Caroline Wawzonek

Mr. Chair, I'm not trying to be obstructive. I guess I just sign off on it, the same as I sign off on the rest of the budget that is before committee right now. I am here to defend it. I'm here to provide explanations of it, and I'm prepared to receive any comments or concerns that the Member has about the numbers that are before the committee right now. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I believe what the Member is making inquiries about is funding that is provided to the YWCA of the Northwest Territories. They are one of the designated authorities for assisting individuals under the Protection Against Family Violence Act, and they can support people in the community who are seeking an emergency protection order to seek the protection order. Sorry, Mr. Chair. I realize I had flipped inadvertently a page ahead.

Yes, protection against family violence includes that. It also includes, Mr. Chair, the access to funding that is provided for the A New Day...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. At this point, that is an option. It is one of the possibilities. Again, it will depend on who specifically in the community is ultimately partnered and ultimately decides to be partnered; so not only on the end of the Department of Justice but from the community partners. This may well be an opportunity for partners in that community to offer some sort of housing reintegration, but at this point, I can't commit specifically other than to say that it's an option.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I know that there has been some time taken, partly because it had to be approved with partners within the federal government and the administration of the federal Divorce Act. My information at present is that, indeed, this service will be launched at the end of March 2020, so I suppose the Member can hold me to that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

We have a good partnership with the City of Yellowknife and with the mayor of Yellowknife, and I am confident that she was making every effort to explain to people who she represents how grants in lieu work and how taxes are paid by the Government of the Northwest Territories. We do not pay taxes. We pay a grant in lieu, and the grant in lieu supports the city when the Government of the Northwest Territories is using what would be municipal land that the municipality could otherwise garner tax-based revenue from. Instead, there is a grant in lieu that is paid for the use of that land and...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. In fact, only 55 percent of clients who go through ICM are either born and raised or have been in Yellowknife for more than five years. The rest entirely, so 45 percent of all clients that are receiving services from ICM are from outside of Yellowknife, from other Northwest Territories' communities. Thank you.

Mr. Chair, it follows the same process as the rest of the main estimates. Thank you.

Yes, thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The therapeutic community is still under development, but it will start operation during this fiscal year that is under consideration at this point. In fact, the full transition is expected to happen in the fall of 2020, and so this funding is considered to be part of that preparation and it's meant to assist in working with local community partners and to assist in preparing local community partners in order that they can be available to support the re-entry and, well, the therapeutic community itself, so ensuring that individuals who are going through that process have...

Mr. Chair, thank you. I had the opportunity to actually attend maintenance enforcement myself and meet with the people there who do this work. I was just looking. They provided me, when they were there, with a very significant number, and I am hesitant to say it and get it wrong. They actually do collect quite a significant amount of money for otherwise a fairly small staff, and they are then, of course, providing that to individuals. What I will perhaps do is to simply commit rather than to guess at what that number is. It was, as I say, a significant number, and they do a lot of work for the...