Julie Green

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise to today to acknowledge my constituent Lydia Bardak. Ms. Bardak is the North Slave region Wise Woman award winner for 2017. Ms. Bardak came north to work with the Canadian National Institute for the Blind. Work with a blind prisoner led her into the career she is best known for, executive director of the John Howard Society. Ms. Bardak made a strong connection with the street population and remains an effective advocate for them in the justice system. Congratulations to Lydia Bardak for this well-deserved award. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, following the discussion that took place in this House yesterday, I am renewing my call for the Minister for the Status of Women to repeat the survey of attitudes toward family violence. It is clear that we 19 Members do not share a common understanding of what family violence is, and I suspect that we are representative of the territory as a whole. The information the survey will produce is fundamental to creating policy and programs that reduce rates of family violence.

The mandate for the 18th Assembly calls on us to take action on the crisis of family...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Great Slave, that, notwithstanding Rule 4, when this House adjourns on March 10, 2017, it shall be adjourned until Thursday, May 25, 2017;

AND FURTHER that at any time prior to May 25, 2017, 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 Speaker may give notice and thereupon the House shall meet at the time stated in such notice and shall...

I am advocating $100,000 out of a $1.7 billion budget. I am talking about half the population. I am talking about making people safe. We need to address this problem in more effective ways. What we are doing is not addressing the root causes of family violence. So my question to the Minister is: is she willing to make a commitment to look at a systemic fix to family violence? The information for that would be provided by a new family violence survey.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister responsible for the Status of Women. I have spoken a couple of times now about the need to update the family violence survey. It was last done 10 years ago. In the June session, the Minister said that she thought the survey was a valuable tool and she would advocate for funds to do a new one. How is that going? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is time for us to get serious about reducing rates of family violence and to work in smart and consistent ways to ensure every NWT resident hears the message that women are equals, that violence is not inevitable, and it is preventable. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. How is the Minister going to prevent family violence going forward? Thank you.

I appreciate the Minister's commitment to check with the department to see whether there has ever been an analysis done about the financial viability of the programs. It is my understanding that ECE offers a subsidy to existing programs like Montessori because they meet the department's licensing requirements. Does the Minister believe his department has any responsibility to ensure these programs remain viable?

Mahsi, colleagues. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, how are existing pre-school programs going to stay in business without four-year-olds? This is a serious question. I am not aware that ECE is planning to increase early childhood development subsidies to these programs. A very real possibility from the introduction of JK is that parents will have less choice in the future than they have now, whatever their income. I will have questions for the Minister. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, this, in fact, is not circular. This is the first time this motion has been considered by this House, and so we are asking to be able to respond to the feedback that we have received here in a constructive way, and to bring this motion back.