Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Frame Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think that what was being desired and what was being spoken to in this case is hoping that, you know, care can be provided in such a way that people could be kept at home and not necessarily -- we're not necessarily talking about people who need to be in a bed or, you know, being provided medical care so to speak but sometimes just kind of some social support. I'm wondering if the Minister could kind of speak to that kind of care, keeping people at home, giving people support where they are, where they need it, so that they don't have to be in the hospital or sent south. Thanks.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we do -- in the previous section, we have home and community care as part of our -- that is where we would have supports for families. And I know that in a perfect world, we would have 24-hour care in all our communities to be able to provide home support work, home care. And that's not the reality. We're slowly implementing it now. Up until a few years ago, it was only Monday to Friday, you know, and very seldom in the evenings. So we know that is something that we've heard loud and clear. And, I mean, myself as an MLA, I also raised those issues. And we're slowly -- and I think we just recently announced that there are some other areas outside that are getting more services into the evenings and on the weekends to support families. So Yellowknife has home care, and, you know, there's families there that need, you know, assistance. There is assessment that goes through for those families that -- you know, and if they're needing more services then, you know, the family can stress that. But, however, we have to -- you know, we have to provide services across the Northwest Territories, and so we have to try and make sure that we're putting those resources equitably across the territory. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Frame Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. That's it for questions on this section. Thank you.

Thank you. Any further Members want to ask questions? Go to the Member from the Deh Cho.

Thank you. And the question I have is how is the -- because there's a rising demand for treatment, addictions treatment. How is the department addressing the rising demand for alcohol addictions treatment program? Thank you.

Thank you. To the Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we have -- this is the work that's been done on -- the access to out of territory treatment addictions are the request of some people in the territory. So we have to ensure that we have those facilities and we have contracts with those facilities. We have one Indigenous facility that we have a contract with right now. And I know that within the Northwest Territories, what we're trying to do is we're working with -- you know, providing funding for Indigenous governments to be able to -- and we've heard them loud and clear, that they want to be able to run on-the-land programs. You know, they've strictly said that they are the best people to know their own people to provide those programs to helping get their -- you know, get residents in their each different ridings well and to be able to support them in their own way. And so we will continue to collaborate with those Indigenous governments to provide programming. And that's why we've created all the funding pots and we've amalgamated them and so that way they're a lot more flexible to the needs of the different regions. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I'm going to go back to the Member from the Deh Cho.

Thank you. Is there support to assist communities to develop a community-based treatment program? Thank you.

Thank you. I'm going to go back to the Minister.

If there's communities that are interested in, you know, accessing the dollars to provide programming in their communities, what I can do is I know that I -- I don't have it on hand, but what I can do to the Members is provide the information to the funds that we do have available and where they can -- who they have to contact to access those funds and then they can -- you know, they can, you know, assist the Indigenous government on their proposals on what they want to do. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I'll go back to the Member from the Deh Cho.

I think that would be very useful because I think a lot of times -- well, it's just my own perspective -- that there's the thought, but there's just not the know how to develop a plan and get everything in place to ensure that on the maybe year later they have a full program where people can go to and take part in a treatment program. And also look at maybe even staying there for an additional time period after they're finished the treatment program as part of aftercare and then integrate back into the community. I've even thought about using this type of a model for inmates that come out of jails to go into an on-the-land program. It'll be -- it could be used for different things like that, so where they are worked with and then reintegrated back into town and hopefully into employment, housing and employment. So it's something that I've been thinking about, so. Yeah, so just having the support that they need to get the ball rolling in the communities and the support to the people that are going to apply for the funding and want to get going with the treatment program. Thank you.

