Julie Green

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in May of last year the Aurora Collage Foundational Review was completed and it recommended, among other things, that the department hire an associate deputy minister of post-secondary education. In September, on September 7th, in fact, the government announced that they were hiring an executive search company to find this associate deputy minister of post-secondary education. Here we are, five months later, without having heard a result of that search. What is the result? My question is for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would appreciate that information. Can the Minister tell us whether anyone has been offered the job and has turned it down? Thank you.

We were told that this individual would be in place by the beginning of this year. It is now almost the middle of February, so what is the new date for this individual to begin work?

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, approximately six months ago Yellowknife MLAs met with the Minister of Health and Social Services to ask him about how he was going to establish a new adult day program for seniors in Yellowknife. He outlined a range of options, and we haven't heard from him since. Could he please provide the House with an update? Mahsi.

Again, I appreciate the Minister's response. I understand that this is a very sensitive topic for all of us. One of the things that the federal government has done is tied funding to sports to policies and prevention around sexual abuse of amateur athletes. Is there any equivalent in place for territorial funding of sports organizations?

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs responsible for amateur sport. CBC's revelations this week about sexual abuse in amateur sport is a call to prevention. One clear and obvious precaution is a requirement for criminal record name checks for persons with access to amateur sports players. Can the Minister tell us whether there is a requirement for criminal records name checks, not just for coaches, but for all persons with care and oversight responsibility for young athletes? Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like the Minister to tell us whether there is money to offer the program in-house in the next budget, the one for the next fiscal year, or whether he is prepared to obtain funding through a supplementary appropriation? Mahsi.

Thank you to the Minister for that. I want to note that contacting with community organizations seems to be off the table, no results to the RFP partnership model. We have capacity issues in the non-profits, so that seems to be off the table. At what point is the Minister prepared to go to the next option, which is operating it in-house? I mean, we have been waiting two-and-a-half years. At what point does this issue achieve priority that there is, in fact, a solution proposed that doesn't only involve meeting?

Masi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it sounds as if the CBC series was timed very well in terms of having this issue already on the radar of various government officials, such as the Minister. My final question is: if there is a young person in a small community who feels victimized by somebody who is a sports official or coach in their lives, where would that youth go now, today, to report that abuse, and what would the follow-up to a complaint like that be? Does the Minister have that information? Mahsi.

I appreciate the information from the Minister. If the Minister will send me an email with that link in it, I'll certainly make it known. Parental responsibility is obviously part of the equation here. Further, does the Minister require a list be kept by Sport North of people convicted of abuse in connection with young athletes, and is there a way for the public, meaning primarily parents and caregivers, to access it?