Glen Abernethy

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I also want to take the opportunity to recognize a number of individuals in the gallery today from Aurora College, in particular some residents of the Great Slave riding, first off, Jenifer Makyanzi, Hosai Ayoubi, and Jessica Landry. Welcome to the gallery, Thank you.

There are societal issues around this, and that we need to do more, and we need to continue to work together to destroy the stigma that exists around family violence. We have heard positive statements about the work we're doing with What Will it Take?, but we acknowledge that we need to continue to evolve and develop more programs and more awareness around family violence, which is why we are moving forward with these new videos that talk about consent. One is being done for adults; one is being done for youth. We're also talking about elder abuse, as it falls under family violence, and we are...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, a zero-based budget exercise conducted during the 2017-2018 fiscal year was done to help inform a funding model for shelters here, in the Northwest Territories. That work has had significant progress. From there, we will be proposing some increases in the funds available to the shelters throughout the Northwest Territories for the next budget cycle. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I just want to make one quick correction. The research that I was referring to was actually conducted by the Aurora Research Institute, and it examined the responses to intimate-partner violence in the Northwest Territories.

With respect to funding, the Member knows how this Assembly works. They know that we have to go through a business planning process, and we have to make a business case for increasing funds. I am proposing that we increase some funding here to the shelters here, in the Northwest Territories, through the next budgeting cycle.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was 14 when that report came out. We recognize that family violence is a crisis and is of incredible importance here, in the Northwest Territories. In Cabinet, we have established different committees of Cabinet to focus in on some of the challenges that we face here, in the Northwest Territories. We do have a social envelope committee of Cabinet that does look at this issue and look at how we can work better as departments to address those issues. I'm not convinced that right now we need to stand up a new committee, but I do hear the Member, and I will certainly ask...

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...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one of the key priority areas of our government's mandate was to address the needs of individuals affected by mental health and addictions. That is why we released Mind and Spirit: Promoting Mental Health and Addictions Recovery in the Northwest Territories. This is our strategic framework that helps guide our work in this area. I would like to provide an update on some important initiatives that we are taking to enhance and improve services in the mental health and addictions area.

One important achievement for our government when it comes to addressing the...

Once again, I take the Member's point. This is not a problem that we know exists or will exists. It's potentially there, and I am prepared to reach out to the NWT Seniors' Society to get their thoughts on whether they are concerned about this and whether or not they have had any discussion on plans. As far as education and training for our youth, we have been reaching out to youth. We have been working with Education, Culture and Employment to make sure that the message is out there on the harmful impacts of cannabis on the developing brain for youth up to 24 years old. That's going to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Member for raising the issue. It's not one that has actually been raised to us before. Having said that, the NWT Seniors' Society is an amazing organization. They have done a significant amount of work in these territories to put out literature and programs to educate people on elder abuse as well as help individuals combat elder abuse and provide resources to them so that they know where to go to and where they can get supports when those types of things are occurring.

They have not reached out to me indicating that they are concerned about the potential...