Thank you. You have a couple seconds left. There is nobody else on my list, so...Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In this area of community health programs, I was wondering if the department or if the Minister could give us a status report on the work that's being done with the Yellowknife Association of Concerned Citizens for Seniors, and exploring the design and development of a dementia facility here in Yellowknife. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, there was a $50,000 contribution made, and we are expecting a report I believe in March that is going to put on the table the findings and the recommendations of that particular group. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, the receipt of the $50,000 from the department is very welcome, and at least in part, I understand, has been put to good use. Bringing something like this on stream is a multi-stage process. I'm wondering if the department anticipates anything in the coming business year that will help move this process along. Is there anything anticipated? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, we've indicated in the budget that we've increased staffing levels in the short term to deal with some of the immediate pressing needs. But we recognize that this is a growing area of need, and that we may in fact need a new facility. But we're also going to have to look at possible upgrades in other communities, where it may be more appropriate or cost effective just to try to do necessary renovations to allow that standard of care to be provided. So this is on our work plan. Once the report is in in Yellowknife we will look at what the recommendations are, we will look at the numbers. We know that there's an issue with waiting lists, and that many of the supported living situations may in fact eventually evolve into some greater need as well. So this is going to be an issue where, in all probability, there's going to be capital dollars required at some point, either for new construction or renovations. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think there's more urgency to the need than the Minister is giving us to believe. There is in fact in today's issue of the Yellowknifer some interesting information about the current level and demand. Really we are booked up here in the city. I guess what is even more interesting, especially in light of the budget that we're looking at, are the costs, Mr. Chairman, as quoted in the Yellowknifer; the cost of a patient at Aven Manor is about $130 to $140 per day. This is in an assisted living situation, whereas a more acute care patient who has to be moved to the Stanton Hospital facility, Mr. Chairman, is costing from $1500 to $1800 a day. Neither of these facilities, I'm sure as the Minister is aware, were designed for the care of dementia patients. But as our population ages this is a natural occurrence and we have more and more of these sufferers in our facilities.

I guess it's a combination, Mr. Chair, of the cost of caring for people in facilities in... It's not that they're inadequate, but they're certainly ill-equipped and ill-designed to care for those people, and the number of them that would seem to compel us to look with some urgency at bringing a facility on line. I guess I'd like to see what the Minister's comment is to that information. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, we recognize the urgency of this situation, which is why we've gone back in the interim for staffing increases and supportive home living increases. Very clearly, we want to be able to afford a plan that looks at all the communities that have long-term care facilities and cognitively impaired patients or residents. So we recognize that there's pressure in Yellowknife, there's pressure in Inuvik, there's pressure in Hay River, there's pressure in Fort Smith and Fort Simpson. We want to be able to address all those areas, and we want to be able to do it in a timely way. It's a question of identifying the cost for these renovations or the cost for a new structure, what kind of new structure, and then, as the Member indicated, moving through that multi-stage process, especially if it's new capital construction, to get it done as expeditiously as possible. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The Chair will recognize Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have a couple of questions, Mr. Chairman. First of all, I'd like to follow up on the issue that Mrs. Groenewegen was asking about. I believe that the government funded the development of a program in Yellowknife called, I think it was, the family reunification program, that would have seen social workers working intensively with families in advance of an apprehension to try and make sure that the family was supported and the apprehension didn't have to take place. Can the Minister tell me if the development of that sort of program was funded by the government?

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Miltenberger.

Mr. Chairman, I don't have that information immediately at hand, but we can make a note and check. I would expect that the Member's memory is probably accurate, but I don't have any detailed information. We'll have to get that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'd appreciate getting that information that the Minister has offered. Could he also make sure that he advises us whether or not that program is still in operation in the way that it was developed? I'd like to know how much this government spent to develop the program, how long it ran, and whether or not it is still in operation and, if so, how many clients it has served. So I'll look forward to all members of the committee getting that information, Mr. Chairman.

The other area I'd like to address is the area of health promotion. I know that I've heard the Minister, and in fact the Premier many times, talk about personal responsibility, and the need for individuals and families to address their health and social needs, as well as the system. I would think, given the Minister's interest in this area, that there would have been more emphasis placed on health promotion. Certainly I would expect that money that's spent in advance of seeing a medical condition develop, to try and forestall that is money well spent. So if you put money into the prevention of illness rather than having to treat illness after the fact, you're probably going to come out way ahead. Why haven't we seen more money going into health promotion?

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, we are trying to shift the focus of the health and social services system to the whole area of prevention. We're trying to set up our community services so that in fact we can work in a proactive, pre-emptive way with families, clients and patients. We've also initiated discussions, for example, with the Minister responsible for Youth. We want to sit down, myself and himself and the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. I want to look at trying to move some of our health promotion money over to the youth secretariat so we can be more active and pool our money with the money that's there for youth and some of the money that Education is spending. So while we haven't put in new dedicated resources, we are looking at ways to try to shift the way we do business. We want to be able to work more cooperatively and collaboratively with other parts of government that are involved in the same kind of work. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Page 6-27. Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Again under children services. We, as a committee, had a chance to tour a number of southern placement resources for NWT children with very specialized needs in the south. It was pretty evident with some of those visits with the adults and the children, that some of those services would not be difficult to develop here in the Northwest Territories so that clients and residents could be closer to family in the Northwest Territories, and at the same time also providing Northerners with an opportunity to provide those services and have the jobs and do the work with those people. So I'm just wondering if the Minister could outline for us what's underway in the department right now with respect to repatriation options and opportunities. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, we have to look at the repatriation issues on a case-by-case basis, but the one option that shows promise for us in terms of expanding our capacity in the Northwest Territories is discussions we've entered into with Somba K'e out on the road to Detah. There's money in the budget to upgrade the Territorial Treatment Centre, but it's not a building that has much great use, I don't think as a child welfare facility. We are very interested in trying to come to an agreement to access that particular facility to expand our capacity for extra beds, rather than spending capital money upgrading the Territorial Treatment Centre. That would allow us to expand our capacity. That's the one area where we have capacity and potential, where we're moving towards looking at either to take more children for treatment in the North and not having to have them go south or, where possible, if there's room to look at repatriating, as the Member has indicated. Thank you.