Glen Abernethy

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I believe it was last October that I tabled that "Building a Culturally Respectful Health and Social Services System," which outlined a bunch of the work that we are doing that line up really nicely with the recommendations that came from the recent critical incident review.

My intention, and I have made a commitment to the family, to the leadership in the Beaufort Delta and to Members of this House, is to expedite that work and to try to get it done as quickly as possible, recognizing that it is a massive piece of work and that changing attitudes and...

The Member references the fact that 8 per cent of children in fire/police referrals are for financial assistance; that number is actually taken from the director's report that was issued to the Members a number of months ago. Of a total of 2,309 referrals in 2015-16, 184 were for financial reasons. We've reviewed those, and typically what those referrals are when they occur is that the family is not eligible for, or rather, has already spent this month's financial assistance and they need assistance with food, clothing, or rent, which is something under the new system we can actually do. When...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the culture awareness training that the Member is speaking about is for Child and Family Services statutory appointed child protection workers and adoption workers. It includes a mix of infield community Indigenous engagement orientation followed up by in-person classroom-based core training with elders and educators, and then follow-up and an after-engagement infield engagement which is usually or is intended to be evaluated by the regional supervisor and supported by the department's practice specialist.

Mr. Speaker, there is some upfront work that we...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. On my left is Denise Canuel, who is the director of policy with the Department of Health and Social Services. On my right, Mr. Druyan, who is the legislative counsel with the Department of Justice, who worked on this piece of legislation.

I am pleased to be here today to introduce Bill 13, Marriage Act.

This bill will replace the current Marriage Act. The current act predates the 1988 consolidation of Northwest Territories health statutes. Minor amendments have been made to the Marriage Act since then; however, none have kept pace with the Federal Government’s Civil Marriage Act and with other provincial and territorial marriage legislation.

It is important that we update the existing legislation now to ensure compliance with the federal Civil Marriage Act and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The bill reorganizes the...

At this time, we are not planning to do a pilot of a patient advocate in any communities throughout the Northwest Territories. I know the Member would be disappointed if I did not bring up the quality assurance professionals that we have in the system today. The quality assurance positions are also patient representatives, so they have a double role, Mr. Speaker.

Now, increasingly over the last number of months, it's becoming clear to me that having those two positions as a single position probably isn't the best way to do business here, in the Northwest Territories. Quality assurance tends to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when we brought in Building Stronger Families, it was a five-year implementation plan and, in a fundamental way, a new way of providing child and family services in the Northwest Territories. The Foster Family Coalition has been an important partner moving forward. They provide significant training within their own organization of families who want to be foster families, to help them prepare. One of the recommendations that came out of the review, the Child and Family Services Review, was to expedite the process for family members who want to foster family...

Income is assessed on a case-by-case basis and it is not something that is currently collected within the Child and Family Services information system. A Child and Family Services file may contain information on a family's financial situation only if that information is shared by the family for the purpose of care planning and assessment of the family needs.

For example, Mr. Speaker, if a family identifies that they are an income assistance recipient, then this information can be documented and may help in planning. There are situations, Mr. Speaker, where the incumbent would formally collect...

Thank you Mr. Speaker. I wish it was that simple. The bottom line is there is no consistent application of home support workers across the Northwest Territories. We know what numbers exist today, but there has been no standard set as to what every community should have. That is the work we are doing today. Once we know what a standard is, or a baseline is, then we can fix that by putting physicians in.

As I said in Committee of the Whole, it is not just home support care workers, Mr. Chair. We are looking at a different array of programs, family supports, that could be money that we could float...

During our decisions with Committee of the Whole, I was very clear that we have a significant amount of work to still do. In fact, we talked about the continuing care plan, which is basically going to include our homecare services. I committed to moving that work along as quickly as I could, and, should we reach a point where we are actually ahead of schedule, I indicated that I would be happy to move forward for a supplementary to start rolling out some of these changes. This addition means, basically, I wouldn't have to come forward for a supplementary.

I do believe there are things we can do...