Glen Abernethy

Absolutely.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Absolutely. Staff from the Department of Health and Social Services did visit the community of Fort Liard, as well as Fort Nelson, to meet with residents of Fort Liard, but also staff of the health system in Fort Nelson, to discuss, first off, what services are actually provided in Nelson.

I think there has been some confusion over the years about what capacity Nelson has. They certainly aren't providing all of the services that are offered here in the Northwest Territories, the services that are required by residents of the Northwest Territories, but they certainly...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on page 13 of the directors' report that I tabled late last week, there is a chart that shows a number of individuals who are receiving services in any given year. For instance, in the 2017-2018 year, there are 815 unique individuals who are receiving support. If you look at that chart, it will also show that there are multiple years. Many of those kids are in the system for many years. It is not like you are in one year and you are out the next. It is sometimes the case but not always. I do not have the total number of kids that received services over the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Government of the Northwest Territories made a commitment in its mandate to ensure the effective supports and programs were available for persons with disabilities. Our government believes that every person living with a disability has the full right to citizenship and opportunity which is why we have been working with our partners and stakeholders to advance plans that will effectively guide our efforts to support this goal.

In March 2016, our government initiated the Disability Program Review and Renewal Project to look at the status of current...

In 2017-2018, the department allocated about $970,000 which came from the federal government under the Health Services Integration Fund. This included about $476,000 in carry-over funding from the previous year to help us actually develop these programs, test these programs, reach out to other people throughout the Northwest Territories to make sure we are getting a proper cultural component, to make sure that it's relevant to the people in the Northwest Territories, recognizing that it may be slightly different in Fort Smith than it might be in Paulatuk.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it's completely inappropriate for any Member in this House to be talking about an individual.

I can say that there was a review done of a situation a number of years ago that resulted in some suggestions and recommendations on how to move forward to address systemic racism that exists here, in the Northwest Territories. The Member should be aware because I am pretty sure he was in the House when we tabled, in November 2016, Building a Culturally Respectful Health and Social Services System, which is our commitment to building a Health and Social Services...

Unfortunately, this is one of the areas where the auditor said that we aren't doing as good as we need to do, and we aren't having as much follow-up with our residents. That includes both the families as well as the children as we need to. We are stepping that up. We are making sure, moving forward, that there is regular contact. Part of our requirement is to help people understand their rights under the legislation, but also the services that are available to them.

We are trying to move away from the apprehension system more to a prevention system, so we are also working with families on a...

Mr. Speaker, I would like to respond to the follow-up audit on Child and Family Services that was tabled in the House yesterday.

Mr. Speaker, our top priority is to ensure the safety and security of children and youth receiving services and care from Child and Family Services.

The Auditor General’s report contains findings that are disappointing and concerning to all of us. While these findings align with what we have seen in our own internal audit work, they are difficult and serve as another reminder that we are not where we need or want to be, and we must do better.

The Department of Health...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, domestic violence and family violence in the Northwest Territories is a long-standing problem, and we, as an Assembly, we as a group of 19 Members, have made it a mandate item. To that end, we have done work to develop a formula, and we've also improved and increased the amount of information we have out there to help break down the stigma.

Mr. Speaker, in the life of this Assembly, we are intending to and we will increase the funding that we provide to shelters. Is it, alone, enough to solve the problem of family violence here, in the Northwest Territories...

Once again, the Department of Health and Social Services isn't alone in working to address family violence. We are one of the partner departments that come up with solutions and programs that will help us reduce the incidence of family violence. However, having said that, the Department of Health and Social Services is doing a number of things. One of the things that we do is we fund the, What Will it Take? campaign. In that vein, we are working on some new videos to help address family violence and create awareness. One of them is going to be on consent, and that work is currently being done...