This is page numbers 5457 - 5492 of the Hansard for the 16th Assembly, 5th Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was care.

Topics

Norman Yakeleya

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I indicated that there are about 238 adults 60 years and over in the Sahtu and most of these adults are determined by the communities as elders. I wanted to ask the Minister in terms of working with our elders in terms of how we close that gap in terms of providing adequate satisfactory services to our elders as there are some sections in the Foundation for Change that would speak to this issue in terms of programs and services that we could start implementing as soon as possible. Can the Minister give me an indication as to how soon we could start looking at programs and services for our elders in the Sahtu?

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.

Sandy Lee

Sandy Lee Minister of Health and Social Services

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Foundation for Change is an action plan for the Department of Health and Social Services. It has a number of things that we need to undertake. But Members here know that we don’t necessarily have the dollars attached to that. The action plan guides our budget planning, capital planning and other decisions we make. We are working to implement the action plan as soon as possible, but the speed and the accomplishment depends also on the money available. Thank you.

Norman Yakeleya

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

Mr. Speaker, ever since I have been in the House, I have been asking for basic requests such as providing traditional foods at Stanton Hospital for our elders. Stanton Hospital is 65 percent of our aboriginal patients there. I ask the Minister again, what is she doing in terms of this simple request. I don’t think it will cost too much to have it here at Stanton to provide traditional food for some of our elders that come here for some length of stay. When can the Minister give me a solid answer in terms of this simple request?

Sandy Lee

Sandy Lee Minister of Health and Social Services

Mr. Speaker, on that issue, we have been seeking guidance from the Elders Council of the Stanton Territorial Health Authority. In fact, I talked to the chairperson at noon at an event. He has some proposals to make. We will work with them in where they want to go in terms of addressing better meeting the needs of a large number of aboriginal patients that we serve at Stanton. Thank you.

Norman Yakeleya

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

Mr. Speaker, I have been here for seven years. It has been an issue ever since I became a Member of this House here to talk about some of the issues at Stanton in terms of traditional food. The Minister now is responding to the request. I hope that this request can be implemented by the time we finish our term here. The Minister is right in terms of elderly care in our region is costly because of the travel and the training and the dollars to go up there. I want to ask the Minister in terms of providing care in our communities in the Sahtu. Again, the example yesterday in Deline and other communities that I represent that need respite care, palliative care for our elders so they can stay in their communities. Can the Minister, through the assessment of the Foundation for Change, start implementing some programs that would give the support to the elders as soon as possible?

Sandy Lee

Sandy Lee Minister of Health and Social Services

Mr. Speaker, earlier today in Members’ statements, almost every Member spoke about the need for respite care, whether it be for persons with disabilities or elders. We have a lot of people not just in Yellowknife as we know of, but we have a lot of individuals in our small communities who need assistance in a similar way. This is why the Department of Health and Social Services, over the last three years, has created and expanded a respite care program for communities outside of Yellowknife. What we propose to do is I would like to have one territorial respite care program. We are going to work in conjunction with our partners and we will work out the details and come to the Standing Committee on Social Programs. Dollars are limited. We need to maximize the use of our resources and I look forward to getting support from the Members on the other side as we move forward on a territorial respite care program. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Norman Yakeleya

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister talked about a territorial-wide approach to respite care. Would the Minister entertain with her Cabinet Members as to how we can support families that are on call 24/7 who are basically supporting their loved ones? How can we support them in terms of putting together a solid program that would see that they would get some relief and some support in our smaller communities where some of them have to go to work after a week of taking time off? We need to get some good support in our communities. I ask the Minister if she will look at all possibilities where we can get support for families.

Sandy Lee

Sandy Lee Minister of Health and Social Services

We should remember that our people are assisted in different ways and under different programs and by different professionals in varying degrees in our communities depending on their needs and the capacity in our communities. Respite care is not a solution to everything. There are some people who need more intense care than respite care. So we should remember that there are varying degrees of programs that are in line with the needs of the people.

Mr. Speaker, I state again to the Member that the department sees respite care and expanded home care as an important element in the delivery of our health and social services care. We want to enable our people to stay in our communities, be supported by their families with support from home care and respite care. We have a long way to go. We just began our three-year project outside of Yellowknife. We had a pilot project outside of Yellowknife and we’ve had a pilot project in Yellowknife. I believe it’s time to put them together, look at it in a comprehensive approach, find efficiencies where we can, but we are committed to moving forward. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On Monday the Minister, in response to some questions that I had for her, was using the deficit as the reason why the respite care funding cut was made. Mr. Speaker, this is a very poor excuse, as I mentioned in my statement. Nothing’s been done to address the root cause of these growing deficits in the seven years that I’ve been here, and certainly in the past three years that the Minister has been at the helm. I know in response to questions my colleague Mr. Abernethy had, the Minister said that moving forward we’re going to work out some details on getting the $250,000 reinstated and trying to find a way forward to fund the program and the details would be coming. But, Mr. Speaker, my question for the Minister is: How are we supposed to believe that when where were the details when it came to the funding cut? Mr. Speaker, we just had business plans and the Minister didn’t mention anything to us about a funding cut to the respite care program. Thank you. Where were the details then?

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.

