Shauna Morgan

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm actually very appreciative that we're having this conversation that's sort of a more nuanced acknowledgement of the fact that, you know, we can't necessarily solve crime with more police. And I think people know that, but it's easy especially when drug crime and violence associated with it is devastating so many of our communities. We want to find something we can do now, and more police seems like the way to solve it. And I don't think it's the complete solution, especially, you know, recently our standing committee was up in Inuvik and speaking to the RCMP there and...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just to confirm, we're on out of territory services, right? Okay.

So the budget for residential care for out of territory services, so that would cover supportive living arrangements for adults in a residential or group home setting for extended periods of time in facilities outside the NWT. And so I understand that in many cases that the people that would require this kind of residential care might have very specialized needs or, like, particular conditions that, you know, can't be met with services or facilities inside the NWT. But I'm also hearing from the NWT...

So I understand that. And I do want to respect the independence of the regulator for sure. But I'm also eager to ensure that the level of funding is appropriate and corresponds to, like the level of need and the level of activity of the office. I wonder if the Minister can has any further explanation for us on why he was satisfied that the level of funding being allocated in this coming fiscal year is appropriate to the level of activity or the demands placed on the regulator.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Now, I know there's many things that I'd like to speak about but I want to focus my limited time here  it's already late  on the midwifery program and my understanding of its potential. So my understanding is that a lot of work has actually happened over the last few years even though it seems on paper that positions have remained vacant and the potential of the program has just sort of languished. What I've heard is that actually a lot of ground work has been done to lay the framework for a territorial program. And that has been the focus is  even though, you know...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So I mean, I would I would respectfully disagree with the Minister and certainly would strongly advocate that this position be filled again and, you know, that the current person in the position is retiring but I think it is very important that that position is filled again with someone who does have expertise and experience in family law and specifically children's law. I mean, it's not very much money in the grand scheme of things, and that person has really played a linchpin role in holding this office together, including mentoring and training the lawyers that are on...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So thanks for that additional detail. But I'm still interested in knowing how is that going to impact services from the public's point of view. Can the Minister give any more detail on that?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Does the Minister know whether the executive director of legal aid has any experience in family or children's law to be able to take on those responsibilities?

Thank you. And if the Minister doesn't know off of the top of her head, I'd appreciate getting that in writing too, just the number of positions within HSS that have been reduced in terms of the child and youth counsellor program.

Next, I wanted to ask about the line item community clinics in health centres, which I understand are the ones providing primary care services which, as we know, is to be the focus of this Assembly. You know, according to our business plans, our mandate document, we're focusing on primary care. So I was puzzled to see the main estimates of $82.5 million is less than...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So to be clear, we're cutting the senior lawyer who runs the Office of the Children's Lawyer? Is that what you're referring to when you say it's simply an administrative position?

Sure.