Wendy Bisaro

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just briefly again, one of the things that we discovered through the report, the Auditor General pointed out that there really is no accountability framework right now that the Department of Health and Social Services is using within the child and family services division. It is extremely important if we are to stop putting children at risk, if we’re going to stop the gaps that have been created in services and if we’re going to make sure that deficiencies don’t continue to exist. We need an accountability framework and we need to have far better accountability within...

Thanks to my colleagues. Our hearing screening program is sponsored by the Stanton Territorial Health Authority and the Department of Health and Social Services, and it’s delivered at every birthing centre in the NWT. However, it is a voluntary service for parents.

All children in the NWT deserve access to proper hearing screening to help them reach their full potential. Newborn and infant hearing screening programs must be mandated for all NWT newborns, no matter where they are born. Thank you.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Just briefly, this is pretty much self-explanatory, but it is important that the public know what’s going on. It is important that anybody involved in the child and family services system be aware of actions that have been taken and what changes the department is contemplating and also that they be given an opportunity to comment on those.

One of the things that we determined in the 16th Assembly when we did our report was that people really didn’t feel they knew what was going on within the child and family services system, so this communication plan is very important. Thank...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just briefly, the committee’s desire here is to make sure, knowing that the Health and Social Services department is looking at changes in governance within our health and social services authorities, knowing that, the committee is very concerned that we don’t wait to make the required changes in the child and family services division and in the services we provide.

Certainly the two major reports that have been done previously, in 2000 and in 2010, had quite a few recommendations and not much happened. So we don’t want that to happen again. This is a serious situation...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just wanted to speak briefly to these four indicators that are identified in this motion. Members and the public will see that these four indicators are referenced in quite a number of recommendations as we go through. These four areas of conducting investigations, addressing needs, attending to children in care and screening of foster homes, they’re four basic indicators which the department can use over time to show improvements or lack of, and committee feels very strongly that these have been very well identified in the Auditor General’s report and that they are a...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I want to speak to this motion because it goes to the heart of the issues that we found with this report and with the inaction and the deficiencies that exist in the department.

We have had action plans before and little has been accomplished, so I guess I wish to impress upon the Minister and the department that committee feels very strongly that (a) we get an action plan, (b) that it be made public, and (c) that they actually act on the action plans. Committee is referring the follow-up of this report to the Standing Committee on Social Programs and I know that Social...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m going to echo some comments which have already been stated by my colleagues. I, as well, appreciate the intent of the motion and the rationale for bringing it forward.

I can support the recommendation that we look at this issue. I am, as well, concerned by the fact that the motion is asking that we compensate medical and non-medical travel escorts for their time. If we were to compensate any escort for the wages that they are losing, we could be in, I think, very serious financial difficulty.

One of my colleagues has mentioned that perhaps we ought to be looking at...

Thanks, Mr. Speaker, and thanks again to the Minister. My last question goes to the staff that he was just talking about, the speech-language pathologists and the audiologists. In my time here I have learned that we have great difficulty often in filling both of those positions because they’re very specialized.

Thanks to the Minister for that explanation. I guess I’m just not exactly sure, my understanding is that this is a voluntary service that parents do not have to have their kids tested at birth.

So I’d like to know from the Minister, he said that the program runs in all birthing centres, but that presumably means that if a child is born, for instance, in Alberta, they have to go to Edmonton to be born, if they’re not screened there, when they come back here do we know whether or not they’ve been screened?

Can the Minister confirm to me or give me some assurance that every child in the NWT, any...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that contribution agreements with the health and social services authorities be immediately amended to include a performance component clearly indicating that funding is contingent on compliance with the Child and Family Services Act. Thank you.