Norman Yakeleya

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. We have about 238 adults in the Sahtu region that are 60 years and older. Some of these adults are considered elders in our communities.

Mr. Speaker, elders’ care in the Sahtu is severely lacking. Gone are the days of families taking care of their parents and grandparents on a full-time basis. Mr. Speaker, families need support to take care of their own in their own homes. However, this type of care puts a lot of pressure on families, because it speaks to the core values and beliefs of a family in our communities. It’s stressful as families have to take care of their own...

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.

Mr. Speaker, I know that there are some things within the Health department that we certainly can do without in terms of putting some coverage to these people. There are children, there are families in the Northwest Territories, as we speak today, that do not have the basic health coverage that we in this room enjoy in terms of our own coverages. That’s the one I want to ask the Minister. What will it take for her to, by the end of this month or next month, say, yes, we will have coverage for those families who are the working poor, children, who do not have coverage?

Mr. Speaker, I grew up...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask my questions to the Minister of Health and Social Services. I spoke earlier in my Member’s statement that 2,300 people in the Northwest Territories are without health care coverage today. I want to ask the Minister if she’s, in her government, working on any type of information implementation plan so that they can get health coverage as soon as possible.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I want to talk about the supplementary health benefits. I want the Members to imagine some of the basic health care coverage that we take for granted, that we continue to leave others out, unresolved, because we have not moved far during the three years that we have done this work.

Imagine that there are 2,300 Northerners who are not covered by any program to assist them with their costs for prescription drugs, eyeglasses and dental care today. Imagine that some of these people are at least able to afford coverage through a private insurance program. Imagine that...