Jane Groenewegen

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So if there are fewer young offenders being incarcerated, then it follows that there are other options and alternatives that are contemplated when these young people do run into trouble with the law. I would like to know what those alternatives are at the community level. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I made reference to gaps in the system. All right, let’s go down to a younger age of a child. The child is not a ward of the GNWT, a major incident occurs. What resources do Social Services have at their disposal to deal with a child who is in virtually the custody of no one on a temporary basis until such time as court cases can be arranged for and applications can be made? What do we do in the emergency-type situations? Does he know? Are there foster placements? Are there group homes? Are there treatment facilities available with spaces, with...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, quite often, as the Minister knows, because I know that in his former life prior to being an elected official he had much experience in the area of children at risk and children who needed to be in care, as did I as well, Mr. Speaker. But, Mr. Speaker, in the cases of emergencies when he talks about community resources in the cases of emergencies and the incidents are occurring with younger and younger children all the time, the two drug busts that have been referred to in Hay River were two 17 year olds from British Columbia who were making crack cocaine...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, colleagues. This is not solely a Justice or Social Services or Education or RCMP problem. This is a societal reality and this is a northern reality. How many more stabbings, murders, suicides, acts of violence and vandalism are we going to read about before we commit to establishing a comprehensive response to the needs of our communities related to troubled and at-risk youth?

Mr. Speaker, in the words of a very respected educator in Hay River, we, as a government, need not ask ourselves what we are going to do to these youth, but what are we going to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My written questions are to the Minister of Health and Social Services.

How many NWT youth are in treatment?

How many spaces in total are available in the NWT for treatment of youth?

How many NWT youth are waiting for placement in treatment?

What programs specifically targeted at youth, apart from residential treatment, are currently in place?

Would the Minister and the Department of Health and Social Services support the establishment of additional treatment programming for youth in existing infrastructure in the NWT?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, would the Minister’s corporation give priority consideration to anyone who would use that facility for programming related to alcohol and drug addiction? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have one more set of questions for the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation. Mr. Speaker, there is a facility formerly occupied by the Northern Addictions Services in Detah, which I believe the government had some financial interest in and this facility has come back into the ownership and control of the GNWT. I’d like to ask Minister Krutko, Mr. Speaker, what is the status of the use of that facility at this time? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, by the way, I’m very encouraged to hear that the Arctic Tern is not just being used as a facility for incarceration, but that there is programming that is available as an alternative. That’s the first time that I heard that. I don’t sit on the Social Programs committee anymore, and that is very good news. That’s the kind of innovative, responsive way we need to deal with some of these issues. We have to think outside of how things have traditionally been done. Is there any other programming, Mr. Speaker, available to assist communities besides the youth...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in keeping with my Member’s statement earlier today with respect to youth in our communities that are having a difficult time with certain issues, I had posed my questions previously to the Minister of Health and Social Services. I’d now like to ask some questions to the Minister of Justice on the same vein, and I hope the Minister of Justice will show a little more enthusiasm for the problem and the issue because it is very, very serious and I don’t want to hear oh, there’s really nothing we can do, and it’s a complicated issue. I know it’s a complicated...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So just so we understand then, if we are dealing with, for example, a 16-year-old who is, as you say, near adulthood and that youth does not want to comply with any kind of a structured plan of care or program, there is nothing that we can do short of them being apprehended by officials associated with justice because of a criminal act. So if they want to run, if they want to hide, if they want to just wreak havoc in the community, what you are saying is there are no resources available to this government or anywhere else to deal with these young people. Is that what...