Mahsi, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, the government has finally incorporated the funding that it has been providing to address short-term winter homelessness into the base for the department. This allows the department to provide funding to the SideDoor Youth Centre in Yellowknife and the Turning Point Shelter in Inuvik to deal with the homeless during the coldest months of the year. It also provides funding through the homeless contribution program to help communities with homeless programs, and the homeless travel assistance fund, which will pay for a person to return to a community where they have supports that include a place to stay.
There is also an additional $200,000 included in the base funding that was not present in previous supplementary funding. The initial approach of the department was to allocate this fund to do community needs assessments in 2007-2008 and roll out the funding to the communities in subsequent years. The committee is pleased to have been able to work with the department and reach an agreement to put the funds toward the contribution funding allocation for community programs so that communities would be able to access the funding for the programs that meet their needs. We would like to thank the Minister and the department for working with the committee on this funding allocation.
Dementia Facility And Other Territorial Long-Term Care Facilities
Members continue to support the building of a dedicated territorial dementia facility in Yellowknife.
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The committee believes it is important to keep patients in long-term care as close as possible to their families for as long as possible. The recent and ongoing renovations to long-term care facilities will accomplish this.
However, it is clear to Members that there is a need for a territorial facility that can accommodate high-need dementia patients who can no longer be safely cared for in a regional long-term care facility.
The department is encouraged to continue working with the Yellowknife Association of Concerned Citizens for Seniors in developing a reasonable facility that can meet the needs of northerners.
Madam Chair, at this time, I'd like to turn it over to my colleague Calvin Pokiak to conclude this statement. Mahsi.