Thank you, Mr. Chairman. There is obviously a lot of issues that come under the department, but I don't think I can mention all of them. I do want to highlight a couple of things for now. The first one has to do with home care and the need we have to look at enhancing that program or setting up a new program. I think in the South or in other jurisdictions they have some type of assisted living programs.

Mr. Chairman, there are a lot of people in our communities who are in need of some additional support to have their day-to-day living without having to rely on more expensive services like the hospital or institutionalized care, but people who could be self-sufficient in their communities in their own homes, if they could get some help. I'm sure that this type of service would be not only beneficial for a city like Yellowknife, but would be even more beneficial for many communities without the level of care that we have in Yellowknife.

Mr. Chairman, the previous Minister agreed to the Home Care Program or expanded the Home Care Program and also instituted a pilot program on respite care. All those are very useful and really maxed out in their uses, but

those are very limited. For home care, for example, a lot of them are nurses and they take care of patients who have been discharged from the hospital who need some care. But there are people like elders with dementia, or I have a constituent who is virtually blind and she lives in her own apartment and she does what she can to live day-to-day life, but obviously there are lots of things she can't do. She's on income support and she mostly relies on the Council for Disabled Persons or volunteers to do things like shop for her. She uses the van that's available for people with disabilities for transportation, but she needs help to get around, and volunteer services are not reliable for somebody who has a condition that is chronic, for something that's not going to go away. We don't have a private assisted living care here either where people with means could access. I know that we have limited resources and we can't always add on programs after programs after programs, but I think this is the kind of situation where we could look at the...It could be used to offset the cost of hospital care or institutional care or professional care that would often cost a lot more. I would like to encourage the Minister to take a look at what is possible to do some type of assisted living program.

The second thing that I want to spend time talking about are the many issues surrounding the nursing profession. I know and I am pleased with the progress we're making in terms of the human resource review going on at the Stanton Hospital; that review. But that review is more general, because I think we intentionally did not want to focus on one profession or one area of practice or in one institutional setting where everything might become more pointed at a group of people. I didn't want to do that. Obviously there are lots of other...I mean, anyway, the human resource review was for the entire facility to give every employee a chance to put their opinion about what kind of things could be done better or what their concerns might be, because we did get input or we were getting calls from people in different sections of that hospital. So that work is progressing and we'll continue to work on that. But I want to focus on the nursing profession in general because, over the last number of months, I have been getting calls from every level of nursing profession, whether they be nursing students graduating from the Nursing Program, or the new graduates that are working at the hospital, or nurses that have been in the practice for a very, very long time. I don't know exactly what the issues are, but I do know that the Nursing Program at Aurora College is sort of the hallmark, the flagship of this government. Often whenever we talk about the measures that we are taking to address the nursing shortage and the difficulty in recruiting and retaining our nursing professions, our previous Minister made a point of pointing to this program as one that would give us hope. But I have to tell you that the calls we're getting and the complaints we're getting about the nursing profession is totally unabating and I don't know where the issues are.

The Minister is aware, and I was invited to attend the reception at the hospital to show appreciation to the nursing grads in my capacity as chair of the committee, and I think I was struck by how many people were involved in assisting this nursing assistance. I came to think that maybe there are too many people involved. There were people from ECE, there were other people from the department, there were people from the hospital, there were people from the Yellowknife health board, and on and on and on it goes. I tell you, the nursing grads have lots of concerns about whether they will be able to work in the profession. The new grads that are working, the first year, second year nurses, they're telling me they feel like they're not being supported for the work that they've done. They've been told for years that they're wanted and they're valued and there'll be jobs for them, and then within a year or two they go in there and they get...and mentors. I mean mentors are under pressure too and we are trying to help the mentors to do their job of mentoring the young. But they're exhausted so we get complaints from them. I just had coffee with a new nurse who feels like the entire establishment is trying to get her out of the field. She was asked which section of the hospital she would be interested in working on. She named three places and she was put in a completely different place. Then another person who asked for the position that this person got, the other person didn't get it. Then we know -- I think the Minister may have facts on this -- we know that there's not enough openings at the hospital to fill all the grads we have. I'm saying I understand that we can't always do, I mean, you know, you get out of school, you can't always guarantee where you're going to work, but my question is, is the hospital doing enough to prepare? You could do the hiring of those positions on a one or two or three-year term in anticipation for new grads coming in. Now, I know that the Minister will say, well, with the new grads we may not be able to put everybody in the hospital, but they could get a job in communities. But if that is the case, then the Minister may want to step in to say, okay, maybe we should have a rotational program. You know? Like, the nurses have to be part of this whole human resource structure. Maybe the Minister should come up with a plan where for the nursing grads they'll have a year or whatever at the hospital so that they can get the experience in the hospital setting and then they may have to, they may be required and maybe there's incentive to work in communities for a year or something and we could have rotating nurses. I'm not in the field; I don't know what it is. I am sure that everybody involved is working as hard as possible to make this happen, but I'm telling you the issues surrounding the nursing profession is just unending. I'm not sure if the human resource review that we're doing in a broader term is going to be able to address the issues that these nurses are bringing up. I don't know if we should just assign one person whose job it is just to make sure that ...It's just that nurses feel like what they have to say and their concerns and where they want to practice and what they need to enter into their business market and to get the training they need so that they feel comfortable working as a nurse, none of that seems to be being answered to. So I need to say that to the Minister for the benefit of these people and I'd be interested in hearing what he has to offer. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the Member has raised a lot of areas and I'll try to touch on the majority of them. Hopefully I can get all of them, but at least the more critical ones.

