A Yellowknife MLA is calling for the NWT government to help fund at-home caregivers to keep more people with supportive needs in the territory.
In the NWT Legislative Assembly on Wednesday, Frame Lake MLA Julian Morse said constituents have told him the territory could do more to prevent people from being sent down south for supportive living care.
He suggested income support for at-home caregivers or funding for families to hire full-time or respite caregiver services.
“The idea would be to empower people to come up with their own solutions and support them to do so,” Morse said.
“Considering the significant costs associated with out-of-territory care, even if such programs were quite expensive to deliver per person, I think there’s a good chance it could be less expensive – potentially even significantly so – than what we’re paying now.”
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Morse said the territory pays between $30,000 and $50,000 a month per person sent south for care.
Health minister Lesa Semmler said her department is reviewing supportive needs for out-of-territory clients to help inform what would be required to offer supportive living services in the NWT.
Semmler said while the territorial government does not have specific data on the number of NWT residents receiving out-of-territory care due to the lack of an in-home caregiver, there are 147 people currently receiving out-of-territory care and 55 receiving supportive living services inside the NWT.
The Whitford Healing Centre?
As the legislature sat for the first time in 2025, Yellowknife Centre MLA Robert Hawkins raised his proposal to name a building in downtown Yellowknife after Tony Whitford, “given the important commitment he’s made to northerners.”
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Whitford, a former politician and territorial commissioner, passed away in September 2024. A state memorial service was held at the legislature.
As potential candidates, Hawkins highlighted a planned public housing building and new shelter and sobering centre. He suggested that could be named the Whitford Healing Centre.
Housing minister Lucy Kuptana said Housing NWT is looking into whether naming buildings across the NWT “for people that have done great service for the Northwest Territories like Mr Whitford” would be appropriate.
“We work with our leaders across the North, including the Council of Leaders, so that needs to be examined carefully before announcements are made,” she said.
Other topics discussed in the legislature on Wednesday included the carbon tax, Indigenous Employment Policy, quarry permitting, primary healthcare, the Sahtu’s cost of living crisis and Canada’s relationship with the US.
‘Give residents hope’
Great Slave MLA Kate Reid gave a powerful speech calling on the premier “to give residents hope in a tangible way” amid a time of fear and anxiety.
“Once again, uncertainty is gripping our world. This time it isn’t a pandemic, but rather oligarchs and fascism,” she said. “I do not wish to fearmonger but I have to call it what it is.”
Reid urged the premier to strongly advocate for the needs of the territory, including “smart and sustainable development” – particularly regarding critical minerals – and trade with respectful partners.
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She extended a personal message to transgender and non-binary people, whose protections and supports she said are being “stripped away” by the US administration, saying “I love and support you.”
Premier RJ Simpson is heading to Washington DC alongside Canada’s other premiers next week to meet with US officials.
Correction: February 6, 2025 – 11:40 MT. We initially stated there are 55 people receiving supportive living services outside the NWT. That sentence should have read “inside,” not outside, and we have since amended it.
