Alfred Moses

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Standing Committee on Social Programs is pleased to provide its Report on the Review of Bill 47: An Act to Amend the Child and Family Services Act and commend it to the House.

Bill 47, An Act to Amend the Child and Family Services Act, makes enhancements to the Child and Family Services Act. The bill is a long-awaited response to the statutory review by the Standing Committee on Social Programs in 2010.

The bill proposes to expand services offered to youth, require Aboriginal organizations to be notified in advance of child-apprehension hearings or youth-protection...

Although Peter wasn’t here to receive his awards today, I want to recognize him nonetheless. I know he would have loved to be here but I know he’s doing some work. His commitments to his work have made him not be here today.

Currently Peter is our public administrator for the Inuvik region and he is doing a very great job with all the departments that we have under government. He also does a really great job coordinating visits when government comes to town, or any other ambassadors, whether from across Canada, international or from the GNWT.

I would like the Members to join me in recognizing Mr...

There was also concern of monitoring, and as I also mentioned, the wastewater disposal sites that we have in the Northwest Territories, do we even have any, which got me thinking about our transboundary water agreements that we have with Alberta and BC. If Alberta and BC are doing hydraulic fracturing and they’re lowering their water levels, can that have an impact here in the Northwest Territories? Last summer we just witnessed the lowest water levels on record here in the Northwest Territories. If we do go ahead and proceed with hydraulic fracturing, how much of that water is going to be...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just want to express my appreciation for the work that was done. I think it was great that both the department and the community did reach out to a number of stakeholders, and we did get a lot of submissions coming in even before we went on our little road trip there. As I mentioned, we had nine communities and got a lot of really good feedback. I just wanted to mention there, as well, that I think this is the first time that a committee has taken two significant bills that are going to affect the way that we do our business in the Northwest Territories on the road...

Just another quick question for clarity. These five positions we are looking at locating them, has there been any discussion or any work being done to look at putting these five positions out into the regional centres? We have TeleHealth. We have the fibre optic one coming down. There are better ways of communicating. If we are looking at making communication based on a lot of these new responsibilities that we have, why can’t we do that in the regions and get our regional residents more updated and educated and aware of what our responsibilities are, rather than having to do it through...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would just like to thank the Minister for bringing the bill forward, the Mental Health Act. As he knows, the Mental Health Act hasn’t had any significant changes to it since 1985. Throughout my term as an MLA, a lot of our issues that we see and deal with, and as chair of the Committee on Social Programs, a lot of issues that we deal with, whether it’s in justice, education, health, housing, and it could go on and on, all comes down to an underlying fact and that deals with mental health.

I know that residents of the Northwest Territories will be very happy to hear...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Standing Committee on Social Programs thanks all stakeholders who provided written submissions on Bill 44 or attended public meetings.

The committee advises that it supports Bill 44 as amended and reprinted and presents it for consideration to Committee of the Whole.

I seek unanimous consent to return to item number 12 on the Order Paper, reports of standing and special committees. Thank you.

---Unanimous consent granted

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to report to the Assembly that the Standing Committee on Social Programs has reviewed Bill 44, Hospital Insurance and Health and Social Services Administration Act, and Bill 47, An Act to Amend the Child and Family Services Act, and wishes to report that Bills 44 and 47 as amended and reprinted are ready for consideration in Committee of the Whole. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Minister mentioned the voluntary disclosure practice that is currently being used, and I am sure it is being used worldwide in terms of what companies have to disclose in their fracking ingredients when they’re doing the practice. He also mentioned it’s on the radar for the government to make it mandatory. It has been a concern heard in Inuvik at the public engagement session.

Can I ask the Minister, is there a timeline or does the government intend to make the voluntary disclosure practice mandatory so that we know all chemicals that are going into the fracking ingredients?