Glen Abernethy

These were conversations that occurred both in the 16th and the 17th Legislative Assemblies. At that time, we did not move forward with the child's advocate. Neither the committee recommended nor the government of the day moved forward with it. The child's advocate is not a children's lawyer, as I have already indicated, but they are more comparable to an ombud with a focus or a specialization in children and youth.

If this Assembly were interested in pursuing that, it would require legislative changes or legislative drafting. It would require budgeting. It would require a number of things. We...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the 16th Legislative Assembly I participated on a committee that did a review of the implementation and delivery of child and family services in the Northwest Territories. With the chair, who at the time was the honourable Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh, we travelled throughout the Northwest Territories. We also travelled to many other jurisdictions and we talked to professionals about these services. One of the things that came up on a regular basis was the child advocate. We met with the child advocate in Alberta and we talked about the role of an advocate.

At that...

I am pleased to inform the Member that tomorrow I'll be tabling "Caring For Our People: Cultural Safety Action Plan 2018-2020." Tomorrow I will also be hosting a public launch here in the Assembly at 11:00 a.m., and I hope that all Members are able to attend.

Regarding the Member's concerns about cultural safety for Indigenous residents and elders, work is already under way. First, I'd like to highlight the 2018-2020 Inuinnaqtun pilot program at the Enegak Health and Social Services Centre in Ulukhaktok funded by the department. The pilot project will support the language needs of the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As a government, our mandate is to support the elders to live in their own houses for as long as possible while ensuring that adequate supports are available for those who can no longer live within their own homes. We have taken a number of actions to meet that mandate, which are within the Continuing Care Services Action Plan, which has already been released. We will be compiling the home and community care review. That is currently under way.

The purpose of that review is to document existing home and community care resources, programs, and services offered by each...

I would, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Speaker, I give notice that, on Wednesday, February 27, 2019, I will move that Bill 41, Tobacco and Vapor Products Control Act, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

When I met with the Yellowknife MLAs, and then we followed up and met with stakeholders, it was clear that there are a lot of stakeholders who want to be involved. A lot of stakeholders have something they can add to the idea of supporting our seniors who are either cognitively or physically impaired to engage and have socialization, getting to the community. There are a number of stakeholders who want to be involved. There are lots of opportunities to figure out how to get that engagement to occur. What we're looking at right now is how to work with those partners. The GNWT is clearly going...

I think it will be a wide variety of stakeholders. Some of the events that already occur that these individuals can't get to will continue, so they will be working to find ways to get them to those events. We haven't absolutely 100 percent articulated who will be the individuals or the group who get those people to those events, and that's something that we're working on the detail with our stakeholders right now.

I appreciate the role of a child advocate. I did have opportunities to meet with child advocates in other jurisdictions and learn about the importance of them. I am not saying the Northwest Territories will never have a child advocate, nor should we never have a child advocate. The bottom line is, for the remainder of this term, we are already looking at our last O and M budget before us. It would take legislative drafting. Given the legislative agenda that is in front of us, it probably is not something we are going to be able to accomplish.

The Child and Family Services Act, after it was amended, actually allows for a child and each parent of the child to choose and be accompanied by an adult who may assist them in the expression of his or her views when engaging the courts and when engaging the system. It doesn't necessarily allow or support the child advocate as the Member is describing, but it does allow for advocacy.

The Office of the Children's Lawyer began serving clients in 2011. I understand, once again, that that is not a child advocate, but it does provide those services once a child has access to the court system...