Thank you, Minister Miltenberger. Anything further, Mr. Villeneuve?

One quick follow-up, thank you, Mr. Chair. That's good to know. They are public service employees with the GNWT through the health authorities. With regard to the training that some of the community wellness workers were talking about, a lot of them expressed their dismay with the School of Community Government because a lot of them were alcohol and drug workers before they became community wellness workers and many of them have spent many years in the alcohol and drug field of work in their communities. They were just wondering when they did decide to take up the program to become certified community wellness workers, a lot of them experienced pay cuts down to the 70 percent level in their first year of courses. Yet, the job for them really, on a day-to-day basis, after the one week of course, they still have 51 weeks of regular work that they are doing today as graduates. A lot of them feel that maybe the government owes them some back pay because a lot of them worked for three years starting at 70, 80 and eventually up to 90 percent and then to 100 when they graduate. A lot of them feel they were getting 70 percent pay for a job which required 100 percent of their time. I am just wondering if there is any consideration from the department to maybe review some of the people who actually completed this program and were involved in the alcohol and drug addiction counselling field in their communities for quite a number of years. Is there any avenue that some of these employees can look at getting some retro, I guess?

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Minister Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This is an issue that I have not heard of and neither has the deputy, so we will take the Member's comments and we will check to see what the circumstance is that he's specifying and we'll follow up on it.

Thank you, Minister Miltenberger. Anything further, Mr. Villeneuve? Thank you, committee. I would like to call a recess; 15 minutes. Thank you.

---SHORT RECESS

Community health programs, operations expenditure summary, $65.487 million. Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Madam Chair. An area I believe that also comes under community health programs is essentially all the program delivery that is channelled through health and social services authorities. The specific area that I was wanting to look into, Madam Chair, was the advancement of our treatment and care facilities for dementia and Alzheimer's patients. Madam Chair, this has been predicted for some time and the forecasts are sadly coming true as our population ages. There is a growing incidence of this in the NWT. Sadly, we have not kept pace with designing services and facilities to do the best job of dealing with this very complex condition.

Madam Chair, through the department and the federal government, we know that, at least in Yellowknife, we have $1 million that has been put in place to advance the planning and detailed drawing up until the tendering stage for a facility, a custom designed facility here in Yellowknife. The department, I believe, deserves acknowledgement and appreciation for the support it has had there. We are still a couple of years away from it.

Madam Chair, there is something that does, though, seem to be coming up quickly, more quickly than we may have anticipated; it's the pressure on families who are looking after loved ones with dementia for assistance. In order for them to continue looking after their loved ones at home, which is by far the best situation, both from a family and from a government point of view because it certainly helps to save money in resources, they do need help in the areas or respite and day programming services that can assist them in the pressures they are experiencing in caring for their loved ones, but also I think it's a quality of life situation for these people.

I know that in organizations here in Yellowknife such as the seniors' organizations, the Yellowknife Health and Social Services Authority, which has been delivering some of these. I believe the Yellowknife Association for Community Living is involved in a respite program. We have the skill and the wherewithal to help with this, but the dollars and the resources aren't there yet, Madam Chair. So I wanted to ask the Minister what are the resources or the availability of putting this kind of thing together and helping to make a difference and make a difference soon for these families, Madam Chair?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Under forced growth, we have about $145,000 added in for home care and palliative care programs for Yellowknife Health and Social Services, and then another $200,000 as a new initiative to establish firmly the respite services and for the year following, we are going to put in money to expand that program outside of Yellowknife to the communities. That figure is about $400,000.

In terms of day programming, I anticipate that authorities will be coming forward with that request through the business planning process and we would contemplate it at that time. At present, this is what we have in the budget for 2006-07. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Okay. This is good news. Can the department give me any idea how many extra hours of service or person years this will make a difference? Are we increasing our capacity by half or whatever ratio, Madam Chair? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I would have to ask the Member to be a bit more specific. Is he talking about our capacity under respite care, what the money will do?

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I heard $145,000 in forced growth to the health authority here for home care and $200,000 more for respite care. So, Madam Chair, this is not the place to get into an extreme level of detail, but is this going to double or triple, or what's the increment that we are increasing our funding here? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Madam Chair. This will allow us to add two full-time positions which would bring the staffing complement from 19 to 21. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The proposal, I believe I heard, in the business plan is another $400,000, but this would be in a subsequent year to enable expanding the service into the communities. Okay. Madam Chair, that's all for now. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Next I have Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Madam Chair. On page 6-36 under the heading health promotions, provides resources and professional assistance to community-based programs, et cetera. Could the Minister give me a breakout of what that actually means specifically?

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Miltenberger.

Madam Chair, I was flipping back and, through the rattling of the pages, I missed the...On 6-36, which bullet?

Mr. Miltenberger, page 6-36, last bullet. Mr. Miltenberger.