Shauna Morgan

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So in order to ensure accountability to achieving recommendations, we also have to be clear as to what the recommendations were actually saying or actually recommending. For example, Recommendation 19 is to create an emergency social services plan to address what will be done to support vulnerable populations in emergencies. The government has said it agrees but then offloads this responsibility once again to local communities when what the report said was missing is a territorial emergency social services plan because social services are a territorial responsibility.

Wi...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I appreciate that we do now have a date for the action plan to be released.

Overall, I would just like to know what is going to be done differently this time. We've had many working groups and action plans in the past. What will be done differently this time that will lead to transformative change not only in government policy and legislation and the justice system but also leading to wide-spread access to safe homes and transitional housing that would really allow survivors to take their power back? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister responsible for the Status of Women.

So in October 2023, the Minister responsible for Status of Women at the time released a strategic framework for addressing family violence in the NWT. It was called Reclaiming the Capable Person: We Are All Capable Persons When We Have Community. I do appreciate the title and the recommendations contained within it, many of which echo recommendations that have been made repeatedly over the past 20 years. The strategic framework indicates that it was released as a draft and it was going out for...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So I know the Minister has mentioned over and over again that some of these responsibilities fall to local communities. Will the Minister ensure that funds are actually available for communities to implement the preparedness activities, the things they're committing to in their emergency plans, rather than simply offering templates, workshops, information? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to continue on with questioning from yesterday for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs regarding the recommendations from the after-action review.

The review recommended that the government come up with a structured process to review, prioritize, and act on the findings of not just this review but all the previous after-action reviews so we don't keep repeating mistakes over and over. The government said it agreed but then explained how findings are being brought to the territorial planning committee, but this process doesn't seem to be transparent...

Okay, thanks to the Minister for that. I understand there was a What We Heard report, and then the strategic framework was, in fact, released. But it did say in the framework that the intention was to move from this general framework with some general recommendations to an actual action plan. So when will a new action plan on family violence be released with funding attached, timelines, and milestones? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So it sounds, though, that the Minister is saying that recommendations are being made by the incident command, but decisions are ultimately made by the Minister. Has the Minister already examined -- or perhaps changes have already been made that he can explain -- but how the lines of command during a state of emergency can be shortened and restructured to be more independent of the Minister's office? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So I'm hearing from the Minister that the government is going to move forward with the recommendations of the after-action review, yet the government's written response was that it would take these ideas into consideration as it consults with the new working groups, etcetera.

Can the Minister clarify is the government going to wait to see what is the outcome of these discussions with working groups, or is the government committed now to actually implement these recommendations around new regulations and legislative change? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today will begin for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. So the after-action review emphasized the need to put standards for training and emergency preparedness into legislation and to establish detailed regulations, whereas currently we don't have it, regulations. To quote the review, regulations bring it to a concrete actionable level adding the clarity needed for partners to do their job. Provinces and territories with regulations have better compliance and enforcement of their act and demonstrated more effective emergency management plans...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So has the Minister or the department done an analysis of what differences exist, if any, between the NWT system and stand-alone emergency management agencies elsewhere? And if there are differences in roles or gaps that can be found, how we might be able to change or rearrange or reassign current people that we have working within our system to make it more similar to the functions of stand-alone emergency management agencies elsewhere? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.