Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to thank Mr. Bromley for taking a lead role in drafting this motion. Reading this motion you may think that a lot of it applies to the Avens development here in Yellowknife, but I think that it sets a template and it sets a precedent and sets a good model of how our government can respond to our seniors in the Northwest Territories requiring extended care and care in their later years.
The demographic of our aging population in the Northwest Territories is irrefutable. It’s great news. People are living longer, people are living longer more independently, but certainly we need to, as a government, try to ensure as many options for as many different needs as possible that can be met here in the Northwest Territories in order to keep
our seniors, as Mr. Bromley said, retain our seniors in the Northwest Territories.
I think that with this increase in the number of seniors that we’re anticipating over the next few years, it would really behoove this government to get ahead of this issue and to come up with, as Mr. Bromley says, a very transparent action plan to meet the needs of seniors. I think that we would be remiss if we thought, as a government, that we have it all within our power and within our financial means to address all those needs. That’s why I think a very important part of this motion is that we look for opportunities to partner with NGOs like the folks that had the vision for the Avens complex here in Yellowknife. We need community involvement; we need NGO involvement; we need to harness the contributions of corporate entities in the Northwest Territories. I think we need to be very clear to the public out there that this is not something that the government can take on singlehandedly and do a good job of. We need to harness the volunteerism and the work of NGOs.
Yellowknife, like I said, Avens is highlighted in here, but there’s no denying, as well, that Yellowknife is half the population of the Northwest Territories, and I think all of our communities, including the capital and the regional centres, do serve as centres for these types of services. It may be ideal to try to keep seniors in their own local and perhaps small communities as long as possible, but when that level of care goes to a certain degree and that’s not available at the local level, then we need to think of all these aspects and different levels of care that are required.
When we look down south, we see all kinds of organizations that are involved in the provision of seniors housing, whether it be churches, you often see churches that get involved in this type of thing and in a lot of those instances the seniors themselves have the capacity to pay and we have to consider that option. I don’t think you can think that the government is going to provide all these services at no cost. I think we, as a government, at some point need to consider people’s ability to pay, their willingness to pay, especially based on what they may see the requirements as. If people have an expectation and if we can have joint ventures of public private partnerships, get the private sector involved, I think that our government needs to actively pursue what kind of models are serving seniors in other jurisdictions in Canada, bring that information home, and let’s get ourselves well-prepared to make sure that we take care of our seniors in a comprehensive and the best way possible.
I will be supporting the motion. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.