Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am aware that Hay River has a palliative care unit. I am aware that Stanton does. I do not know about Inuvik.
The Member is correct in saying that we have an aging population. By the year 2018, it is expected the number of seniors in the Northwest Territories will have grown by 135 percent. People are staying in the North.
There is a vast difference between having palliative care units as opposed to palliative care health services. Palliative care health services are ones that administer care to persons that are in the last stages of their life. This is a field of medicine that is constantly changing. Perhaps through the local physicians and specialists pool out of Alberta, in-service teaching and training could be provided to resident Northern doctors. I think that about every six months there are new medications and new strategies for caring for people who are in the last stages of their life.
I think that this is an area where there is a gap in medical services in the Northwest Territories. I have had it raised to me several times by Northerners who have gone through the process of having a loved one who has passed on in the care of hospitals here in the North. Their main concern was making sure they were not in extreme pain. I think that is where the specialty is required. Thank you.