Letter of agreement to amend bilateral agreements for home and community care and mental health and addiction services

The Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos
Minister of Health
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6

March 31, 2022

Dear Minister Duclos,

As you know, the COVID-19 pandemic has created significant challenges for Canadians, and has disproportionately affected those residing in long-term care facilities, supportive living, accommodations and seniors' residences. Outbreaks in these homes have taken the lives of some of Canada's most vulnerable citizens, and forever changed the lives of their families and caregivers. To address this crisis, since spring 2020 Alberta has made significant financial investments and has been working to improve the safety of care for those living in long-term care settings (including designated supportive living and long-term care in our province), and those who care for them. Some of these improvements have been supported by federal investments and resources.

Further to the Government of Canada's commitment on November 30, 2020 to further support provinces and territories through a new Safe Long-term Care Fund, providing jurisdictions an additional $1 billion, Canada and Alberta agree, through this Letter of Agreement, to amend the Canada-Alberta Home and Community Care and Mental Health and Addiction Services Agreement (the Bilateral Agreement), in accordance with appendices A and B to this Letter, for the purpose of Alberta obtaining funding from the Safe Long-term Care Fund with the aim of further protecting the lives of Albertans who work and reside in these settings.

The amendments in Appendix A establish the terms and conditions that apply to Alberta and Canada in regards to Safe Long-term Care funding and include the following:

• The Government of Canada will provide Alberta with total funding of up to $115,145,216 in fiscal year 2021-22 under the Safe Long-term Care Fund for eligible expenditures incurred from December 1, 2020 to March 31, 2022.
• The federal funding through the Safe Long-term Care Fund will offset part of what Alberta has already invested and support the province's future efforts to increase infection prevention and control in long-term care facilities, supportive living accommodations and seniors' residences providing continuing care services. It will also be used to support long-term care operators with some of the additional costs already incurred by them related to the staffing, equipment and supplies needed to support compliance with Chief Medical Officer of Health order to keep residents and staff safe. It will also support staffing top ups for enhanced health care aide staffing as well as hourly funding top ups to the eligible health care aides in contracted sites, enabling staffing coverage to care for and support Albertans residing in long-term care settings to prevent COVID-19 infections and spread.
• Alberta has attached an amended action plan (Appendix B) which includes: the background on long-term care in Alberta; efforts undertaken since spring 2020 to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 in long-term care settings, and particularly efforts to enhance infection prevention and control; details on the new or enhanced initiatives that will be supported by the Safe Long-term Care Fund in the three priority and other eligible areas, along with a breakdown of planned expenditures and performance measures to demonstrate results.
• Alberta will amend its performance measurement section of the action plan and will further update this section to provide information on results by October 1, 2022.

Appendix B to this Letter of Agreement sets out Alberta's amendment to its action plan (Annex 2 to the Agreement) which provides information on the initiatives, expenditures, expected results and performance metrics on the initiatives supported by the Safe Long-term Care funding.

Except as set out in the appendices to this Letter of Agreement, the terms of the Bilateral Agreement will remain in effect.

This Letter of Agreement to amend the Bilateral Agreement will be effective upon both of our respective signatures. It, along with the updated Agreement and annexes, will be made public online by Health Canada.

The Honourable Jason Copping,
Alberta Minister of Health
March 31, 2022

Coleen Volk,
Intergovernmental Relations, Executive Council
March 31, 2022

The Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos,
Federal Minister of Health
March 31, 2022