Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ll be talking about respite services today as well.
Respite services are an incredibly valuable program through the Northwest Territories. Parents who are asking for respite help are not asking because they are incapable of caring for their children, but because while caring so much for their children, they are challenged to care for themselves.
This Assembly and previous Assemblies, the 14th and 15th, have acknowledged the importance of respite. So much so that in March 2005, the current Minister, while she was a Member, made a statement, and I quote directly from the March 2005 Hansard, where the Minister indicated:
“I would like to speak today in support of the Yellowknife Association for Community Living respite services currently funded by the GNWT Department of Health and Social Services. Mr. Speaker, the goal of respite services is to provide safe individual lives and flexible respite support to disabilities, more opportunities for inclusion in community activities. It is an essential support service that provides planned relief for parents, families and the people with disabilities that they care for. Such relief is necessary in order to decrease burnout, stress and family breakdown. It also helps families provide the best possible support and care to their loved ones with disabilities, and it ensures that people with disabilities experience a high quality of life.”
Mr. Speaker, the Member, at the time, went further to urge the Minister-of-the-day to not only maintain services but to expand those services to people on waiting lists as well as communities throughout the Northwest Territories.
I was pleased earlier in the year when I saw the report on the Foundation for Change, where the department indicated that respite services or respite care services for families with special needs and disabled children would be expanded through the Northwest Territories. This was fantastic news. Unfortunately, we all know now that the Yellowknife Association for Community Living program that was funded by Yellowknife Health and Social Services has been cancelled as of April 1, 2011. What I am concerned about, Mr. Speaker, is that the actions aren’t consistent with the words.
Later today I will be asking the Minister of Health and Social Services some questions on respite and what we are going to do to expand as outlined in the Foundation for Change. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.