Julie Green

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.

Mr. Chair, I request that you rise and report progress. Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Minister. Is there any chance of action on solutions before this Minister leaves office? Mahsi.

Thank you to the Minister for that answer. What is the Minister expecting for a response rate? What would be, in his view, a statistically valid response?

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

While committee was pleased to see the introduction in Bill 45 of concepts such as community advisory boards, an Investigations and Standards Office, and adjudicators, experts in the fields of corrections and civil liberties shared our concerns that the oversight structures established in Bill 45 were not fully impartial or independent. While we recognize the need to ensure a measure of corrections expertise in the bill's oversight processes, we believe the degree of impartiality and independence necessary for serious and high risk matters such as separate confinement or...

Mahsi, colleagues. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. They need to start by looking at the priorities outlined by the Coalition Against Family Violence, because they are still relevant. Their challenges to create policies and programs that demonstrate that family violence is not normal, and there is something that we can do about it. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We were not given notice of this in advance. There are some differences from the one that was forwarded originally. I realize that we voted on this, but I want to register an objection that we are given motions on the floor with only seconds to consider them when we are talking about matters of great importance to the people of the Northwest Territories. I reject the Minister's methodology here. He needs to work collaboratively. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In some ways, my questions continue on from my colleague. In my statement today I talked about the growth of the Housing First program throughout the NWT and the success it has had moving chronically homeless people out of shelters and into stable transitional housing. It's very clear that the demand for Housing First has outstripped supply. Can the Minister tell us what advice he is including in his departmental transition report on Housing First? Thank you.

I appreciate that, not only does the Minister buy half-page ads to talk about his successes, he also gobbles up question period to do the very same thing. The City of Yellowknife has attempted to count the number of homeless people in Yellowknife, and I would like to know very specifically, without the words "community plan," is that work to understand to full dimensions of homelessness being undertaken in any other communities?