Glen Abernethy

Mr. Speaker, I would like to respond to the follow-up audit on Child and Family Services that was tabled in the House yesterday.

Mr. Speaker, our top priority is to ensure the safety and security of children and youth receiving services and care from Child and Family Services.

The Auditor General’s report contains findings that are disappointing and concerning to all of us. While these findings align with what we have seen in our own internal audit work, they are difficult and serve as another reminder that we are not where we need or want to be, and we must do better.

The Department of Health...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, domestic violence and family violence in the Northwest Territories is a long-standing problem, and we, as an Assembly, we as a group of 19 Members, have made it a mandate item. To that end, we have done work to develop a formula, and we've also improved and increased the amount of information we have out there to help break down the stigma.

Mr. Speaker, in the life of this Assembly, we are intending to and we will increase the funding that we provide to shelters. Is it, alone, enough to solve the problem of family violence here, in the Northwest Territories...

Once again, the Department of Health and Social Services isn't alone in working to address family violence. We are one of the partner departments that come up with solutions and programs that will help us reduce the incidence of family violence. However, having said that, the Department of Health and Social Services is doing a number of things. One of the things that we do is we fund the, What Will it Take? campaign. In that vein, we are working on some new videos to help address family violence and create awareness. One of them is going to be on consent, and that work is currently being done...

To address family violence is going to take a community. It's going to take multiple departments. The Department of Justice is doing a number of things, as is the Department of Health and Social Services. Education is doing things as far as educating youth. The Department of Health and Social Services alone is spending $2.9 million dollars to fund shelters. We recognize, through work that we've done with them, that this isn't enough, so we will be proposing some increases in that area. On top of that, the Department of Health and Social Services alone spends another $477,000 to support...

We have a positive working relationship with the Y, with the Shelter Network, with the Status of Women, who are all working with us closely to create awareness and work to help reduce and hopefully eliminate family violence here, in the Northwest Territories. We take their input. We have reviewed reports. Recently, a report came out in 2017 from shelter executive directors. We aren't in an echo chamber. I appreciate the Member's pessimism, but we believe this is important. We are working on this. We are working closely with our partners, and we continue to do so.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I also want to take the opportunity to recognize a number of individuals in the gallery today from Aurora College, in particular some residents of the Great Slave riding, first off, Jenifer Makyanzi, Hosai Ayoubi, and Jessica Landry. Welcome to the gallery, Thank you.

There are societal issues around this, and that we need to do more, and we need to continue to work together to destroy the stigma that exists around family violence. We have heard positive statements about the work we're doing with What Will it Take?, but we acknowledge that we need to continue to evolve and develop more programs and more awareness around family violence, which is why we are moving forward with these new videos that talk about consent. One is being done for adults; one is being done for youth. We're also talking about elder abuse, as it falls under family violence, and we are...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one of the key priority areas of our government's mandate was to address the needs of individuals affected by mental health and addictions. That is why we released Mind and Spirit: Promoting Mental Health and Addictions Recovery in the Northwest Territories. This is our strategic framework that helps guide our work in this area. I would like to provide an update on some important initiatives that we are taking to enhance and improve services in the mental health and addictions area.

One important achievement for our government when it comes to addressing the...

Once again, I acknowledge that it is a valid conversation. I haven't had the conversation. I hear the Member. I am going to talk to the department, and I would like to reach out to the seniors' society. They are an important partner. I also point out that we are an important partner in combatting elder abuse. I have not done any analysis on this. I would like to know a little bit more about what's happening out there with respect to this particular topic before I make a commitment.

Contrary to what some Members have indicated, this is something we have been working on for quite some time. We have been working on this since 2016, trying to develop messaging and making sure that we are ready to get the information out there on the impacts of cannabis on the developing brain as well as other health risks.

Our community healthy living fairs are an important tool that we utilize to get into every community to get that information out to our residents. Those community living fairs are going to continue, as will this information continue to be included in those fairs.

We also...