Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that the Department of Health and Social Services conduct a thorough review of its accountability framework for child and family services to identify existing deficiencies and implement mechanisms to enhance accountability. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Motion is in order. To the motion, Ms. 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 that division than we do right now. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. To the motion, Mr. Yakeleya.
I also want to say, Mr. Chair, that the Sahtu believes that the department in terms of its, I would say not a strong accountability framework, and nobody was held accountable on those. It was quite shocking when the Auditor General looked at this. So I look certainly to this Minister to strengthen the accountability, because everybody is doing it and nobody is holding them to account. It’s almost like you’re doing this and you’re doing this, but nobody is holding them to account and they may have good intentions, but that’s not it. No wonder we have some issues that we’re dealing with, with the children in our small communities that are in the North here.
So, again, if there’s something that the Minister duly noted, that he’ll look at the accountability framework, that would really help, I think, all of us and I certainly look forward to seeing what type of mechanisms he’s going to put in place for the accountability.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. To the motion, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. What was really apparent in the Auditor General’s report was the disconnect between the central headquarters, or Health and Social Services, and the regional authorities. It came to the point there was a bunch of affected communities; call it zigzags in terms of reporting. In some respects, structures were working in isolation of themselves. So it’s an immediate thing that the department has to check in terms of accountability. Who is accountable at the end of the day in terms of the children and families that have to go through the system? So it’s essential that we expect at least that matters that will at least encourage us to believe that accountability measures will be put in place. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. To the motion, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. When the absence of required annual reports are not noted and profiled, then I think there’s obviously the need for this motion. I’ll be supporting it. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. To the motion, Minister Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’ve already responded to this and identified or, rather, made a commitment under recommendation 7 this work is already in progress. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister Abernethy. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. Motion is carried.
---Carried
Ms. Bisaro.
