Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have very few comments. From the perspective of my communities of Tu Nedhe, Fort Resolution and
Lutselk’e, I think one of the key issues is for the department to work on prevention.
There are many ways to prevent some of the chronic diseases that are in the small communities, even starting with diabetes, where there needs to be something done. There’s a high rate of diabetes. I’m not sure of the rate. I just know a lot of people that have diabetes, at least in my hometown of Fort Resolution. I
think the department should be
working on the prevention of the various diseases, starting with diabetes. I think preventing that would be, of course, a lot more economical than treating diabetes, so I think that a lot more effort should be put into prevention.
I think that community wellness is an area that is very important. I
think that A&D workers in
communities need to have proper quarters for counselling individuals. I know that in my communities, the alcohol and drug workers are part of other office workers, and they’re all in there together. Sometimes when individuals go for counselling, whether it be for drug or alcohol or one of their addictions, then they’re walking through a bunch of other people who are standing around or working at the office and visiting around there, because it’s become quite a centre for individuals to drop by and visit with people there, or do some business with them or whatnot in the office building.
So I think that community wellness should be a priority. Again, working in the area of prevention in both of these areas — drugs and alcohol —prevention is also something that would go a long ways. It’s a lot more economical to prevent people from getting into addiction problems, as opposed to treating the addiction problems.
I spoke earlier, in my Member’s statement and previously, on counselling and so on. I believe that the department’s headed in the right direction with the social workers that are being brought into our communities. But there’s always a natural turnover when you have employees that are not specifically from the community, so I feel that the department has to do something to maybe change the standards that are required in order to become a social worker.
And very importantly — for something that’s operated out of headquarters here in Yellowknife but it affects all of the communities — is policy development. I’m not sure if policy has to be written a certain way because some of the various acts that the department works under have to be applied a certain way. I’m not 100 per cent sure on the detail; I’m not sure of the detail at all, actually. However, I do see the results, and the results are that the policies don’t fit the smaller communities that well. Individual social workers are doing their jobs, and they’re doing a good job of carrying out their mandate according to the policies and
procedures laid out by the department. It conflicts with the way people view things.
Just one area that I’ve looked at a little bit recently has been the whole issue of child-care work and child apprehension and so on, although I guess it’s not a really major issue in these two communities. However, some of the other people from those communities that are located, for example, in here or Hay River and so on are also people that are my constituents that have had their children apprehended.
From the outside just looking in, from a layman’s perspective, it would seem like such a natural thing to be able to keep the kids with other family members in that family or that circle that would be more than capable of taking care of the kids, but the reality is it continues in one direction. It’s a very hard thing to change, and once it gets rolling, I think that…. Once it happens, it’s very difficult to reverse. Once these policies are applied, it’s very difficult to reverse. They’re almost irreversible until you get way up the ladder — maybe to the ministerial level or maybe the deputy minister level before things can be reversed.
It’s got to be a situation where individual social workers coming into a community have to have a good understanding of what they’re dealing with. I think that’s part of the issue: sometimes people don’t take responsibility for their past actions, but not taking responsibility shouldn’t be punished by losing your kids for the rest of your life. There’s got to be a balance somewhere, and I’m hoping that the department’s able to do some work in the policy development area that could be more sensitive to what happens in the smaller aboriginal communities.
Another area I’d like to just touch on is home care in the small communities. These are small programs compared to some of the huge programs and huge projects that are all over the North. In small communities there’s very little there, but what is there should be supported by the department.
In both communities, I’ve heard, there are concerns with the home care workers, whether there is too much work, not enough support, or other things that could be a problem.
I know that in Lutselk’e the issue is very clear: they just need more home care workers for the community, considering all the elders’ households that do exist.
Along with other departments home care is another good program that prevents elders from having to be forced into a care type of facility. I
think
everybody knows that an elder living at home, getting a little bit of home care, making sure that the unit’s in pretty decent shape, is going to cost the government a lot less than if that individual were to
be relocated to a care facility of some sort, whether it be a level 1, 2 or 3. I don’t really know the difference; I just know the words. I know that there are different levels of care: that one requires up to a nurse, and the others probably require a lot less. I think some of those home care workers could help elders remain in the community.
Once an elder does go beyond the ability to take care of themselves 24/7, and with a little bit of support from local home care workers and so on, then the elders should also remain in the communities for their last days too. I don’t think that’s something that the department has taken a really close look at. I know it’s really difficult to do, and it may be costly, but it’s also very important. It’s very important to the people of the community; it’s very important to the elders; it’s very important to the families. So sometimes, when you have things that are paramount to the people in the small communities, the importance of them having their elders remain in the community for their last days is something that I think the government should pay for, if need be. Thank you.