Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to speak again, and just briefly, in support of the dementia centre that the other Members were waiving earlier. I am not sure if this area was covered, but I am well aware, as the Minister is, that he has been working diligently on this file, but we are not going to have the facility as quickly as we need to have it for those who are in need of care, residential care. This is not a new phenomenon. It's just that a lot of elders who suffer from the condition of dementia have had to be housed in medical centres and hospitals. We are just coming to awareness of the necessity of putting them in care designed for their specific needs, which is quite different than the other long-term care conditions.
Having said that, it seems that while we are waiting for this facility to be built, there is support for and a need for a day care program for those families who are taking care of the elderly at home. I think these families are taking care of the elderly for reasons that they want to take care of their elderly as long as possible, and they want to provide them a place and care as long as possible and as long as
they are able to and avoid them from being housed in a medical facility.
They are doing it for their own reasons, but they are also contributing to the public process because government services would be more overburdened if it weren't for the fact that a lot of families are choosing to take care of their own elderly. So there is a partnership relationship that could happen here. This dementia facility is going to be the first one in the Territories and the hope is that this will also happen in other communities. But while we are waiting, I think the government should really look into a day care program to just give some relief to families who are having to take care of their family members 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
I know there are lots of people who have people who need 24 hour care, people of all ages. I know the Minister is meeting some of those needs by having this respite care program, and I am grateful that the Minister is extending that and he's supportive of that. There are dozens of families in Yellowknife whose family members are taking care of their dementia elderly. I would like to know if the Minister has reviewed the possibility of creating a day care program for the families who are taking care of the dementia elderly and see if it is at all possible to look into that, whether it's at all feasible. Thank you.