The issue of home care is something the department has seen as being an important piece of how we deliver the program in the Northwest Territories. We know that it is much more efficient, if that's the proper terminology to use, in dealing with people in their own homes instead of having people in facilities, institutional setting-type facilities. So that's something that we have enhanced and

will continue to work to try to enhance. We have a number of initiatives that we're working on right now to try to do that.The area of the nursing profession is one that can be quite complicated. In a sense, I guess it's a good problem to have. On the one piece of it, when we talk about our nursing college or program for Aurora College, the fact that it is so successful that we have ultimately filled the majority of positions within the territorial facility and that, in part, becomes part of the problem. As we have nurses now come and work in our facility for a number of years, even those coming from smaller communities, they set up, their families are with them to a large degree, and they start to work in this environment and then when they're done they make a selection of where they want to go. The majority of them select the larger facility. It is something that I guess in a sense we recognize, and what we're trying to do now through, for example, the meeting when we met with the nursing grad program participants about what we can offer, and some of the additional steps that could be taken. For example, we are now working through our CHN program, that's the community health nurse program or development program where a graduate coming out of the Nursing Program with Aurora College can then go into the further area of training, that we can then take them and move them into the smaller communities where we're feeling a lot of our pressure. That becomes an area that we do need to put more focus on. In fact, in our discussions, they're informing a number of the graduates or potential graduates that if they were to go to a smaller centre that their rate of remission is in fact double by going to a smaller community. So that's an incentive on its own.

The Placement Program, in a sense, it's guaranteed. People who are going through our facilities, in the Nursing Program, in the Social Work Program, the Teacher Education Program, that we would get them jobs. Part of the issue is where they want those jobs and the specific field they want to go into. Because we are a smaller jurisdiction and our facility here, we've only got a number of placements. So we ask them to pick three priority areas and try to work with them in that area. At times we're unable to meet even one of their three priorities. It is something we still have to work on with our facilities and our authorities to ensure that as we know we're going to have graduate nurses in specific areas, to let the authorities know that their names will be there and that they will be participating in our Placement Program. That's something that I think we'll have to do some work on improving, but it's something that, again, as the Member said, is, in a sense, our flagship of what we can do in the North. At one point we were competing with the nursing graduates out of southern facilities, so we're starting to get our own now and put them in our facilities. That's one thing for sure that we can say is going in the right direction.

Then the enhancement of the community health nurse program is the next stage we're working on. In the whole area with the nursing profession, the graduate program, it is something that we continue to work with. We've been back and forth on a number of occasions through the department itself, with HR, with our unions and how we set up our program to work with nurses. There is still some work to be done in that field. It is a challenging area. We do still suffer from some shortages and a sense of our use of agency nurses, which is part of our program to curtail that, but we have to ensure we have enough nurses in place to keep all of our facilities open across the Territories.

I hope that's the majority of area we need to...We're working on and issues that have been raised by the Member. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Next on the list I have Mr. Yakeleya. General comments.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to say a few things to the Minister and there are some specific things in the detail that I'll talk more specifically about. I just wanted to give the Minister a heads up on some of the stuff that's bothering me and the people in the Sahtu region as the Minister of Health of Social Services.

One of the things that we want to look at is you had some discussions around the wait time reductions. I think it's only given for the hospital here. We would like to look at how it's affecting the people in the region in terms of the medevac flights, the hospital services in our smaller centres. Sometimes the wait times are quite long. Sometimes it's pretty deadly. I'll talk more about the specifics in terms of the wait times. I know you geared it to Stanton. I come from a small community. When I come into Yellowknife and I make appointments with the clinics here, Mr. Chairman, or the hospital, you guys have some pretty good services here compared to our community. I must say, Yellowknife has some pretty good services. There are lots of programs, lots of services, lots of agencies, lots of doctors and nurses in this town, in this city. You guys have it pretty good in the hospital.

