Province Asked To Fund On-Reserve Care Home

Province Asked To Fund On-Reserve Care Home

Thursday, March 01, 2007 at 17:01

The chief of the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation thinks the provincial government should be helping to fund an on-reserve care home for elders and special needs clients.

The home is slated to open on Monday.

Gilbert Ledoux says his band has financed the $2.5-million capital budget itself.

Ledoux says his attempts to get the province to fund the $1.5 million for the beds have been unsuccessful.

He says the government is playing “political football” with the issue — insisting it’s a federal responsibility.

Ledoux says this home is desperately needed by First Nations people — and some of the $1.5 billion the province gets in annual federal health and social transfer payments should go to the facility.

Failing that, he says the province should use its authority to ask the health regions in the area to provide flow-through funding for the beds.