Mr. Chair, our challenge in this fiscally tight environment that we are all currently in is the cost of putting
infrastructure in place, which will spend a vast majority of its time empty, is difficult, but we hear the communities loud and clear, all communities in the Northwest Territories who wish to have their residents as they’re going through the dying process who wish to be in home. We want to be able to support them to stay in their homes, including communities such as Deline. We want to make sure that our staff have the knowledge, skills and ability that they require in order to put support for palliative care in communities. From there, we’ll be able to make a better assessment as to whether or not it’s time to move forward with palliative care beds, which there is a significant cost to.
We’re still interested in having conversations with Deline in trying to find solutions, but in both scenarios, we do have to start by ensuring our staff have the knowledge, skills and ability to provide palliative support. Then, without the knowledge, skills and ability to provide that support, it doesn’t provide any level of care for our residents. We need to make sure that training is there as a starting point.