I'm looking at my region and I have no qualms about spending money on regional hospitals or...We have to bring the standards and level of care up in other communities. It's a priority. That's where I question, sometimes, the Minister in terms of capital investments or expenditures. I know the Minister is working hard with the rest of the other boards and agencies who are competing for dollars. There is a level of standard that we certainly expect in the Sahtu region that certainly people in Yellowknife, Hay River, Inuvik or Fort Smith expect. We are no different. It's just that we don't have the all-weather road, or we don't have other services that they have. The population is different. You serve a large population.

For us, we look at things like why do we suffer in some of these areas such as medical care, in terms of the medical care in our communities? I know that it's been improved, through the dentists, through the doctors, the issues there with the doctors, the locum doctors coming in, the agency nurses that are coming in. We are working on improving our permanent nurses in our communities. It's a real challenge for us, Mr. Minister. I know our board and our staff are working really hard to retain and to keep them in there. Certainly we need support from the larger centres to succeed at this area.

I know the Minister's hands are pretty well tied on how to increase the benefits to our nurses that we want to keep in terms of giving them some type of incentive benefits. We talked about the Housing Program that doesn't seem to be going anywhere because of other complicated issues that tags along with that. We're trying to be very creative in terms of how do we keep some good nurses there. There are some good agency nurses that come into our

communities. They are employed by the agency. I am happy to hear the Minister say that these agencies nurses are going to be curtailed and later on we will have northern nurses that will come and hopefully fill these positions. I know that's another challenge for the department. There are some good nurses coming out of that program. I have some other specific questions to that later on.

I'd like to ask the Minister about his plans for a long-term care facility in the Sahtu region. I see it in the other communities, in other regions. It's a huge cost to the department. I think we're one of the only regions that doesn't have a long-term care facility where we send our elders. We send them either to Fort Simpson or to the Aven Manor here in Yellowknife. That's something that I will continue to pursue with the department in terms of having a long-term care facility in our region.

The other one is that, I was quite taken aback and maybe I could get an explanation from the Minister on his opening statements on a consolidated clinic in Yellowknife may be a cost-saving factor in the long run. I'm not too sure how that works but I'd like to see...I guess I want to hear his reasons to have this consolidated clinic in Yellowknife, because I would like to see a regional health facility in our region. We have five health centres; they're deemed as a health centre. There's no real facility that puts us all together, almost like a mini hospital, but I don't know if we really want to call it that. I'm scared to use different terms because you're going to say, well, this is what he's saying. In Fort Simpson they have one, Inuvik has one, Fort Smith has one, the town of Hay River has one. We don't have one in our region. That's why I asked the level of standards of services. We still have to fly our people out. You know flying is...Sometimes the weather is not too good. This adds extra stress to our people when you do medevacs or flying them out. These communities can go to these health centres. For some of these services, we have to fly them out to Yellowknife or to Inuvik. I'm questioning that. Again, the Minister might provide me some really good answers, and I might not accept them. I want to say them for my people, because that's what we're faced with. If you want to go out to a dentist, we have to fly them out. Not like Smith or Hay River, they go to the dentist, they have offices here. They don't jump on a plane. We do as the people in the Sahtu region. Elderly care. They get seen by the nurse and if the nurse can't figure out what's going on, they make a phone call to Yellowknife. So, totally different services we have. That's what I'm saying. In Yellowknife and other larger centres you're very lucky to have these types of services. It's the regions that I'm really asking for, in my community.

The issue of homelessness, I hope that the Minister will somehow look at the issue of homelessness in our region. It may not fit the criteria as we've been hearing around these centres, and homelessness. The homelessness that I speak of is on an emergency basis for our young people that sometimes run around in the evenings and the weekends because of family issues that happen in their homes. There is no real safe home. I'm not too sure if there's any designation or any type of emergency safe home that you can give to people in our community that would take care of some of these children.

I'd like to ask the Minister later on about the initiative of having the rehab teams coming to our region. Services out of Yellowknife that are coming to our region, I haven't really seen a schedule on when they're coming in or how they're being worked out and how long they'll be in each of my communities of the Sahtu. When will that program begin? I just wanted those specifics.

Mr. Chairman, the last comment I have for the Minister in terms of health care is looking at the issue of alcohol and drug programs in our communities. I congratulate the Minister and his staff for the patience and determination to stay the course and to let the parties be, giving them the confidence that they can come together on this Nats'ejee K'eh healing centre drug and alcohol treatment program. I still think that the most effective programs that we are missing right now in the Northwest Territories is a comprehensive family program, a drug and alcohol program. We're still missing the boat here. I'm still going to make my pitch to have a family program in the communities, in the regions, to be on the land. A family program is going to make it work for us. I'd like to thank the Minister for hearing me out. Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the Member continues to raise, on behalf of his constituents, the very serious issues about health care and how they're provided in his region and communities. He's spoken about that passionately on a number of occasions. The sad fact is that we still do have a lot of areas and communities that are remote, that are serviced only by visiting physicians, that can only have people accessing health care in other regions or other communities by medevac services or scheduled flights out and have to be away from their homes and communities for days, if not weeks at a time on some occasions. It's something we continue to try to deal with, but unfortunately in our fiscal situation that we're in, we're going to have to take small, incremental steps in providing an improved level of care for residents.