Thank you. I take that more or less as a question. Is there any further questions? Thank you. I want to go to the Member from the Mackenzie Delta.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This particular subject or issue of concern is -- has a great deal to do with myself and the Northwest Territories as a whole. I've seen, witnessed, a lot of clients going out to the southern regions to get treatment, and I applaud them, and I encourage them. Just yesterday coming back from the Mackenzie Delta, I saw one of my constituents on his way to Toronto and I wished him well, and I hope that, you know, he gets the counselling that he wants and deserves. But coming back from a southern institution and coming back into the community where you see all your friends and your families who are still practicing or using alcohol and/or drugs and you have to go back and interact with your families and friends because it's -- you need the support, and that support may not be there. So aftercare is very important in success of these clients because at the moment now, you see them, they don't have nowhere to go within the communities and the regions. They don't know where to go. They don't know who to talk to. I mean, just integrating back, right back into the community is a struggle. They don't have any friendship centres within the communities. They don't have any place where they can drop in to see, you know, like, I'm still trying get that message to somebody that -- in the community that cares. Tell them that, you know, I'm still trying but I also require assistance in aftercare.

So what I would like to know is, you know, is there some kind of program or some kind of funding available where communities who would like to see nothing better than the health of their residents be able to access funding where they can start up a program, not just when a client comes back but ongoing programs where past clients have went south for treatment and have fallen off but they want to get back into the program and try again. Because I always say never quit trying to quit. And I always tell people that, you know, it's -- no matter if you tried 20 times, just keep trying. And I've often encouraged people that. I use that as my own model too. I struggled. I still struggle. And myself, I'm fortunate that I have family that were very supportive, are very supportive. I have friends. And I get involved with the community, but some of these people are not very good at approaching people for help. So it'll be good if the department can have funds available for communities where they can have an ongoing aftercare program. It doesn't have to be an expensive program. It just has to be something there that a community member can initiate saying that, you know, that you just came back from treatment, if you need help give me a call. There's no services like that within my community. So it'll be good if the department can have funding available for someone, even if it's just an individual, you know, go play a baseball game, go play some cards during the night when times are getting tough, you know, provide some meals. Some of these people don't have homes.

So my question is there somewhere in here that communities can start community-based programs for specifically aftercare? Because we have clients that are going, taking the initiative to go down south, but coming back to nothing. So that's my question to the Minister. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. In this section, there is the out of territory use facilities but in the previous section, there was the community wellness and addiction recovery fund that is that fund that's been amalgamated to incorporate all of the old -- there was two or three different pots of funding. So it streamlines the process so that access to -- communities can access it if it's for addictions, it's aftercare, it's mental wellness, they can access through that program. And I think Indigenous communities can access up to a certain -- like up to $200,000, I believe, per year. And regional governments have the opportunity to apply and access dollars on multilevel -- like, multi-year agreements. So there is funding there. And, you know, I've committed to sharing that information to Regular Members. And I've been stressing that throughout all my visits with Indigenous governments, is that we do have this fund. We hear continuously that communities want to have -- make their made in their own community kind of program. That's what this fund can do. So, again, I will make sure that information is shared with committee. Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go back to the Member from Mackenzie Delta.

Okay, thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you to the Minister for the response. This is just really more of a comment. Having the success of these clients that return from the treatment centres is a responsibility of not only the client, him or herself, but also the families. The family requires counselling because they have to adapt to these changes that this individual is trying to make, and also the community. It affects everybody. It affects us all here as MLAs and as Ministers, the Premier, and everybody. It affects all of us. One person that is struggling with alcohol has an impact on all of departments. So me returning back to a community after session is completed that, you know, I'll have to make sure that the Indigenous governments are aware that there is funding available, that we have to take the initiative to start helping keep healing our people. And it's an ongoing process. It's not going to happen in one year. It's a lifelong process that we have to keep engaging in their welfare. So, you know, I'd just like to thank the department in doing their part too. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you for your comments. Any further Members? I want to go to the Member from Monfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. With reference to addiction treatment facility, there's a major difference within the budget. From 2023-2024, there's reductions for this fiscal year. Can the Minister explain to us why there is a reduction within current the fiscal year or for the upcoming fiscal year 2024-2025? Thank you.