Sandy Lee

Sandy Lee Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m not sure if I can convince him that the wall behind you is grey, I don’t think any information I give him can convince him of anything, but let me say, and like I said today, and I’ve given a lot of information already, Mr. Speaker. We have had a two-track process when it comes to the respite care program. We’ve had a pilot project in YACL for Yellowknife only. We’ve had a three-year pilot project outside of Yellowknife. I am suggesting that it is time now for us to look a territorial respite care program. We have heard from families in Yellowknife who are saying that those programs are valuable and essential to their children’s well-being, as well as their families’ well-being and we have never questioned that. We support respite care for the families.

At the same time we have a lot of families in many different communities outside of Yellowknife with much less facilities and programming than Yellowknife, who are taking care of their families with limited resources. So we, as a government, are going to re-evaluate that program and we are going to come to the Standing Committee on Social Programs. That is the regular process and we are going to present a territorial respite care program. So it’s not about $250,000 and it’s not about black and white simplistic answers. I am announcing today, and if the Member wants to receive that, it’s up to him. We are working on a territorial respite care program. That’s the way to go and I’m committed to that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

I certainly don’t need to be convinced of the value of respite care, whether it’s here in Yellowknife or any of our communities, and I think that’s a step in the right direction that the government is going towards.

Again, I’m having trouble understanding how it is the Minister could go through the business planning process and not advise the Standing Committee on Social Programs that this funding cut was coming. Again, where were the details then? She says she’s coming forward to the Standing Committee on Social Programs with details on this new program. Eighteen months ago when I spoke about it, when I spoke about it in my statement, the same Minister came before the Standing Committee on Social Programs with a deficit-fighting plan; a nice, glossy plan. It never saw the light of day, Mr. Speaker. So how we are we supposed to believe the Minister that this will actually happen? Thank you.

Sandy Lee

Sandy Lee Range Lake

I don’t think this is a question of lack of detail. I think that I can explain the details. I don’t even know if I have enough time, Mr. Speaker. I have said it’s already been said that THAF was until 2009-10. We were able, and we were lucky, to get an extension of two years. The budget for 2009-2010 does not include THSSI funding. This is why it’s not called THSSI instead of THAF, and I keep telling the Member and he doesn’t want to believe me. He says there’s a lack of detail. He’s not accepting the answers. We just approved a supplementary appropriation approving THSSI, so we have a different internal kind of budgeting processing going on here. We approved money for a respite care program outside of Yellowknife through the main budget and we approved THSSI and THAF funding under supplementary appropriations. Mr. Speaker, if he wants any more details on how we fund respite care program, I’d be happy to provide that, but just because he doesn’t agree with it, it doesn’t mean that the details are not there. Thank you.

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

Again, I appreciate the Minister’s response, but the Minister has been very evasive when it comes to actually answering questions about this funding cut. She won’t tell us who ultimately made the decision to cut the $250,000 or where the $250,000 is going and what it’s going to be spent on. Mr. Speaker, again, it’s a fairly straightforward question. Who is responsible for cutting the $250,000 out of the budget? Thank you.

Sandy Lee

Sandy Lee Range Lake

With all due respect, that’s a really irrelevant question. I am Minister of Health and Social Services. Whether I am involved directly or not, I am responsible for whatever happens in health and social services. That’s the very reason why he asks me questions and it’s my job to answer them. So what’s the relevance of who cut it? What we know is the respite care program is important. I’m presenting to the Member that we want to go forward on this. The funding under THAF is sunsetted. It doesn’t show up in future budgets. We were able to get extra money from the federal government, so we are putting it back in under supplementary appropriation. We use approved funding for 2010-2011 under a supplementary appropriation and the Member knows, and everybody here knows, that we fund various programs under 2010-2011 and we will go through the same process for 2011-2012. So that’s a very esoteric internal budgeting process. Mr. Speaker, the Member also knows that we talked together and agreed on budget items as well.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Your final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is the same Minister that on Monday, in response to a question that I had, she said we are not able to expand any programs. The respite care program was a pilot project and was time limited.

Mr. Speaker, again, I want to ask the Minister whether or not she herself knew that this was a proposed funding cut and when she found out about that cut. Thank you.

Sandy Lee

Sandy Lee Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, on Monday I said that because, as the Member knows, the funding has sunsetted. It’s not in the books. It’s not there. THAF funding ended as of ’09-10.

We got extra money for two years for ’10-11 and ’11-12. We did planning for 2010-2011 through supplementary appropriation. The budget for 2011-12 has not been before this House. For the information of the public and everybody, when we go through the budgeting process, we work closely with the communities.

So, Mr. Speaker, I said what the Member said I said and those are accurate. The money has sunsetted. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Today I talk about the importance of respite care in Tu Nedhe communities. I have questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services.

Mr. Speaker, Tu Nedhe is a part of the Yellowknife Health and Social Services Authority. I want to ask the Minister what the plan is specific to communities in Tu Nedhe. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.

Sandy Lee

Sandy Lee Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I stated, we have begun to have a respite care program outside of Yellowknife for the last three years. We are not in all of the communities yet. We have started in the Beaufort-Delta and Deline and I believe we have a couple of respite programs in Simpson. So we need to continue to work together to find respite care programming in communities across the Territories. Thank you.