I can speak from experience when I had my previous life, when I traveled to a lot of the communities and seeing the types of facilities they had back then when I traveled to some of these smaller communities as an employee with the Department of Public Works and Services, and have to service a generator in the health centre, for example. A lot of these places were the old federal buildings that were initially built. I think we managed to outgrow that and put new facilities in communities. That addresses one piece of it, but there's still other pieces.

Then the nursing shortage comes into play as to how we can adequately staff those levels of nurses in those communities. We've done so by initially working with authorities around agency nurses, and that, in fact, was taken on so well that it became sort of the main process of staffing more remote facilities. That's why, as I've stated earlier talking about the community health nurse development program, we're working now taking the new graduates going to a more intensive level of training so that we can put our nurses, long-term residents of the North, into those communities so that we won't have the in and out, back and forth from different nursing staff that are unfamiliar with the people.

One thing we have to recognize, even though nurses can go into communities, they may be new, but the people there have been there for a while and the files are there, so new staff can go into the health centre and would know

what visits happened when, what were the issues. However, it doesn't make the people any more comfortable when they do go to a person. It's like a new person again; I have to tell my story all over again scenario. That is something we're going to continue to work on improving.

The area of medevac flights, it is something that we continue to wrestle with. The high cost of providing the service, getting flights in. Weather is always an issue in the North, the small communities, trying to get people, and we've heard it before, get people from the health centre to the airport in a safe manner. That is something we continue to try to improve on. I think, for the most part, again, I go back to my personal experience, seeing what was available back quite a number of years ago. Of course, I'm dating myself, I guess, but the level of service provided at that time; in some cases, initially, people were taken out in the back of pickup trucks. I think we've gone beyond that now, but there's still room for improvement on that side of it.

The issue of a long-term care facility. Again, I can go back from some of my own experience. The community of Deline, I recall, when the Department of Health and Social Services built the facility there, unfortunately there was an incident occurred as soon as the place was available for occupancy and that was viewed by others in that community as not a very good situation. Hence, for years that facility sat empty because people would not move into that long-term care facility. Again, I go from experience, even in my own community, one of the larger ones in the territory, we have a seniors' facility but from a person from their own home into a seniors' facility -- term it what we call it -- it is not seen as a good thing by a senior; they feel there is loss of some independence. That's something we've all got to work with in trying to ensure that these areas, although we may call them seniors' facilities, are still fairly independent, it all depends on a level we go at. Of course, the higher the level we are, the more expensive it would get for providing that service.

I understand a commitment was made to continue to work with the Member as well as the Sahtu on taking a look at what would be required, the level and the need for that service, so that commitment will stand as we proceed forward.

The issue of the clinics in Yellowknife and the consolidation; in fact, it has been around for quite some time. As a Member of previous Assemblies, I recall when all the clinics were private here in Yellowknife, and that was not seen as a very efficient process, as well. At that point, the step was taken to begin the consolidation process and now we're getting to the final stages of that. Instead of having clinics in older facilities around the city, coming under one roof where we can provide an enhanced level of service and care. Again, that goes back in the face of the Members from smaller communities where you get a doctor coming for three days, versus an updated modern facility.

We do have to look at the volumes that the larger centres face when it comes to people in those communities. That's something where we try to come up with a balance within the department, the needs assessments of those communities and the level of service we can provide.

The homelessness side of the equation is something that, again, as a government we've made the steps now to incorporate it into the actual business plan. It's now going to become a permanent program, not on a supplementary process where we have to come on a yearly basis at a certain time of year to try to get the money to cover that. We've done that. In fact, we've enhanced it to deal with small communities so that a process is in place so communities outside of larger centres can access those funds. It's not a large pool of funds. We've identified $200,000 as a part of our budget process that would see the enhanced level. We realize that it's going to have to be application-based and communities are going to have to work together to try to come up with a best mix at this stage, but it is something that we've finally made the necessary steps in recognizing and making it a permanent part of our fixed budget process.

