Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Following up on my Member's statement regarding the long-term care facility in Inuvik and the planning for it, I have questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services. Can she kind of give us an update on what's now being done to advance this project through the planning stages and where we are, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.
Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we, in the fall -- and I believe I briefed the Member -- or sorry, just in December where we were at, and the concern that I had was the operation of where the long-term care changes and having a conversation at the NTHSSA level with operations there were some concerns brought forward, so we had those conversations. And so the expectation was to have that RFP for schematic and design out within -- before February/March. So I am just checking with my department. They haven't followed up with me yet to confirm that date. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you for that. And yes, I do recall having an update, and I was hoping that the packet of the RFP would be out for this and hopefully will be out in the very near future. So does the Minister, then, anticipate that we will have in our next capital planning budget funding in there earmarked to move forward on this project? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I believe that with the schematic and design going out now, for that work to conclude won't be in time for this capital budget consideration but it would be completed for the next capital budget consideration. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Final supplementary. Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.
Thank you, and thank you for that. Is there any anticipation, Mr. Speaker, that in light of my Member's statement I talked about working with -- at one point, the proposal was to work with Indigenous governments potentially owning and leasing this building or a couple of alternatives. Is there still any conversations at the department level of potentially working with Indigenous governments on this, or is this going to be a GNWT project? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, at this time, where we are is -- since I've taken over the file is that this is a GNWT expansion of the current long-term care; however, you know, the way that I work is if there is Indigenous governments who want to have a discussion on services to their membership which, you know, in the Beaufort Delta, all the residents that are in the long-term care there are Indigenous to the region. If not, we may have some from the Sahtu. But that's always a possibility. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member from the Sahtu.
