I pose this question because it’s a big issue. That’s what we’re dealing with in our communities, some of the changes. We could have a discussion but somewhere it gets lost in the system. Some of the communities in my region want to have some programs, like, for example, to develop their own home care service in Colville Lake, but we’re just unable to get into the system. Why not have the system get into the needs of Colville Lake? The books and policies say we can’t do this, we know you’re going to do this, you shouldn’t do this. It gets lost and after awhile they say we’re not really serving our people, we’re serving the system.
This proposal that came from Fort Good Hope to the system, to the Minister, on a drug and alcohol program doesn’t quite meet what the funding is there for, so we have to work on it. They want a drug and alcohol program that will meet the needs of the people. That’s where we have the philosophical differences between do we serve the people or do we serve the system.
Right now the system is busting at the seams in terms of health care. Something’s got to give. There’s still the $345 million in the budget. Six percent increase. That’s $20 million in forced growth. You have something here. The majority of the people that I represent are Aboriginal people. They have a system of health care prevention, but we’re not really using it to the extent that we think we should be using it, yet the cost is increasing. That’s why I give this long, philosophical question to the Minister. It’s not to say we need more discussion on this. It’s to say it’s coming down to the basics of health care.
Like I said, if we had a social worker in Tulita three years ago I wouldn’t be raising this question. The Minister is right; there was a social worker scheduled. They had a family relationship that prevented the social worker from coming in. There were housing issues that prevented the social worker from coming in. She was willing to work with the community but somewhere we didn’t follow through. We weren’t strong enough. That’s what I’m saying.
I’m not going to harp too long on this page here, but we need to change the program delivery services in our community. It’s going to require more than just running through the O and M budget right now. That’s what we’re doing now. That’s why I just wanted to give a piece of my mind to the Minister on how health and social services needs to be
looked at from our communities. I’ll leave it at that. It’s more of a comment to the department. You can have another discussion at another time.