Of course, the drug and alcohol program is something that we're always challenged with in the Northwest Territories because of our high incidence of alcohol and drug abuse. The issue is, even on the homelessness side, as the Member stated about our young children needing an emergency place or a safe house on weekends, and it is our duty as a government to try to make sure we have the appropriate level of facilities to help people out. But at the same time, I'll go back to what a Member said earlier, is choices we make as individuals in the community. Those choices we make have a profound impact on our community. It can have one on a positive side or a negative side and, unfortunately, on the Health and Social Services' side, we come into the equation on the negative side when we talk about child apprehension, we talk about family abuse and violence. Those things we end up dealing with and families being pulled apart. We have to get, as I mentioned earlier, on the prevention side of the equation to try to get to the younger generation, and, as well, learning from our elders on how we raise our families, what choices we make, and those impacts would have on our children. Those are so critical.

I've been a Member of the Legislative Assembly for three terms. When it comes to those types of choices and taking personal responsibility, a very sensitive, touchy issue that people don't like to be told what needs to be done and how they should raise their families. But if we don't change the way we do things in the Northwest Territories and we continue to go to government in the sense that the government will fix the problem; that will be an ever-increasing problem.

The government, as I've said, cannot be the parents. We can provide the necessary tools for families to help them through, and I think that's where we should be focussing on, is giving the tools to families to make the right decisions to help them through troubled times. But in fact, for us to stand up and become parents of children, as I was asked and sadly had to recognize that fact growing up in a community and seeing families where a pregnant mother was involved with the department before a child was born and the child then being involved in the system from day one right until they're 17, 18 years old. The question was put to me about what difference did we really make in that person's life. Sometimes you really have to dig deep to see where we made a positive lasting impact, and those are the challenges we face today, very serious questions of how we deliver the programs. Ultimately, we're going to be there to cover those in need, but we need to turn this around to be there for families to

help them make the right choices at the right time so that we don't have to go through family break-up, we don't have to go through the child apprehension processes we're involved with now. But those are there, we're going to have to be there to step up to the plate, but we're going to be challenged I think. I would say as leaders, not only in this Assembly but leaders in our communities, we have to send the message to our communities and our families that choices they make can have a lasting impact on family lives. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Next general comments I have Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair...(English not provided)

Mr. Chair, I just highlighted the areas of concerns and issues that I have addressed pertaining to the statements that were made here, and opening remarks. The same with Mr. Yakeleya's earlier statement, ditto, plus we've made many, many statements in this House pertaining to Health and Social Services and other departments as well, but specifically to Health and Social Services. They hear from us because we speak for the people of the North and also the people we represent in the smaller communities. We see, we hear and we witness what actually happens at the ground level. We share that with the Minister and his department, hoping that it will be a part of their business planning and budget process.

We discuss important issues that are badly needed in the communities. We, as MLAs sitting here across the table, raise all these issues and, Mr. Chair, slowly we're starting to see results. The departments and the Ministers are taking into consideration what's important in the North and they are including some pre-budget consultation issues and concerns, considering that into their business planning cycle and the budget that we're faced with today. It's great to see that.

There are some areas like my colleagues have mentioned long-term care facilities at the regional level in the communities. We're lacking that. Community up-to-date service vehicles has been raised on several occasions; up-to-date seniors' homes. The rehab team that's been outlining the report is great to see, and we're certainly hoping to see more of that and take that into consideration when it comes to the business plan and also the final budget cycle.

Mr. Chair, I'd just like to highlight some key areas. The $5.9 million for the recruitment, retention and training initiative system-wide. Behchoko, you've heard on the news that we're lacking nurses now. We're closing our doors; we're on a time limit. We're only seeing patients when they're critically ill; emergency status only. We're at a critical stage now. Across the Territories, we know for a fact, and across Canada, there's a shortage of nurses, but we must do more and that's why I appreciate that $5.9 million to do even more with that process.

Mr. Chair, the next item on the list I have is the social worker profession. The committee notes the Social Work Program will be delivered at the Yellowknife Campus this year. It's great to see that on the books again. A few years back, the program was delivered but, according to this statement, there's a lack of interest. Maybe in some areas, some regions, there's a lack of interest, but it's great to see that back in the books again. I think we need to see this program and also the profession similar to what we see as the nursing students and nursing profession where we provide all kinds of incentives to retain, to recruit and hang onto those nurses in the communities. At the same time, we must do that also to the social workers in the community and also the upcoming students, because they're in a similar situation due to stress, high demand on their part. They're at a critical level as well in their profession. So I'm glad to see that the department is working with social workers and the Department of Human Resources to come up with a strategy. I'm happy to see that, as well.

Mr. Chair, the last note I'd like to point out is the rehab team. We've been after the department with the previous Minister as well, and the new Minister, about this whole issue of having specialists in our regions, in our schools, to deal with those special needs students, students that have problems in the community in schools. It takes some learning out of the teachers on a daily basis, because they need to focus on those special needs students, but at the same time they have 35 students in their class. So we asked for one-on-one counselling and the department has been listening to us, and now there's a rehab team. There's a schedule that they're supposed to go out to my region, the Sahtu and Deh Cho regions. I'm looking forward to that and I'd like to see more of that in our region as well, and other regions.

