Thank you, Madam Chair. The Member did start off by talking about an aging population. Once again, I appreciate the Member’s comments.
We are doing a number of things. We do have Our Elders, Our Communities, and we’re building on basically four major pillars within that document and we’re developing action plans around each of those areas. One of them is home and community care, and I hear the Member’s concerns and he doesn’t feel that anything is changing. I will say that the facility that is being built in Providence today is a larger building than had been there previously and there’s opportunity for expansion and growth. So it may not happen today, but that does not mean it’s not going to happen. The facility has some room for further discussion.
The other areas that are pillars under this framework are palliative care; we’re building some actions around that, the long-term care facilities development review, identifying where facilities need to be built in the future, as well as caregiver supports. So there are a number of things happening there and I do hear the Member’s concerns about home care. We will talk to the authority and work with them to articulate some of the things that are being done around home care in the region.
The Member has talked a little bit about the one system, and just for clarity, this is not a centralized model. This is a territorial model including input from all regions, communities and also, to be clear, it’s not about saving money. We’ve been very clear all along this is not about saving money. This is about improving care of all residents in the Northwest Territories. We do anticipate that there will be an opportunity to control spending and focus money where it needs to be, but it isn’t about saving money, it is about improving care.
Just to be clear, health was transferred to the GNWT by the federal government in 1998, and what we’re trying to do today is to improve the service that we have now, the services that are currently being delivered by the GNWT so that we can provide better results to our residents. Obviously, and absolutely, we respect that some First Nations may seek to negotiate other arrangements in the future, and this doesn’t change that. This is about putting something in place today based on the fact that the GNWT currently has the responsibility and it does not hinder or change the ability for other Aboriginal governments to draw down some of those responsibilities in the future. It is not intended to create a structure that that cannot happen in, but it is intended to create a structure
that meets the current needs of the residents of the Northwest Territories in the most efficient way and gives us the greatest degree of flexibility to meet the needs of all of our people. We will continue to have conversations with Aboriginal governments who wish to draw down those authorities and those responsibilities, and we will certainly work with them on that.
The old health centres. There are a number of them in the Northwest Territories. Once we move into our new facilities we will go through the process of analyzing whether we have any additional need for them, and if we don’t we will be giving those facilities to Public Works and Services who will be doing their needs assessments on all those facilities and looking for ways to dispose of those facilities if no need is identified by Health and Social Services. They will be working with communities to explore all options for use of those facilities. I know the people of Fort Providence, the different governments in Fort Providence have approached the government already, indicating that they have some really creative ideas, and I know that Public Works and Services is certainly open to having discussions around those particular areas.
Diabetes. We’re doing a number of things around diabetes as part of our chronic disease work. Projects like the NWT BETTER where it provides tools for doctors and nurses and patients to prevent chronic disease in areas like diabetes through lifestyle changes. We’re also, and I’ve mentioned it in the House, I believe it was in the October session, that we’re rolling out new approved clinical guidelines around diabetes which is new, and it’s going to be an important tool for all health practitioners in the Northwest Territories when they’re dealing with residents who may be at risk. We’re making sure that all of our targeted programs are available to all Health and Social Services authorities across the Northwest Territories and we are establishing an effective territorial program which is part of the new strategic plan for the system.
There are a number of things going on in the areas that the Member has been talking about and we look forward to continuing to work with committee as we roll these out.