Sandy Lee

Yes, I do agree that the local community individuals and organizations and leadership have to be at the forefront in dealing with this issue. I would be happy to make that commitment to work in that way toward that.

Yes, I’d be happy to work with the Member on that. Sahtu, as a health authority and health and social services region, has been working really well to improve programs and services there. In order to make real investments, though, and to make a difference and build capacity in communities, we need to do more than just find one program money here, one program money there. I’m interested in changing the policy to see how we could build capacity and put real focus in healing and wellness at the community level. I am working on the proposal, and I look forward to working with the Members as we go...

Yes, I have. I was the Minister who was in the room with yourself, Mr. Speaker, the Member for Hay River North. I am the Minister and the department who worked to get this program re-established in Hay River. We understand the needs. It’s not about who needs to do what. This is not a government health insurance program. We need to consider how we’re using our dollars, and this is what I’m doing. I will get back to the Member after I’ve revisited this issue.

I guess this is easy as long as we have an unlimited amount of money. That’s something we do not have. We know that Stanton has been experiencing a huge level of deficit. We have programs that we are obliged to provide. Dental service is not an insured service of this government. This is why it is not able to be provided at Stanton.

The secondary issue is that we do need to use all of our facilities. This is something that Hay River can provide, and we want to concentrate those services in Hay River for the south and Inuvik in the north. There are lots of details that I need to work through...

Absolutely. I would need the partnership of the Member to work together as we move forward on the use of this facility.

When this facility was built back in ’96 by the Housing Corporation, there was no arrangement made for O&M for 24/7 care. The problem seems to be that we have to…. The solution to this issue is to come up with ways different than how the budgeting and programming is done with respect to a 24/7 intensive seniors’ centre, which we will not be able to do in Resolution.

I think there are other things we could consider. I have had meetings with the band leadership and the seniors’ community in Resolution. I think the department is very well aware of the commitment and interest on the part of the...

Obviously, public health is an important issue. I remain convinced that with the resources we have in downtown Yellowknife as well as the capability of the leadership of the city, we could resolve this issue. This is totally resolvable, and we just need to put our heads together and sort this out. I just cannot believe that we provide funding and bed spaces and program money to all of this public infrastructure programming in downtown Yellowknife and they cannot provide a public bathroom facility for people in need. That’s a shame, and it’s a shame for all of us. The city has to take some...

The staffing and programming services are the jurisdiction of the Yellowknife Association of Concerned Citizens for Seniors, which is YACCS. I have every confidence that YACCS will use the money they get from the government and provide the best services for the seniors. There is no suggestion or conclusion that any of those services will be privatized.

I have already indicated that this has got to be something that I have to resolve by working with the city council.

I just noticed that we are building a beautiful park in downtown Yellowknife, by the city. Surely, if we put our good minds together, eight councillors in the City of Yellowknife and Yellowknife MLAs…. We have regular meetings, Mr. Speaker; the Member knows that. We’re working on the agenda. I have asked to put this item on the agenda. Obviously, I’m missing something here, because we’re pouring hundreds of thousands and millions of dollars into address homelessness issues and...

Mr. Speaker, the Government of the Northwest Territories and Department of Health and Social Services is providing 100 per cent of the funding and 100 per cent of the O&M. We’re creating 28 beds at the territorial dementia centre at almost half a million dollars each for 28 units. We’re funding 100 per cent of O&M. It is an NGO organization; it is not a government organization. But we’re providing them with the capital funding and O&M to fund that. It’s up to YACCS as to how they use their money to provide the services that they do. At the same time, the YACCS board has instructed the staff to...