Julie Green

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, along with my colleague, Mr. Nadli, I am drawing attention today to the fact that this is Family Violence Awareness Week, and I am going to take this opportunity to raise awareness of a recent report on this issue.

Two Aurora College researchers interviewed 56 frontline service providers across the NWT to document the needs and service gaps of women experiencing violence from their intimate partners. What they discovered is that there are three social processes that contribute to our shocking rate of violence against women. First, women put up with violence...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I give notice that, on Thursday, October 19, 2017, I will move the following motion: I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Great Slave, that, notwithstanding Rule 4, when this House adjourns on October 20, 2017, it shall be adjourned until Wednesday, February 7, 2018; and further, that at any time prior to February 7, 2018, if the Speaker is satisfied, after consultation with the Executive Council and Members of the Legislative Assembly, that the public interest requires that the House should meet at an earlier time during the adjournment, the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. What the report does is plot uses of EPO with incidents of intimate partner violence on a map. The research is not what I would call a thorough review. Obviously, in my view, there needs to be a thorough review. Can the Minister commit to doing a review of the emergency protection orders in order to improve their use and efficiency? Thank you.

That's good news, that the Minister is open to looking again at this program. I will be tabling this report at the appropriate time. He will have a copy ready to hand. The researchers indicate that men may be using the EPO process to get back at women who want to keep them away by filing for their own EPOs. What kind of oversight is in place to ensure that this retaliatory type of action doesn't happen?

Thank you Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the run-down on the family violence, but it doesn't tell me when there will be shelters in the Deh Cho and the Sahtu. The other five shelters are often full and having these additional resources closer to home is important to the residents of that region, especially to women in that region. Will the Minister be looking at new investments such as in these shelters in the next budget? Thank you.

Thank you for one of the shortest ever answers from the Minister. My second question is: what progress has the Minister made on developing a funding formula for family violence shelters, and when is this work scheduled to be complete?

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Timeliness of mail-in ballots has been an issue in every election of this millennium, despite the low number of total ballots involved. However, use of absentee ballots has increased; 244 were requested for the 2015 election. Ballots were available for one month, but after allowing for return time the window is effectively shorter. Of 146 absentee ballots received by Elections NWT, 35 (or 24 per cent) arrived too late to be counted. While absent electors have some responsibility for timeliness, mailing times are not entirely within their control.

The CEO recommended amending...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. If we could turn to page 11, I will introduce my first motion. I move that Tabled Document 419-18(2), Proposed Mandate of the Government of the Northwest Territories, 2016-2019 (Revised), be amended on page 11 by adding the following words: "supporting the development and growth of post-secondary institutions and programs available in the NWT; researching the feasibility of creating a northern centre of excellence to promote and support research, innovation, and use of traditional Indigenous knowledge, and foster partnerships with universities, governments, and other...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’d also like to express my appreciation to my colleagues for the work they’ve done in revising the mandate and in hopefully improving it. I want to reflect on some of the limitations of the mandate, though, while I have the opportunity. The first is that it doesn’t really contain priorities. In it there are 200 priorities that range from building a new road at a price tag of $67 million in the current capital budget, to supporting initiatives that will get women elected, at a cost of $15,000 or so. There is no sense of the weighting in this mandate, of the relative...

There is no question that this is the right direction to go. Apprehending children is the last resort. With respect to the 2015-2016 audit of Child and Family Services, the former CFS advisor, Andy Langford, is quoted as saying, "Taken at face value, our measures of compliance are arguably worse than they were three years ago when the auditor general completed his audit." This is not a comforting result. Could the Minister tell us how the department responded to this observation?