Julie Green

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. In my statement today I spoke about the quality improvement plan for Child and Family Services that was tabled earlier this week. As I mentioned, the plan has many strengths, but I do have some concerns. The Minister has often said that too many priorities result in no priorities at all. Can the Minister say why he then endorsed 70 priorities in this plan? Thank you.

Nothing further. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Is this a good time to do opening comments on the bill, or wait until the witnesses are here?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Security assessment tools are standard practice in correctional facilities, and the concern that this particular recommendation addresses is that the assessment tool be particularly inclusive of the realities of Indigenous inmates, that, particularly, corrections staff look for security assessment tools that are culturally more appropriate than a standard tool that may be developed and used on a Caucasian population. We recognize that there are different tools, and we are encouraging with this motion that corrections finds and tries tools that may be more appropriate to...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I want to make a point for the record about why I abstained from the last motion and I plan to abstain again. This report on the Mineral Resources Act landed on my desk today, still warm from the photocopier, 2 centimetres thick. I haven't had an opportunity to go through it, and I am not part of this committee, so I haven't been in the discussions of the act itself and the development and modification of it. The clause-by-clause review was held on the same evening as the clause-by-clause review for the Corrections Act.

The point that I want to make is that there is very...

Can the Minister confirm that there is money available to implement a solution for the adult day program without having to wait for the next budget process?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. Each sitting, I ask the Minister about progress on creating an adult day program in Yellowknife, a program for elders to assist them with social inclusion needs and to provide respite for their families. I realize the Minister has looked at various options, but the fact is there is still nothing in place. I note that the department is surveying seniors about their social activities. Can the Minister tell us more about the survey and what its purpose is? Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

The Standing Committee on Social Development recommends that the department of Justice explore the possibility of allowing for private interviews between an inmate and a facility's Indigenous elder or spiritual advisor, subject to reasonable restrictions.

Residents told committee that programming should be available to all inmates, including those remanded in custody, who make up more than half the inmate population in the NWT. Remanded persons, including those who are eventually convicted, are frequently released without having accessed rehabilitative programs. Even of...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. In our mandate, we describe community and family violence as a crisis and determined to take action. Four years on, it's still a crisis, and our efforts have flagged. According to Statistics Canada, the national incidents for intimate partner violence is 313 people per 100,000 population. In the Northwest Territories, the rate is an astonishing 2,906 people per 100,000 population, or about nine times as high. These are 2017 numbers, but they have been at this level for 10 years.

When the Coalition Against Family Violence was still active, it had three priorities. The first...

Mr. Chair, I move that you rise from the Chair and report progress. Thank you.