Mr. Chair, those are just the comments that I have of the report and opening remarks of the Minister of Health and Social Services. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Lafferty. Comment, Mr. Minister?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'd like to thank the Member for his comments and the issues he brings to the table, and thank you for recognizing that we are starting to shift in the way we're doing business as a department and as a government.

The issues he raises are important to us in how we deliver the program in our communities, how we reach those that need help the most and, again, doing so in an environment of tight fiscal resources makes it challenging but we continue to do that.

As highlighted earlier in the Nurse Placement Program, the double remission rate, if they go into small communities, the community health nurse initiative of taking new grads and give them the extra training so they can go into our small communities is going to be, I believe, one of the areas where we can address the area of nursing shortages the Member was just speaking of. In fact, I was made aware that we've sat down with a number of different departments and within the department itself as well on putting as much resources towards coming up with a fix for the issue of the nursing shortage the Member's region is feeling right now.

The rehab team process is another one where we do see and recognize the fact that we need to get into communities on a more regular basis, and that's why this budget addresses that with another 11.5 positions, and that will help get people into communities to do the much needed work that's expected in those communities.

Just as a point as well, the Social Work Program, teaching program, yes, in fact that was delivered out of the Inuvik

campus and the enrolment was very low, and now we have established here and feel that that will probably make the intake higher. That program, as well, works on the same principle as the Nursing Program. If we have social workers that go through our Student Financial Assistance Program, when they go to small communities they have double the remission rate as well. So I think that's information we should be passing on to people entering that field. I'm happy to say that the Department of Health and Social Services started that process and have now been incorporated within student financial assistance through the Department of Education, Culture and Employment.

So we do have our challenges and what we need to focus on.

The issue of seniors' facilities in all our communities and regions is again going to be challenging. I know the facility in Behchoko, the Jimmy Erasmus Home, is something we're working together with the Housing Corporation on ensuring that we have that facility up to date as soon as possible and working in a proper way so that the seniors there get an adequate level of service and feel that they're safe in that environment.

Again, I thank the Member for his comments. He's continued to raise them here and we will continue to work with the Members of this House to try and improve the level of service we provide to all communities. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Next on the list I have Mr. Villeneuve.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. I thank the Minister and his colleagues for coming here today and presenting the Department of Health and Social Services' budget, which to me looks pretty good. I'm really happy that there are a lot of extra dollars going into a lot of really much needed initiatives like the home care programs, and addictions services and mental health services here in the NWT, and especially the community health programs where it's really needed right where it counts most.

I'm not going to talk about all the issues that all the other Members have already raised. I lot of them were on my list, but I just want to let the Minister in on some information that I received from my constituency about the health and social services authorities and the accountability that the authorities have, especially with my Tu Nedhe constituents who have to operate under the Yellowknife Health and Social Services Authority in which they get one board representative to sit on that authority from each community, which always seems to be an issue with the First Nations in Lutselk'e and Deninu Kue with respect to getting some issues and concerns dealt with by the authority. There's always the issue of just not really giving enough attention, I guess, to the small communities by the Yellowknife Health and Social Services Authority. I can understand their workload in Yellowknife is a lot more demanding than what they experience from Lutselk'e or Deninu Kue. So I just want to put that on the Minister's radar screen, that I think the health authorities in the NWT have to be made accountable to the residents that they do have authority over and the health services that they deliver in those regions. I'd just like to see some mechanisms put in place, or an evaluation maybe done on a yearly basis of how the authority ranks amongst the population that it is there to serve.

Just with the community health nurses and the challenges that they face on that area, I know that there's still a long way to go before we can get some real nurses that are willing to stay in the communities for extended periods of time, and that's a big challenge here in the NWT and I have to commend the department for spearheading and putting in more emphasis into the nurse practitioner program and support towards those students that wish to pursue that career.

Just on the issue of homelessness, I guess, just talking with some community members in the last two weeks with respect to the amount of rental officer eviction notices that have gone out of late in all these communities. I am sure it has happened across the NWT, so we might have a big homelessness crisis on our hands, you never know, in the next couple of months. It's good to see there is money going into that program, because housing evictions are on the rise with the arrears that are also on the rise and the LHOs can no longer just sit back and build on their arrears. They are actually taking some action which could result in increased homelessness in the smaller communities.

