Bob Bromley

Much appreciated, Madam Chair. I get to Social Programs when I can but I don’t always, so perhaps that’s been supplied and will be easy to pull out.

From time to time we have heard concern from legal aid lawyers about various issues and I’m wondering if the department has a process where they collect feedback from legal aid lawyers about what issues they’re having and how the department responds and whether there are any examples. Like, when would this have been done most recently?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’m just wondering: the framework for enhancing victims’ services, $500,000 a year from the federal government with a five-year program. It looks like we’re into the final year here; it could be running out next year. I’m just wondering if that’s the case and whether we’re seeking a renewal with that and also whether there’s been any evaluation, if we can expect next year to get an evaluation of how the program has worked. Thank you.

Are we talking about this division?

I would hope so. I think the Minister knows that we’ve been working on this for quite a while, and I know his staff have been working on this for quite a while. I consider the $300,000 committed here to this project is a very, very modest start, and frankly, I’m disappointed. I was disappointed with the Department of Health and Social Services not to hear any specific expenditures towards this service again, because it really is our best opportunity to deal with a major part of the mental health issues that we have, as well as our legal and corrections costs.

Does the Minister have an estimate...

I assume that’s an average across the whole NWT, so that would vary region to region. I wonder if I could get a rough idea of what the variation would be like. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just had a question on the maintenance enforcement. I know we changed the legislation on that a few years back. Is the Minister able to report on any trends and how we’re doing in that area? Thank you.

This is not a lands issue. The inspectors are out there doing their job, I think Lands, in this case, are adding a number of new inspectors. They do their work, they put a case together, they have to submit it to the Department of Justice for legal action. I want to know that, unlike the Government of Canada, this government will have the capacity to take that legal action. Thank you.

Thank you. I think what the Minister said was consistent with my question that it is primarily a Justice service. Obviously, I am talking about the wellness court. I’m forced into the integrated case management because of the close relationship here. But in terms of the wellness court for success, we would also obviously need a very well-integrated case management approach from the Department of Health and Social Services.

I want to know from the Minister if he feels that integrated case management approach from the Health and Social Services side will be in place to enable success with the...

Thanks to the Minister. I know that a lot of effort was spent on negotiating that new agreement and I am sure that along with these additional expenses there are some improvements in services provided. I don’t know if the Minister has those at hand, but it would be good to know, and I know the public would like to know what additional benefits we are getting, or whether this is just the cost of doing business to maintain the status quo. Thank you.

Thanks to the Minister. I think that would be useful. I am sure that the Minister is aware of the issue. I don’t necessarily see how this would be adding so much to the coroner’s office. It would not be something the coroner’s office would do; the Department of Justice would do it, take the lead for the GNWT as receiving the report and making sure that whatever department was the recipient would provide some sort of response that could be reported to the public and bring transparency that way. Just to the Minister’s perspective of this would be an extension of the coroner’s office and I don’t...