Julie Green

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, at this point I don't think there is a plan for Trailcross. This work that I described in my previous answer needs to take place first. I don't know anything about the age and the condition of the building and whether it needs repairs before it becomes whatever it's going to be next. So these are very much live questions, and I appreciate the Member's interest in creating an aftercare facility. I think that there's some potential that we could repurpose surplus buildings for those kind of reasons, but we don't have a firm plan at this time. Thank you

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the question and the opportunity to talk about this issue.

The situation is that attendance at the Trailcross treatment facility has declined over the last several years. At the end of May, it was 12.5 percent. There is no waiting list. There are no outstanding applications. And the best practice now is not to treat youth and children in institutional settings but rather to create closer to home therapeutic foster homes for children who need and youth who need this kind of care. Thank you

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have enough money to continue running the program at the scale it's at now. In order to have a larger program, we would need a greater investment from the federal government who pays for a portion of home and community care and has been paying for this program. Thank you

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Member for the question.

Mr. Speaker, in 2015, we created bed projections based on historic occupancy of the longterm care and projections of the population going forward. We had reason to revisit that in 2020, and we learned that in fact there weren't as many beds required all across the NWT as we previously thought. And so at that time the bed projections were revised, and 20 is the number, as my colleague said, for Inuvik. Thank you

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the issue of compensation for GNWT benefits is handled by the Department of Finance, and so I don't have that information available. Thank you

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is a trial project in Edmonton called Gobacare, which is being offered by Sahtu beneficiary, to help people in Edmonton navigate their appointments. And that's something that the Department of Health and Social Services has been funding, and we're very interested to learn about the results and whether this is something we want to scale up. Thank you

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, once we have finished the programming review, we'll have a better idea of what we're going to do with the building. Thank you

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you for the question. What's happening now, given that this contract expires next Monday, is that the Department of Health and Social Services is reviewing the services and programming that was delivered at Trailcross to develop a plan to assist youth in other ways. Therapeutic foster homes is one that I just mentioned.

So there is an analysis going on of next steps for programming. And once those steps have been completed at the end of this calendar year, a decision will be made about whether Trailcross as a building is part of this or whether Trailcross will...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, these programs are community run at this point so it is possible to have Indigenous governments or Indigenous government organizations provide these programs in the communities as well as municipal entities and nonprofits. So we would certainly welcome that. At this point, there hasn't been a wholesale transfer only to one kind of entity such as an Indigenous government. Thank you

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Paid Family Caregiver Program was indeed a pilot project. It has been evaluated and found to be worthwhile in the communities where it's operating, which is I don't remember off the top of my head exactly but it was about half a dozen communities and 30 clients. There is money for this fiscal year. There is money for next fiscal year. And we're looking to continue the program indefinitely. Thank you