Also, one thing that I did not notice, I guess, in both the Social Programs' review and the department's review, is more money going toward actually providing better, I shouldn't say better, more accommodating health services for seniors especially in our hospitals. Like I mentioned last week to the Minister of Health on the condition that some of these seniors have to live in while undergoing extensive real life-threatening operations, then only to pull through the operation and then eventually die in the hospital because of pneumonia. I would like to see more money being put towards hospital O and M to provide more heat in a seniors' ward perhaps, or actually just provide seniors with better blankets. I know the issue of laundry is always a big factor when it comes to the bigger blankets and better blankets. It's always easier to wash the linen and the cotton that they do provide in the hospitals.

I really think that has to be something either in the Stanton or in the larger regional centres. There has to be maybe a ward cordoned off or a ward set aside for seniors only where there is adequate heat and where you just don't have the 200-pound solid wood core doors that they can barely open and maybe they can offer traditional food as opposed to store bought food to the seniors who seem to bounce back a lot quicker on the traditional diet, and maybe have some interpreter services readily available for seniors also, and more barrier-free access to and from this ward for any senior in a wheelchair and such.

I just wanted to let the Minister know that that is an area that is going to become more important in the Health and Social Services envelope over the next five to 10 years. It's going to come to the front of our medical health service delivery over the next 10 years when a lot more seniors are going to be coming onboard to ask for more programs and services.

Just with home care programs in the communities, I know my community of Deninu Kue has a really good Home Care Program on the go now and they were looking to expand on it, but of course there was always a lack of funding on how they could provide more services to seniors who are actually living in their own homes and independently. I know there is more money going into those programs also, but it's also a nominal amount that

would probably cover more things like forced growth and not really improve the service per se. I would just like to maybe let them know that we should start thinking about more independent living programs, Meals on Wheels in the smaller communities perhaps and nurses visiting the homes of these elders.

Just getting back to what the Minister had mentioned about an incident in Deline which lead a lot of seniors to stay away from the facility, I am not sure if he's aware, but recently we had an incident in Deninu Kue in our regional health centre there, which now some nurses who travel there refuse to stay in the health facility. I know there is no residents in the community that would want to spend any time in the facility overnight and we did have a nurse there that was working in Fort Res and she had an incident one night where she heard doors slamming and noise happening and she went to investigate and she didn't find anything or see anything. She heard more noises and they eventually kind of got to her and she went racing out the door only to find -- she said in her own words -- somebody grabbed her from behind in her hair and pulled her right back into the nurses' centre. Of course, there was nobody there so that really flipped her right out. She got medevaced here to the Stanton psychiatric ward. People were saying it's not really the nurse. She's back there now. They are not saying it was her or a psychotic lapse on her part, but there was some history in the location of that hospital. That health centre in Deninu Kue is actually located overtop an old gravesite where the old mission hospital used to be about 100 years ago. They had a graveyard right next to the hospital. This is where they put this new health centre. That's why you never get any seniors who are going to set foot in there or stay there overnight. I would even challenge the Minister to stay a night by himself over there and see what he runs into.

---Laughter

The chief has mentioned to me that I should approach the Department of Health and Social Services to consider either moving the facility or constructing a new health centre in Deninu Kue, because the one we have there is over 30 years old now and we are putting money into some minor renovations every now and then. People think that it just shouldn't be where it is. Given that Fort Res is one of the oldest communities in the NWT, there is a lot of history there and a lot of myths and old stories around about what used to go on in the old hospital.

I just wanted to put that on the Minister's radar screen for the next upcoming year, in the transition document, for the next government that they should perhaps consider moving it or relocating the delivery of the programs in that community.

With that again, maybe stuff like a medical travel hotline, as I mentioned before, should be something that Health and Social Services should consider having where people get stuck at the airport, they don't know who to contact, they don't know how to get home, the ticket is not there, there is no money for them to make a call, there is no money for them to take a cab back. I get a lot of calls from people who get stuck in the airports just because their travel arrangements have either been changed or they have been misinformed or something has changed that they weren't aware of.

Other than that, to say the least, I am happy with what the department is proposing with this new health budget. I am glad to see that they are moving money into areas where it's most needed and will probably be most useful. I am looking forward to a little more detail in a lot of these spending areas. With that, a lot of other Members have answered a lot of my questions already. I will just leave it at that. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mahsi, Mr. Villeneuve. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The areas the Member has covered...I thank him for his comments. We have started implementing working together with the Social Programs committee and Members of this Assembly to improve how we deliver the programs. The home care programs, yes, that is an area where we are enhancing, along with addictions and community health programs. The health authority issue is something that we deal with from time to time. What we find is, for example, in the Beaufort-Delta region, as well as the Deh Cho where we have community reps on the regional board that they get service from. So that's a process we use and will be continuing to use. From time to time, issues come up about accountability and how do messages get back. Representatives need to get back to their community and let them know what was discussed, what decisions were made. Ultimately, that's what health authorities put in place, not what government and headquarters make the decisions tell everybody and decree something would happen. It would be in the region made up by that health authority and sharing that responsibility as well as the accountability portion.

