Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Mr. Elkin.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Frame Lake.

Yes. Thank you. Also looking at long-term care and supported living, my colleague and I, we had discussed this, and we have heard the stories over the past year. I addressed it, I think it was in the fall time, and I addressed it in the spring time sitting, that a lot of our elders are in long-term care. I know we have opened it up so some of them can have one visitor and things like that. Within this fund, within this budget, is there extra funding in there or are there COVID dollars that the Minister is accessing to try to get extra community staff or support so that some of the elders who...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just looking at the program detail, homecare and support services, it's very obvious we have gone from, in the 2020-2021, $11 million, and then it increased to $20 million, and it is remaining status quo. I know that they were talking about putting more home support workers, more hours into home support workers in the communities. Is that what that money is, or what is in that extra $10 million?

No. I just want to know, like I said, if we can get an average of how many facilities and what the average cost is. I'm just trying to look at, and I know I mentioned this in the last budget session, when you break it down, the amount we pay. I know there's a certain level of care. I know we would pay high amounts for a one-on-one level of care and depending whether they are a child or an adult, that specialty care. In my region, I know a lot of the people who live here, and I also know a lot of the people who have been living out of the territory. I know that the previous Minister has said...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Going on to the next area, I am going to go into is the hospital services. It's more so within the whole hospital wellness, mental health, addictions. In this budget here, I'm looking at community mental health. I'm looking at all of these different areas. Hospital services, $142 million. I know this has been raised in the House over and over again. There are issues with medical travel navigation. There are issues with Indigenous patients not trusting the service. They are not getting the answers. They are not getting the direction that they need. They are not getting the...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The other concern that I have had, and it goes back to some of the facilities that we have outside, do we know how many residents are living outside the NWT who we are supporting, who fall under this residential care? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

One-eighty.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. If we're paying for people to live outside of the NWT, then they must come from the NWT somewhere, so they must have families or they must originate from either the capital, the regional centres, or the small communities. That's the percentage that I would like to have of all the residents who are outside the territory.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know that the health department has recently launched a survey for people who have engaged in addictions services, and I am hoping that we do get some good responses as to what I have been saying. People who have gone through the system are feeling that they have been dropped, kind of, at the end. Indigenous people, I have said it in this House before, have a hard time trusting health systems, have a hard time trusting the counselling system. It's not culturally appropriate to some. Some people, once they have sobered up, they don't want to go to the counsellor if it...