Norman Yakeleya

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do thank the architects of this motion here. It is a very good motion. I will be supporting the motion.

Mr. Speaker, I want to speak in terms of the basic care of respite care in the Northwest Territories, mainly in terms of the second whereas in this motion is to support the goal of keeping families together, as the Member, my colleague, Ms. Bisaro has stated, we need to focus on this goal in terms of one of our supports for families and also support the communities to keep their children as close to home as possible.

Mr. Speaker, we also need to look at the high cost...

Mr. Speaker, I have been here for seven years. It has been an issue ever since I became a Member of this House here to talk about some of the issues at Stanton in terms of traditional food. The Minister now is responding to the request. I hope that this request can be implemented by the time we finish our term here. The Minister is right in terms of elderly care in our region is costly because of the travel and the training and the dollars to go up there. I want to ask the Minister in terms of providing care in our communities in the Sahtu. Again, the example yesterday in Deline and other...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I indicated that there are about 238 adults 60 years and over in the Sahtu and most of these adults are determined by the communities as elders. I wanted to ask the Minister in terms of working with our elders in terms of how we close that gap in terms of providing adequate satisfactory services to our elders as there are some sections in the Foundation for Change that would speak to this issue in terms of programs and services that we could start implementing as soon as possible. Can the Minister give me an indication as to how soon we could...

I’d like to recognize a constituent from Deline, Mr. Peter Bonnetrouge, and also I want to recognize some of the fine staff members who work here in the Leg. who are in the gallery with their children.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister talked about a territorial-wide approach to respite care. Would the Minister entertain with her Cabinet Members as to how we can support families that are on call 24/7 who are basically supporting their loved ones? How can we support them in terms of putting together a solid program that would see that they would get some relief and some support in our smaller communities where some of them have to go to work after a week of taking time off? We need to get some good support in our communities. I ask the Minister if she will look at all possibilities where...

Mr. Speaker, ever since I have been in the House, I have been asking for basic requests such as providing traditional foods at Stanton Hospital for our elders. Stanton Hospital is 65 percent of our aboriginal patients there. I ask the Minister again, what is she doing in terms of this simple request. I don’t think it will cost too much to have it here at Stanton to provide traditional food for some of our elders that come here for some length of stay. When can the Minister give me a solid answer in terms of this simple request?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In life at times we are very fortunate to meet someone special who shows up in our life to either teach us, give us a push or just to listen. Well, Mr. Speaker, I had that experience in my life, as well as many others too. I recently heard a good friend, Mansell Gray, passed away on October 22, 2010, in Hay River. He was surrounded by many of those he helped and by clergy who prayed for him.

Mansell came north in 1988 and worked in Fort Providence, Fort McPherson and, finally, in Hay River. Later on, in the ‘90s, Mansell was joined by his wife, Elaine, who has since...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister advise this House as to the type of dollars that they will be required to provide to the lower income families without any health coverage? The department surely must have done some assessment as to what it’s going to cost this government to provide coverage for the people that don’t have coverage as we speak today.

I’ll look forward to the Minister’s answer in terms of an exact figure. If it’s around seven or eight million, I want to ask the Minister about the supplementary health benefits that we do provide for our people in the North. What’s the percentage of increase every year of this special program?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask the Minister in terms of what is preventing her from implementing the use of the non-insured health benefits rules right away for the various supplementary health benefits programs that we have made suggestions to. What’s preventing her from making these changes right away?