Carmacks elder opposes 300-bed Whitehorse extended care facility

An elder in Carmacks says she doesn't like the idea of moving into Whitehorse for her later years.

Whitehorse city council approved a zoning change for construction of a 300-bed extended care facility in Whistle Bend Monday night.

TheNDP oppose the plan for the facility, saying such a large facility constitutes "warehousing"the elderly and infirm.

Agnes Charlie, 75, is anelder with the Little Salmon Carmacks First Nation.Charlie is adamant that she will die in the community where she has lived her entire life.

"When I get old, I'm still gonna stay at my house,"she told CBC News. "I like to eat the food I'm eating today, and I'm used to my place, and my own hometown. That's where I'm gonna die, and that's where I belong my hometown."

Charlie says she has visited friends who are living at the Copper Ridge extended care facility in Whitehorse and isn't impressed with what she has seen.

"I will say to the government, I don't think any First Nation elders want to go to that big place that they're building. 'Cause I visited Copper Ridge, and they're not taken care of very good there, elders."

Charlie's daughter, Sandra Combs, says she will respect her mother's wishes.Combs says uprooting elders from their communities, their lifelong friends, and their traditional food is not a good idea.

"She's used to eating traditional food and doing her own activities at home and visiting with other elders in the community," says Combs.

Combs says elders do best when they're in familiar surroundings.She thinks small facilities in the rural communities would be a better use of money than building large facilities in Whitehorse.