Thank you, Madam Speaker, and honourable colleagues. Madam Speaker, the government has substantiated this deletion to the Kitikmeot health board and the Gjoa Haven hamlet council with the delivery of an extensive home care program within Kitikmeot which we understand will be included in the upcoming main estimates. This arrangement and subsequent deletion has been done without any type of consultation with the Members of this House, the honourable Mr. Ningark, myself and, more significantly, without any consultation with the elders in the region.
Madam Speaker, I and other Members acknowledge and support the establishment of an extended home care program to assist individuals including elders needing and requesting home care assistance. A home care program can address some of the physical needs of elders, however, it can in no way fully address the social and mental well-being of individuals in being able to socialize and receive support from their peers on a constant basis.
The Kitikmeot will continue to have no elders' residences in the entire region, while all other regions have some form of elders' facilities. Madam Speaker, I find it totally unacceptable and objectionable as to the government's deletion of the elders' residence funding in Gjoa Haven. Where is the fairness and equity in addressing elders' needs in the Kitikmeot? I ask the government to immediately address this issue.
Madam Speaker, my honourable colleague and I will continue to pursue the government on this matter until the needs of elders in the Kitikmeot and in my constituency are addressed in a satisfactory manner. Mahsi.
---Applause