Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I think in the greater picture, one of the things we would like to see happen at the community level is we stop taking people out. As you are aware, in the history, children were taken out. Currently, under the child welfare system, children are still being taken out, and then the elders are being taken out.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I can't say anything for Manitoba, but for our community—

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  No, I don't speak for the people of Manitoba, but I can speak for the elders who we recently have spoken with.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  This one elder is looking after his wife who is ill, and he said, “If I get sick, I'm not going to be able to look after her. We're going to be taken out.” What I would like to see is a long-term care facility in the community and for other elders to have the same view I'm watching right now, the lake and everything that they are familiar with.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Which Mr. Cutfeet...?

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The health programs that are starting to be put together to take a more collaborative approach will feed into supporting clients or patients across the spectrum, including elders. One of the issues that we do have now, especially in physician care, is we are only allotted so many days.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you for that question. The funding for home care is very limited. In our own community, for whatever is funded there, the number of clients they have has grown, yet the funding hasn't. That's one of the issues. We said that there is caregiver burnout or that a caregiver's health is failing.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  My son is a physician in B.C. The population of the community is about 1,800. They have a small hospital. They have 10 eldercare beds. One of the thoughts we have is, why not have hub models, where at least the elders can be in a native setting, in a native community, where they can use their language and have some company?

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  One thing that goes on in first nations communities to try to accommodate elder care is that first nations do seek financial resources to build facilities. What you're saying is, yes, there's the federal government, there's the province, and where's the first nation, that we can use the meagre resources we have to partner-up to build a better facility.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Once it's operational, the mobile unit will be helpful. Again, to have professionals go into a community en masse, the challenge is how we accommodate them all. When I was in Big Trout as the chief of the community a year ago, we were fortunate to be approved for a new health centre.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Again I'd go back to that health facility that was approved at Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug, Big Trout Lake. One question I raised was how we could include the province and how we could get provincial capital to come onside, so that we could have a bigger facility and accommodate provincial and federal programming.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  As we move forward in undertaking our health care, one challenge we have is human resources capacity. One way of addressing that is to build and refresh the existing capacity we have on the professional side. On the other side, we undertake more programming to try to develop professionally designated first nations people.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Meegwetch. [Witness speaks in Oji-Cree] Thank you. I greet you, all. I'm from Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug. It's about 600 kilometres northwest of Thunder Bay. The English name for it is Big Trout Lake. It's a beautiful place, a beautiful spot. It's very hard to leave that place, so you can imagine how our elders feel when they have to leave home to go to a long-term care facility away from what they're used to.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  As the deputy grand chief mentioned, the title of our presentation is “I Want To Go Home”. When care and the associated provisions of health services become unavailable, our eldest must leave their home communities to be institutionalized at urban long-term care facilities. Their new surroundings are unfamiliar.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I was just going to add that the Attawapiskat situation is an impact benefit agreement, and I think it is very important that we move the legislation to allow that to happen.