Julie Green

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is time to revise the Child and Family Services Act to bring it into alignment with Bill 92, the federal act respecting First Nations, Inuit, and Metis children and families, youth and families. This will align things that are already being done in terms of cultural safety. And so while the legislation has not come up for review in this session, the changes have been made in standards. And it's worth noting as well that we have a limited number of staff to do this policy and legislation work and the staff who would normally be involved in revising the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As of May 30th this year, there are 133 children and youth in temporary or permanent custody. That compares to 169 children and youth in temporary or permanent custody on September 1st, 2018. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I see Ed Hoff in the gallery today. He is a neighbour, a retired engineer, and a solid community volunteer, and I'd like to welcome him to the House. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you for the question. The GNWT does not cover the cost of psychologists or their services. There are, however, private insurance programs, such as the GNWT Employee Benefit Program, that will pay for psychologists' services and so people can obtain them in that way. But this is not a funded service. And so it is not provided by the GNWT.

And an analogy that people may be familiar with is massage. Massage may be very beneficial but it is not a service that is offered by the GNWT, but it is offered in Yellowknife, for example, and it can be paid for through...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you for the question. The Member, I think, does not want to hear about counsellors and the community counselling program; he wants to hear about psychologists. They are not part of the NWT health plan. We don't employ any at the Department of Health and Social Services. The Department of Justice employs two who serve the incarcerated population. Thank you.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on May 30th this year there were 133 children in temporary or permanent care and custody of the director of child and family services compared to 169 youth in the temporary or permanent care or custody of the director of child and family services on September 1st, 2018. So that's 36 fewer children.

This is really been the result of a change in approach by the Department of Health and Social Services. We have provided family preservation workers to assist families with keeping children in their homes and providing services to them in their homes and...

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think that what the Member is talking about is the contracting that GNWT does on behalf of Indigenous Services Canada for NIHB. And so we let those contracts and they are primarily for travel costs - they are for travel costs. The dentist needs to get approval from NIHB for the services provided. And in terms of the services that they do provide, as the Member knows there is a preapproval process, and the dentists make their own determination of what service is most required by the patient. That's not something that we have oversight over. Although I...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I appreciate the Member giving me notice on this so I could get that specific information. There are three dental therapists located in Fort Simpson, Fort McPherson, and Inuvik. There is a dental hygienist located in Fort Smith. There is a territorial specialist who is a licensed dental hygienist who provides frontline service to communities and is located in Yellowknife. And we also have dental hygienists who work on casual rotations to fill vacancies. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will certainly make a point of looking at the website agedout.com.

In terms of the Child and Family Services Act, we have received recommendations from the Member and from the social development committee. I'm not in a position to make a commitment that binds the 20th Assembly to what will be in the revision of the Child and Family Services Act. But, of course, we will be doing a transition document and I can include it in that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the question. I remember the Member's statement, and I wanted to localize the number of youth who have applied for support services agreements related to their housing situation. In 2021, that was 18 youth who applied for that out of a total of 68 youth who were in that program.

What I want to say is that as the Member may remember, the child and family services action plan is currently bridging between two plans but the new plan, which will be publicly released in August, will have a dedicated focus on youth supports as you might expect. And as...