Glen Abernethy

Mr. Speaker, one of this government's top priorities is the safety and well-being of children and youth receiving Child and Family Services. This includes making sure that we maintain a child's connectedness to family, community, and culture.

We have learned from our experiences, through internal and external audits, through engagement with Indigenous governments, and through feedback from stakeholders, that we need to better manage, resource, structure, and sustain changes implemented under Building Stronger Families.

We know that the improvements we were making under Building Stronger...

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Range Lake, that Bill 58, Justice Administration Statutes Amendment Act, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document entitled "Government of the Northwest Territories Response to Committee Report 12-18(3): Report on the Review of the 2018 Report of the Auditor General of Canada of the Northwest Territories Child and Family Services." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to recognize the World Health Organization's World No Tobacco Day, which is tomorrow, on May 31, 2019. This day provides us with an opportunity to acknowledge the efforts that the Government of the Northwest Territories is taking to promote the prevention of tobacco use and its cessation.

This year's theme is Tobacco and Lung Health. Having a healthy set of lungs is vital for living a healthy and active lifestyle. Our lungs play a major role in our body's overall health. Exposure to tobacco, both in its primary and second-hand form, can result...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to recognize Fernanda Martins, the health policy analyst from the Canadian Cancer Society, in the gallery today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Member has been involved in this for a while. There was a report done after the original program shut down. I have heard the Member in this House say that we need to duplicate that program with a few amendments that were identified in that report. That is what we moved for in the RFP. That is what the Member and others encouraged me to do. I did as the Member suggested. It didn't prove to have any value because nobody applied on the RFP. We went to some stakeholders and got a few amendments on how we thought people wanted this to go, once again potential proponents. It also bore no fruit...

No, that is not what I said. I said the stakeholders indicated that it would be valuable to do that work, that it would be important to actually hear what the residents say as opposed to us in this Chamber assuming we actually know without talking to the clients or to the residents. At that time, I realized that it's important that we get their voice, we get their input, we design programs to meet the needs of people as opposed to meeting the needs of the individuals in this House, and I directed them to take that new direction at that time.

As the Member knows, any time that any of the departments wish to put additional money into any of our programs and services, we have to build a business case that has evidence to suggest that it's necessary. We are always looking at our programs to see if more money is needed. To that end, we actually did significantly increase the allocation for families through the Foster Family Care Program. The per diems increased significantly about a year and a half ago. That information was brought forward in this Assembly. It was discussed. I cannot remember off the top of my head what the budget is...

The Foster Family Coalition of the Northwest Territories is a territorial NGO, and they reach out to all communities throughout the Northwest Territories. We have not targeted something like Mother's Day or Father's Day. We have actually targeted our formal appreciation of foster parents to communicate in other activities actually centred around Foster Family Week. There is actually a national week set up for this, so we do that rather than looking at Mother's Day or Father's Day.

The celebration of foster caregivers occurs both at a national and a territorial level every year. We know that we...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to welcome the following people from the NWT Seniors Society who are with us in the Chamber today: John Soderberg, who is the treasurer of the NWT Seniors' Society, and Suzette Montreuil, who is the executive director of the NWT Seniors' Society. I would also like to recognize Katrina Nockleby, who is a resident of the Great Slave riding. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.