Homelessness is something we've enhanced and will continue to work towards. The issue of seniors in our facilities and ensuring that there is an adequate level of services is something that we will continue to work with. Unfortunately, there are times when we have elders as well as younger people who go in for major surgery and seem to do well through the surgery but have problems afterwards. That does happen from time to time. Other complications do come in, not necessarily because of the temperature in the room, but the fact that there are other issues that we need to continue to work on.

If it's an issue of more bedding required, we will send that out to get the information to authorities to ensure the issue of seniors and their comfort level is addressed as best can be.

The other issues around the facility, we will look at the history of that facility, the year it was built and where it would fall on a needs program and when the facility would come up for review. That would be our cycle in all our communities is looking at the age of a facility, when it was last renovated or a major retrofit done and go forward on that basis. So we will look up that information and work with the Member. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Next on the list is Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We know, Mr. Chairman, that Canada's population is aging and the North is no exception. In fact, the rate at which our population is aging by proportion is a little bit ahead of the curve in Canada and along with that comes an increased incidence of dementia and Alzheimer's disease, Mr. Chairman. There are 280,000 Canadians estimated to suffer from Alzheimer's at this time, Canadians over the

age of 65. Another 140,000 have related dementia and by 2030, or 20 years from now or so, that number will approximately triple.

Mr. Chairman, here in Yellowknife in the surveys or information that I most recently am aware of, and I think this is three or four years old, there were 35 people in Yellowknife in the early stages of dementia and another 30 in the moderate to more severe stages.

Mr. Chairman, this has come as no surprise whatsoever to health care officials, but also to the Yellowknife Association of Concerned Citizens for Seniors, which is a volunteer-driven society which has done a remarkably capable job of promoting and advocating and managing a very fine care facility and accommodation facility for seniors in downtown Yellowknife.

Madam Chair, the Avens facility shares the responsibility for caring for some dementia patients, along with the long-term care unit at the Stanton Hospital, and for the 20 years that I talked about, as I said, Madam Chair, they've been advocating for the construction of a facility that is more properly designed for the care of especially more advanced dementia and Alzheimer's patients. As the incidents of this inevitable disease, for which there is no cure, Madam Chair, as it grows, so do the incidence of more impact and more frequency amongst families, and I am certain it's not just here in Yellowknife but across the NWT.

Our colleague, Mr. Ramsay, earlier today gave a very eloquent account of how this disease has devastated his immediate family and I think we've all heard from time to time in the NWT stories from our constituents, our friends, our neighbours of how this is impacting their elders, their parents, their loved ones.

Madam Chair, as the Northwest Territories grows and matures, we are undertaking more and more sophisticated and more and more advanced types of care and programming for our citizens. Mr. Miltenberger, I think it was today or yesterday, talked about the midwifery services that Fort smith is carrying so well. Madam Chair, in the last day or two, you have talked about the dialysis service in your community in Hay River. As I say, as our communities grow and mature and our range of services expands, so too should we be expanding to include the proper care and I would say the most efficient and economical care of our citizens who are suffering from the ravages of this disease.

Madam Chair, as a Yellowknife MLA, this is on the very top of my list, to see in this community a viable plan, an affordable plan, for establishment of this facility here in Yellowknife. As we have been working on so far, this facility is also deemed to be and will be managed and operated as a territorial facility as we look at designing something very specially, Madam Chair, for the more advanced stages of this disease.

Madam Chair, I had a number of questions that I wanted to ask the Minister in this relation. When was the last time the incidents of Alzheimer and dementia disease was surveyed in the NWT, Madam Chair?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I guess one thing I should acknowledge as well is the work we've been a part of with the YACCS group, or the Yellowknife Association of Concerned Citizens of Seniors. They have worked closely with us on a number of initiatives. The Avens facility is something I use myself when I travel back to my community and I was working with the seniors about a facility there and I used the example of the Avens facility as an excellent example of where things can work and how they can work together. So it's something we hope to continue to work with them on in a cooperative manner regarding the work that's been happening.

Specifically, about when the last survey was done around dementia and Alzheimer's, I believe that was done around two years ago. As well, just for more information, the rate of seniors' growth in the Northwest Territories is about 7 percent, far outstripping the population growth of the other parts of our population. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Roland. Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Does the government have an overall strategy, a territorial-wide strategy fro addressing the growing incidence of Alzheimer's and dementia occurrence in the NWT?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, the department does have a long-term care plan that we use and for some of that detail. I can ask Mr. Parker to give some more information on that.

Who's going to give us more information? Oh, Mr. Parker. Mr. Parker.