' home in Fort McPherson, but we need a commitment. Will the Minister cost share with both ECE and Housing to ensure that we have a level of care on a daily basis in our elders' homes?
I do hear the Member. We do not provide homecare just because an individual is old. All homecare needs to be referred based on needs of an individual, and there is a range of services that we can provide through our home support, which does include activities of daily living support as well as some food preparation. So there is a wide range of services, but they do need to be referred out, so I would not be prepared to commit to providing home-support workers to the independent living units because some of those individuals might be independent enough and not actually want or need those services. However, I am committed to working with the Member. I am committed to working with all Members. We are doing a homecare review right now. It will help us articulate the actual amount of resources we need to provide this service well in the Northwest Territories. We are exploring the paid community family caregivers. We are about to roll out some pilots on that. When those things are done, we will be in a really good place to develop a business case to seek additional resources to provide the support that I hear Members and residents across this territory saying they want. We need to make sure that we do it in an evidence-based, logical way.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
