Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess what I need to do is advise the NWT Seniors’ Society, who happen to be up in the gallery behind me, that they ought to make application to the Minister for some funding for phase 3 of their Elder Abuse Project.

I’d like to know from the Minister, I talked a bit about recognizing our elders in a different way, recognizing them as a significant cohort and a distinct sort of group within our society. I’d like to know whether or not the Minister has ever considered that possibility in terms of funding to split elders off into their own line item and, if not, would...

Thank you. I guess my next question to the Minister would be why does Cabinet and the Minister not consider that the idea of an elders secretariat will work. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It gives me great pleasure to recognize a Frame Lake constituent, Yvonne Quick, who is here. I’d also like to thank Mr. Bromley for mentioning all the people that are up behind me there who I can’t see, but the Status of Women Council staff are here, the staff of the NWT Seniors’ Society, and I’d like to recognize, in general, all the older adults who are up there today. It’s lovely to see you all and welcome.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In December last I attended the NWT Seniors’ Society symposium held here in Yellowknife. It was called Making Connections: Building Networks to Prevent Elder Abuse. There was lots of grey hair in the room, but oh, the knowledge and the experiences to be shared. I felt privileged then to be part of such a group and I still feel that way.

The symposium was the second phase of a three-phase NWT Seniors’ Society Elder Abuse Project. One of the symposium sessions shared the results of the society’s research findings from phase 1 and I was particularly struck by a couple of...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Standing Committee on Social Programs met on December 9, 2010, to review Bill 20, An Act to Amend the Evidence Act. Following the clause-by-clause review, a motion was carried to report Bill 20 to the Assembly as ready for Committee of the Whole.

This concludes the committee’s general comments on Bill 20. Individual committee members may have questions or comments as we proceed.

Thank you. You know, it’s quite distressing to me that when we as a government question as to why something can’t be done, the very first thing that I hear out of the Minister’s mouth is that it’s going to cost a huge amount of money. I really think that the Minister needs to think that there are ultimate ways of doing things than spending a million dollars on it. The need for coordination of any number of different programs, in this case seniors, was identified by the number of programs that she mentioned and that are spread all across this government. That said, I mentioned that the NWT...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned, my questions today are for the Minister responsible for Seniors. In my statement I talked about the need for us, as a government, to look at a different way to fund seniors. I also mentioned the Elders Parliament from last year and in that very first Elders Parliament there was a motion passed by the members of that Elders Parliament, and I believe it was unanimously, for this government to consider the establishment of an elders secretariat. So I’d like to ask the Minister has she and/or Cabinet considered the recommendation from that motion. Thank you.

Funding for elder abuse programming needs to be separated out and funded on its own, within the Family Violence Action Plan but funded as a separate line item. Until we do that and until we speak out about elder abuse, a lot of our elders and seniors will not improve. Certainly abuse of NWT adults will continue and that is a shame. I will have questions for the Minister responsible for Seniors at the appropriate time.

Mr. Chairman, thanks to the deputy minister for that explanation. Yes, I realize that it is a big job and it is not an easy job. I am glad to hear that it is on the radar and it is being looked at.

The last concern that I wanted to raise here, and this, again, came up at least once during the Child and Family Services Act review when we were on our tour, and that is the number of hours that people get from legal aid for their concern or for their issue. Several times we heard people say that they had a lawyer. They were dealing with a lawyer and they were basically told I have used up all of my...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I want to revisit a topic I’ve brought to the House several times before. In May of 2008 and again last February I spoke of the need for the NWT to have an ombudsman’s office. The need for this service has not yet gone away, Mr. Speaker. We are one of only three jurisdictions in Canada which does not have an ombudsman. Our sister territory, Yukon, is not one of them. The Yukon does have an ombudsman office for Yukon residents.

There are many, many situations where NWT residents need an impartial arbiter, an ombudsman to assist them with a dispute or a disagreement...