Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that health and social services authorities, in consultation with the Department of Health and Social Services, assist child protection workers in identifying and accessing prevention programs available to children and families; and further, that the Department of Health and Social Services should also ensure that prevention programs, such as the Healthy Family Program, are offered to families in need. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The motion is in order. To the motion. Mr. Nadli.
Again, it’s really asking the department to address the very fundamental concerns raised by the Auditor General. Perhaps there are strengths that the department has, and I think it needs to build on its strengths. There are some programs and initiatives that work well and we need to build upon the positives, and perhaps this motion is in that spirit. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. To the motion. Mr. Yakeleya.
Mr. Chair, I’m not too sure if this type of discussion has been taken up by our Aboriginal Affairs Minister and the Aboriginal governments on all the jurisdictional or intergovernmental relationship issues with our government and their government in bringing a stronger linkage between the two governments on this type of issue here with child and family services.
Child and family services are key to our communities. With health and social services, again I go back to the 16th Assembly where a great concept of the communities were going to take some type of role or leadership role when you looked at the family situations in the community, but that didn’t come about. I remember that in the 16th because I went with the then Minister into the Sahtu communities, and they were asking different communities in the Sahtu, are you interested in this, do you want to do this. We got our hopes up in Colville Lake and Fort Good Hope, same as the other communities, but nothing happened, diddly-squat. Now you want to have this. It has been raised by the Auditor General and it had to do with the financial issues.
I want to look at this issue of regaining the trust again of the Aboriginal governments. You know, we have to show – and that’s what I agree with Mr. Bromley’s comments on earlier – just give a short period of time to show some measureable results showing that the linkage is going to be strong with our Aboriginal governments. Right now, you know, they’ve been stung once, so they’re going to be looking at this issue again and saying, do you really mean this business, do you really mean it? Show us something. Right now we have not seen much action in this area here, and the Auditor General has noted it clearly.
We’re playing with people’s lives here, families and communities, and that’s serious business. This isn’t something that’s like a road or a bridge. These people have feelings. They have hopes and aspirations.
I’m hoping that the Minister can put some strong plans together to show us yes, we are making a difference in our small communities, especially with the Aboriginal governments on this issue here. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. To the motion. Minister Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. With respect to recommendation number four, we agree. In the Aboriginal health and community wellness division, new regional positions focusing in on wellness and community development will play a key role in helping communities implement their wellness plans, and also in helping support interagency or wellness committees and in helping our child protection workers stay informed on the different available programs within their region and in their communities. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. To the motion.
Question.
Question is being called. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that the Department of Health and Social Services build stronger linkages with Aboriginal governments pertaining to child and family services. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. To the motion. Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. It’s very clear in the Auditor General’s report, about 90 percent of the children that are involved with child and family services are First Nations children, so it is imperative on this government to at least build a working relationship with the First Nations governments. Whether it be at the local or else the tribal level or else at the territorial level, that’s something that needs to be done. This relationship is going to be critical in terms of the success of how the government responds to the Auditor General’s report, so it’s essential that the working relationship is established. Perhaps the seeds of the relationship on other matters have been built already, so this is just continuing the bridge of ensuring the lines of communication are open and, at the same time, sharing of ideas. I think that’s critical to at least address the many concerns that are raised in the Auditor General’s report.
The other thing, too, is we need to ensure there’s at least some fluidness in terms of ensuring there’s a very smooth system we have at least with headquarters and regional authorities and First Nations Aboriginal governments that are interested in being involved with this process, and I think now is the opportunity to build up on those relationships.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. To the motion. Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. With respect to building the stronger linkages with Aboriginal government, we agree, and to that end we will be looking to add child and family services to our agendas for government-to-government meetings with the Aboriginal governments and we will ensure that there is appropriate follow-up at the staff level.
Thank you, Minister Abernethy. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that the Department of Health and Social Services provide quarterly updates to the Standing Committee on Social Programs on improvements to child and family services; and further, that these updates replicate indicators associated with Exhibits 3, 4, 5, and 6 of the Auditor General’s report pertaining to the following areas respectively:
conducting investigations;
addressing confirmed child protection needs;
attending to children in care of the director; and
screening and reviewing foster care homes.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Mr. Nadli, there was a small typo, and we’re just going to circulate the proper motion here to committee.
