Julie Green

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to start by saying how very proud I am of my colleague Mr. Nadli. He has taken constructive steps to make himself a better man by starting on this healing journey, and we are all the better for it.

Mr. Speaker, women experience violence in greater numbers than men, but it's true that men also experience violence, and the effects of this violence include things like injuries, depression and other mental health issues, disease, addiction and even death. There are economic costs as well, mostly with loss in productivity but also the cost of treatment that...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to table the report "Hush Hush No More: Sexual Assault in the NWT." Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, the report from the YWCA also references development of a new policy and guidelines for health providers on how to support clients who report sexual assault. I wonder if the Minister can tell us whether that work is now complete?

Masi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. One of the issues revealed in the YWCA Study of Improving Responses to Sexual Assault is addressing confusion, especially in small communities, about where to find the kit used to collect evidence of an assault. What steps is the Minister going to take to ensure nursing station staff know where to find and how to use rape kits? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the Minister's commitment to quality reporting, which he made earlier in this sitting, on government contracts will help increase accountability, or course. In 2012, the Auditor General also found cases where departments had updated their own records but not the contract registry and reporting systems report that is tabled in the Legislative Assembly like the one we saw yesterday. What has the government done to ensure this registry and reporting system is reconciled with its internal departmental records?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to congratulate all the award winners and I would like to introduce my neighbour and constituent, Karen Wright-Fraser, who helped organize today's events. Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Many legislatures across the globe face a common problem: Their citizens are neither knowledgeable about, nor very satisfied with them as institutions. This political disengagement, coupled with generational change, increased policy and legislative complexity, declining scrutiny by traditional media, and the growing influence of social media have all contributed to the sense of a growing democratic deficit between the public and the lawmakers.

In an effort to bridge this democratic deficit, there has been a worldwide shift towards open government. Public engagement strategies...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'll look forward to that confirmation from the Minister. Finally, I'm going to repeat the question that commentators and frontline service providers as well as I have been asking: will the Minister recognize that taking away the food and clothing allowance for children under 18 was the wrong thing to do and to reinstate that allowance immediately? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

I'm wondering if the Minister can tell us if this issue can be addressed by paying food and clothing allowances until the Canada Child Benefit is available?

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Minister's answer. But if the funds were sufficient, why would we have food banks? Why would we have soup kitchens? Why would we have all these organizations, not only here in Yellowknife but in Hay River and Inuvik, and even in smaller places like Tuktoyaktuk that give food to people every single day? Food security is a huge issue in the Northwest Territories, and I would like the Minister's commitment that he's going to be part of the solution, not part of the problem. Thank you.