Glen Abernethy

In the reworking of this act, we will absolutely look at legislation from other jurisdictions. I will not commit to something that I have not read, but if there is something identified in other jurisdictions that consultants show will work in the Northwest Territories, we’re certainly willing to look at it. At the same time, the government has already done a significant amount of work on this over the years. There’s been report after report after report on mental health and addictions and other issues. We’ve got the information and it’s time to actually start doing something.

As I’ve indicated...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Member for his question and I also thank the Member for encouraging residents of the Northwest Territories to get involved and bring their thoughts and concerns about the Mental Health Act to the department. This is a significant act. It’s a very old act, as the Member has identified, and it’s going to take a bit of time to work through the whole process and make the changes necessary. But without input from committee and without input from residents of the Northwest Territories, it is impossible. So we need the time, Mr. Speaker.

I will commit today to have...

Mr. Speaker, I’m pretty sure that’s what I just said as well. As far as a timeline, I’m not going to stand here on my first day and give you a timeline. I’m going to work with the Members. We are going to work on a timeline. We are going to come forward with action in the life of this Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I understand the Member’s point. Just for the record, the program is a program by the community for the community, designed for the youth to meet the needs that they’ve identified. I think it is really important to empower the youth to design their own program, but we are certainly willing to provide them with examples from other communities where it is actually hitting the exact topic that the Member is talking about. We would like to leave it up to the communities and to the youth in those communities to set their own priorities as to how they want to use these dollars to...

I know that Members are aware of the Mental Health Act. As far as their specific training, I can’t say, but I will confirm to get that information for the Member. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, as I indicated earlier, every community has their own individual community policing plan and some communities have put more attention on that exact topic than others. Regardless, it is something that’s important. I know that RCMP officers from across the Territories have been working with youth on many different levels. We have the DARE program, as the Member mentioned. I also know that in many communities, the communities themselves, the youth themselves have engaged with the RCMP on the Not Us! campaign and other campaigns, which is about education, awareness and working with...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the individual communities, we have community policing plans where the community leadership and the RCMP get together and set their priorities. That helps them focus their particular area in areas the community wants. But it does take cooperation with community members to stop alcohol from coming into the community. We do have the Crime Stoppers number where individuals can phone in and not give their name but identify if they believe there is alcohol coming into the communities. That has been a valuable tool and the RCMP continue to promote that, that 1-800 number...

Thank you. The list is evolving and we have people coming into positions, people leaving jobs. It changes on a fairly regular basis. We do know that we run about 400 in the Northwest Territories at any given time that we’re trying to staff. How we’re planning to let people know, is we’re looking a little outside the box, we’re not just going to rely on our advertising and communication. We do know in the communities that there are a lot of people who have been going through career development officers and other mechanisms to find opportunities for themselves. So to make this work, we feel it’s...

Thank you. I don’t have the exact vacancy rates for anywhere in the Northwest Territories directly in front of me, but what I can say is that we know at any given time there’s about 380 to 400 vacant positions in the GNWT that we’re trying to staff and fill. Approximately half of those are in Yellowknife and half of those are in communities and regional settings. So about 50/50. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, one of the goals this Assembly set out to achieve almost two years ago is a healthy, educated people free from poverty. To move towards this goal, the Premier committed to the development of an Anti-Poverty Strategy.

In June I had the pleasure of tabling Building on the Strengths of Northerners: A Strategic Framework Toward the Elimination of Poverty in the NWT. This framework provides a roadmap for us to work in collaboration with our partners, to eliminate poverty in our communities.

The development of this document was a joint effort led by a steering committee made up of...