Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m rising to support the motion in terms of the intent and spirit. I realize that there are some details that need to be worked out, but I can imagine in terms of the intent and purpose of this motion is that the primary concern is our elders. If our elders are sick then they have to be brought to Yellowknife or Edmonton. Just the thought of them being alone, being unilingual, not able to communicate in another language. They have very specific dietary needs and preferences. Of course culture is always a big impediment in terms of understanding elders, especially First Nation elders.
The other spectrum is having children that have to be brought to either Yellowknife or Edmonton for their special needs. Again, circumstances, I think that’s when you have to have escorts accompanying the patients that have to go to Yellowknife or Edmonton.
The other point that I wanted to make, usually in these kind of circumstances, if someone falls ill within a family it’s usually direct family members or parents that deal with matters like this. But if it’s a special case and the patient has to be brought down to Edmonton, say, for cancer-related treatment, it takes a heavy toll on the family, especially if families don’t have the opportunity to be on a wage economy, have a full-time job and sometimes it becomes stressful for the family, it becomes divisive in terms of who is going to accompany their grandpa or their granddaughter to Edmonton. Sometimes those decisions can’t be made because people don’t have the monies and they don’t have the proper resources to go down there and be with their family.
Sometimes, because our relatives can’t help us, there are instances where families turn to communities. In particular in Fort Providence I understand there’s a compassionate fund that is there that people try to assist families, but in some instances that becomes a burden to the community organizations as well.
I think the intent of this motion is to try to support families that require it, at the same time trying to be considerate in terms of culturally appropriate care. I don’t think we want a system that’s very indifferent and very impersonal, a very tunnel vision system. I think we have to have a system of government that’s very understanding towards systems of people that are human and have real needs. I think this motion speaks to that, so I will be supporting this motion. Mahsi.