Tom Beaulieu

Thank you. Much like the supplementary appropriations that go forward for firefighting, the Department of Finance would prefer to not put these types of costs in the base. So only when it’s verified that the money has been used, then we get it through a supplementary appropriation as a standard process.

The department is willing and prepared to provide our response to the report, and I’m not talking about the initial response, but any actions that we have taken in relation to the 73 recommendations made by the committee to the committee.

Madam Chair, I will have the assistant deputy minister respond to that question.

After our discussions with the authorities on these forced growth areas, submissions from the authorities, we will take them forward to the Financial Management Board and we will put them as part of the budget process.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Last year a lot of this cost was driven by two babies that required blood services, expensive blood services. So it’s quite possible that this coming year that cost may not be there, but we don’t know that at this time.

We will provide youth in care outside the NWT and youth in care within the NWT to Standing Committee on Social Programs.

The child and family services committees across the territory, the main thing we are doing different is we’ve hired a coordinator, who starts this month, who will be going to the communities. We’ve had our staff going into the communities and right now we’re trying to get the one committee that was working during our review of this child and family services committee in Fort McPherson. We feel that is going to start up again. We are fairly enthusiastic about the results when...

Madam Chair, we have made no improvements to that system so far, but we do have it in our work plan for this fiscal year.

We do not have a plan to expand that budget item beyond what is there. In fact, it’s slightly lower this year than last year.

Thank you, Madam Chair. That is the supplementary appropriation that comes to the Assembly from the department every year and would be the Canadian Blood Services and people that go for southern treatment. Adults and children that are in southern treatment are three of, I think, the largest costs from that supplementary appropriation.

Youth are counselled also with community counselling programs. We have about $6 million in the Community Counselling Program across the territory, and they counsel adults and youth alike.

As far as actual youth facility infrastructure or building for youth treatment facilities, the department hasn’t looked at that closely. We do know that the treatment of youth in a facility environment or in a treatment centre, the numbers for the territory are very low. I think we’ve treated 12 youth in three fiscal years, the past three fiscal years, because the majority of situations with youth are that...