The motion is in order. To the motion. Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Reporting is a key function of any organization, so having peer audits and, in this case, quarterly updates to the Standing Committee on Social Programs is essential in terms of monitoring the progress of how it is that the department will address a lot of the concerns that the Auditor General has articulated, including the recommendations from the Standing Committee on Government Operations. So it’s essential that we all understand that from here on we need to at least communicate and the system reporting has to work very effectively to ensure that at all levels of the organizations people are aware in terms of the discussion, perhaps in the analysis and, hopefully, as we go forward in addressing the concerns, that this will become an integral part of the relationship with the standing committees.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. To the motion. Ms. Bisaro.
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 very good tool for us, as Members, to keep track of the progress or lack of that is being made on behalf of the department in this area. These four exhibits are referenced quite often because we feel that they are a very good tool for us to gauge progress.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. To the motion. Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I notice foster care homes are on there, the screening and reviewing. One of the biggest opportunities we have are grandparents. They are such an incredible mechanism out there for looking after families and keeping families together and so on, and yet we continually fail to support them to the degree that they may be part of these exhibits. Mrs. Groenewegen I heard in the House just the other day speaking to this. I think all of us have spoken at one time or another. I have current issues with constituents where, because the children are not formally adopted, we’re not supporting them and they’re trying to raise these kids, often numerous kids, on a pensioner’s income. We could be saving an incredible amount of pain and issues down the line for children if we were to just do this simple mechanism of supporting grandparents.
Again, I don’t see a specific recommendation on this, but hopefully it’s part of this and the Minister is listening. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. To the motion. I have Mr. Yakeleya.
Just a comment there. Again, it goes back to the measurements of the reporting and how these are crucial in the small communities with the appropriate organizations. The Auditor General has made a scathing report on this section here, also, in terms of his findings. It’s so needed when you have children involved in the small communities. Of the thousands of children that are apprehended in the Northwest Territories, 95 percent are Aboriginal. I look, I guess, to see how these four indicators are going to improve the system in the communities with the people who are doing the work and see how we could eliminate a lot of heartaches that don’t need to be there. Those are my comments.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. To the motion. Minister Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. With respect to recommendation number six, I agree that all these indicators obviously require more improvement and improved monitoring. I would be happy to sit down with the Standing Committee on Social Programs to identify some appropriate formats and timing that would work for them and the department so that we can continue to provide these updates.
Thank you, Minister Abernethy. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. Motion is carried.
---Carried
Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have a series of motions as well.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The motion is in order. To the motion. Ms. Bisaro.
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 where we have children at risk and committee is quite concerned that we not see a delay in any changes in implementation to activities to fill in the problems and the gaps that we have seen through this report. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. To the motion. Mr. Yakeleya.
Mr. Chair, I look forward to the department correcting these deficiencies as noted by the Auditor General. I know the department also made some responses to the deficiencies, and I’m hoping that “immediately” means right now, today, not next week or the week after.
There are deficiencies, as noted by the Auditor General, in the child and family services within this department here. There are some deficiencies that need to be corrected right now; others, as Ms. Bisaro has noted, we don’t want to wait for the whole bag of deficiencies to be looked at and corrected until we have an excuse for the governance reform. I don’t know what that reform, the interpretation of the reform that’s taking place. That just seems to be a stalling tactic, or wait until the end of the 17th. Then it will be two Assemblies who don’t do anything.
These are the promises of the 16th Assembly, which we didn’t do very much, if anything. Now, I’m hoping that these improvements, as Ms. Bisaro noted, will not be delayed, otherwise we’re just talking in the wind here and not making any sense.
In the 16th we met with people in the communities. That cost a lot of money and we don’t really have much to show for it, yet we’re still talking about this stuff. It’s crazy.
I guess that’s why I’m looking for some movement and I’m hoping that…(inaudible)…says we have to make some significant improvements here. I’m just hoping that this isn’t taken as a delay tactic, waiting for something else to happen before we can make any type of significant changes in the reform system. In the meantime, families in our communities in the North have to deal with the deficiencies. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. To the motion. Minister Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. With respect to immediately taking some actions, I agree with recommendation number seven. To that end, I’ve already committed to developing a new accountability framework for child and family service programs, which will be done in July.
In addition to that, steps have already been taken to appoint CEOs as assistant directors under the act, and new, more rigorous quarterly reporting requirements will take effect in the fall. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Abernethy. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that the Department of Health and Social Services develop a communication plan pertaining specifically to child and family services so that stakeholders and the public are informed about completed actions, upcoming changes and anticipated timelines. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The motion is in order. To the motion. Ms. Bisaro.
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 you.
