Sandy Lee

That is the challenge of this government and all governments across the Territories for the next 10 to 20 years. There is no simple one-word answer to that. We need to work on prevention. We need to work on a long-term care facility strategy so that we have the right facilities in all different regions. We need to enhance support in small communities, especially for home care and respite care while we wait and while we don’t have all of the programs that are readily available in larger communities. This is why this department, and for the last three years I, as the Minister, have introduced...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Foundation for Change is an action plan for the Department of Health and Social Services. It has a number of things that we need to undertake. But Members here know that we don’t necessarily have the dollars attached to that. The action plan guides our budget planning, capital planning and other decisions we make. We are working to implement the action plan as soon as possible, but the speed and the accomplishment depends also on the money available. Thank you.

Let’s just be clear that this House will debate the budget for 2011-2012. I will include the money from the federal government.

Mr. Speaker, let’s be clear about one more thing, which is that we are committed, this government is committed to having one territorial respite care program for families in need of a respite care program, which would include Yellowknife families. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, we could do that. I will undertake to look into that specific situation and get back to the Member. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank the Members for their comments on the motion. I would also like to thank the respite care families and their children and clients who came to the gallery today. As this motion is a recommendation to the government, we will consider and respond to the motion accordingly.

Mr. Speaker, over the past two weeks there has been a great deal of concern regarding the Yellowknife Association for Community Living’s respite care program funding. Respite for families with disabled children is important for many who are currently in the program and will continue...

The Member knows that in the February budget session we debate the 2011-2012 budget. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have a standardized process in addressing complaints and concerns from our residents. They are to speak to the authority management first and then sometimes, or oftentimes it works its way through, upward to the deputy minister level. Mr. Speaker, if it is a complaint about specific conduct of a health care professional, whether it be a nurse or a doctor or therapist or allied health care professions, all of the professional governing bodies have a process on how to address complaints. Thank you.

As the Member knows, the authority communicated to YACL and said that this funding program was ending and they would like to work on a transition program and an exit strategy. They proposed to the association that we should work on doing an evaluation, which are all the things that the authority should be doing when a program is expiring. I have approached the association to see how we can work on this exit program and those kinds of discussions continue. The important point today is that we will continue to discuss with YACL on how we exit this Yellowknife program, because as a government we...

Absolutely. Institutional care is always more expensive, usually far away, it’s less humane and less personal. So in all ways, we should, as a government, minimize that. We do also accept, though, there are situations where there is no choice but to give institutional care for some of our elderly and some of our residents because their needs are so acute and so expansive that no individual or families can provide that. This is why we have under the Foundation for Change action plan as a goal to enhance and expand home care and respite care. Thank you.

Right now we have had, over the last number of years, two different care programs. We’ve had one in Yellowknife that the Member mentions and we have been running a pilot project outside of Yellowknife for smaller communities. The government would like to look at the whole program together, because the focus has to be in providing services to families who need the respite care program. I don’t think there is any question here about the importance, and advantage, and the benefit that those programs bring to the children and adults with disabilities and their families. I say it once again, that...