Battle set for care funding

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Standing Buffalo Dakota Nation Chief Mel Isnana and Keeseekoose First Nation Chief Ted Quewezance have a message for Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC): See you in court.

At a press conference in Regina at the end of August, Isnana announced that his First Nation would launch court action against INAC, saying the government department won't provide adequate funding for its Lakeview Lodge personal care home.

Because of the funding dispute, Standing Buffalo has been forced to run a $1.2 million deficit on the lodge's operation since it opened two years ago, he added.

Calling the court case a "last resort," Isnana said he wants INAC to fund Lakeview Lodge in the same manner as it funds seven personal care homes in Manitoba. In comparison, cited the chief, one 26-bed personal care home owned and operated by a Manitoba First Nation receives $1.1 million in annual funding from INAC, while the 40-bed Lakeview Lodge gets only $300,000 from the government department.

Despite a 1988 ban imposed by INAC on First Nations care homes, Standing Buffalo self-financed the construction of Lakeview Lodge, which opened in 1999. Lakeview Lodge is the first personal care home built on a Saskatchewan First Nation.

When INAC imposed the ban, it said it was in anticipation of a new set of guidelines the department was creating for the responsibility. Thirteen years later no such policy exists, and INAC officials say no such policy will come forward in the near future.

Meanwhile the Keeseekoose First Nation, which has already done a study on its needs, spent as much as $1.7 million to develop a site on reserve lands - gas, water and sewer installation and the laying of a foundation - for a 40-bed personal care home.

In addition, 25 band members have gone through a training course to work at the facility, said Quewezance. Another 25 are also waiting to go through the course.

Unlike Lakeview Lodge, Keeseekoose First Nation is waiting for $3 million, provided through the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, before continuing construction. Without INAC's blessing the project can't proceed, said the chief.

Quewezance has publicly challenged Indian and Northern Affairs Canada Minister Robert Nault to follow through on a promise made six months ago - to announce a policy regarding funding and operations of a personal care home on First Nations.

Bands are facing a rapidly aging population who are going to be requiring those services, said Isnana.

"Lack of care homes on reserves puts a lot of pressure on already overcrowding housing on reserves, which adds to the pain and suffering of our Elders and their families," said Isnana.

INAC's ban on constructing and operating personal care homes on reserves means bands will face future problems caring for its Elders according to statistics the department compiled in a research paper in 1999, the chief accused.

That report predicted a seniors population explosion for Canada's Aboriginal population. The report, said Isnana, predicts the life expectancy for Aboriginal males will go from 59.2 years in 1975 to about 72 years in 2010. It also predicts life expectancy for Aboriginal females will go from 66 to 75 years in that same span.

First Nations peoples' increase life span is to spur an increase in numbers of the 55-to 64-year age group by as much as 230 per cent. By 2021, more than 57,000 First Nations people will be 65 years of age or older.

The people in that age group are the most likely to seek the extra medical care that a personal care home can provide.

Isnana hopes the court case will force INAC and Health Canada back to the bargaining table regarding this issue.