Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to recognize my constituency assistant, Ms. Leona Pearl Norwegian, who worked with me in Yellowknife all this week. Mahsi cho.
Also, her birthday is Saturday, so please join me in wishing her a special public happy birthday.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today, you know I’ve been bringing this up in the House numerous times in regard to students out of Sachs Harbour over the past two years and nothing is being done. Mr. Speaker, given that currently there are many students in Nunakput who, for various reasons, have left high school and moved back to their home communities, reasons such as nowhere to live, not enough moral support or resources, will this government immediately commit the funds to make resources available for a high school teacher so that students can at least earn some high school courses? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. This particular issue has been, as the Member indicated, brought up in the House and we did approach BDEC, the Beaufort-Delta Department of Education, Beaufort-Delta Board of Education. We’ve been working closely with the board on identifying key aspects of the students: are they missing school or having challenges while they’re in school, where they’ll be staying. We provide funding to BDEC on an ongoing basis, on an annual basis.
Mr. Speaker, also the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative, the meeting that we’ve had, the last one in the Beaufort-Delta was a very successful meeting. They talked about the importance of having every student succeed in education, and out of that, Mr. Speaker, part of the discussion was having our students in Inuvik as well focusing in those areas.
So, Mr. Speaker, a lot of discussion took place on that. The leadership were there, as well. Mahsi.
Thank you. You know, all these meetings and nothing happening. Nothing’s been done, students are still at home. The government spent over $275,000 last year for the Western Arctic Leadership Program in Fort Smith. Why aren’t they doing that in Inuvik, why just one community in the Northwest Territories? Thank you.
Mahsi. That’s the very reason why we’re doing the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative forums in all regions. The Beaufort-Delta was, again, very successful, one of the successful outcomes. We had all of the leadership involved, the educators, the parents, even the youth to talk about their experience. They talk about what they want to be when they graduate and so forth, and that the leadership, the DEA, the chairpersons were there discussing the importance of supporting our students and developing plans of action. That’s what is going to be before this House and I’m looking forward to delivering that key messaging, the voices of the Northwest Territories and voices from the Beaufort-Delta that we’re going to be delivering. Mahsi.
Thank you. I look forward to it too again, but voices are not being heard. Time and time again I have brought this issue up in this House. There’s a lack of support for our students in Inuvik that are coming in from the communities, it’s not there. They’re having to go home. I had a letter last week, Mr. Speaker, in regards to drug and alcohol issues, where a student was staying, they didn’t want to stay in that house. Something is wrong with that. Will this government conduct a thorough review to identify how many high school students from small isolated communities have dropped out of high school? Thank you.
Mahsi. I believe we are listening to those voices. We listen to the MLA that is sitting here, Mr. Jacobson. He indicated the importance of supporting our students, the importance of having these students continue with higher education, and we are pursuing that through the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative. These are important works that are coming from the expertise at the grassroots level. We want to hear the people from the Beaufort-Delta region and that’s what we’re doing.
Also, the Beaufort-Delta education, they have all of the records, all of the attendance, the students that may have dropped out and the reasons for it. They have that information. The Member and community members can access that through the Beaufort-Delta Department of Education, the Board of Education, and it’s easily accessible through them. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Your final supplementary, Mr. Jacobson.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The grassroots level, I live it. Everyday I’m home I see some students in the community of Tuk not going to school because of lack of support. I’m still getting the same calls that I’ve been getting for the last two years. I’m getting the same letters from the same parents that are not being helped. The Minister could do something about this. The Minister could tell the Beaufort-Delta Education Council to fix the problem, but yet he doesn’t. We’re going to do more reviews, more of everything, but we’re failing the students, Mr. Speaker. Two years now I’ve been standing up in here and asking him the same questions, but we’re failing.
Will the government allocate the appropriate resources for serious problems regarding a lack of boarding facilities to ensure quarterly reviews and benchmarks are met for future students in the upcoming school year? Thank you.
Mahsi. Yes, it’s been two years that we’ve been pursuing this Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative since the Member raised this issue. We know that it’s important, and it’s not just the Member, all of the Members have been raising the issues about the success of our students, and that’s the very reason why we’re here, Mr. Speaker. We’ve visited all regions, and we’re finalizing the package, and we will be meeting in a couple of weeks for the final go-round with the leadership to say this is what we’ve heard, this is what we want delivered, what do you think. That is key messaging that’s in there.
The Beaufort-Delta educators, the teachers, the principals, the parents, the youth have raised a number of issues that the Member is raising in this House. So it will be a part of the package as we move forward. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister responsible for Justice in follow-up to my Member’s statement from earlier today where I was talking about the Yellowknife Social Issues Committee. On March 22, 2011, the two departments that were active members of this committee co-signed a letter to the mayor indicating that they’re no longer going to be able to be active members. As I indicated in my Member’s statement, I understand the reason for this is we don’t want to put our employees in a position where they will be experiencing conflicts of interest. So the department responded, took these members off, but said we will make members available upon request of the committee, which is certainly an option and it may work, but as I indicated in my statement, I believe there is a better option. That would be to have individuals from those departments continue to sit on that committee on a regular basis as non-voting advisors. That would be great because we would be able to hear what they have to say and we’d be able to provide information in a real timely manner. It would be proactive rather than reactive.
I’d like to ask the Minister of Justice today if he’d commit to reconsidering their position and approaching the city to see if we could have a member from the Department of Justice sit on that committee on an ongoing basis to be this advisor that could be our liaison between the city and Justice on social issues in our community.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Minister responsible for Justice, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. When this committee was first established, our representatives were on there, my Department of Justice and also the Department of Health and Social Services. In the beginning there was a lot of discussion across a broad sector of what’s going to be happening, the programming in the Northwest Territories and Yellowknife. One of the key messages that came back was the potential conflict of interest that may have been perceived where departmental staff were sitting at the meeting with all the discussions and decisions that were being made. It was very uncomfortable for them. They came back and we discussed that, and the Member approached me just the other day. I did discuss it with my senior staff.
We would be more than willing to work with the committee on an advisory role, not a decision-making role, so they can have valuable input into the system, as well. I’m looking forward to that, working with the committee through my departmental staff.
That’s fantastic news. I look forward to hearing from the Minister, once somebody has been officially put on that committee in an advisory capacity.
With respect to the letter that was sent, there was a really good statement in the letter that I think we still need to follow up on. As an advisor and having some advisory capacity to attend these meetings, it opened us up to have other departments represented at this committee as well, being Education and Housing, in an advisory capacity, as well. I was wondering if the Minister of Justice could ensure that the person that he has attending this can sort of keep Education and Culture in the loop, Housing in the loop, as well. The letter was originally penned from Health and Social Services as well, so can the Minister work with the Department of Health and Social Services to make sure that that department is represented in an advisory capacity on that committee, as well, so that the city would make decisions on this committee as fully informed about our programs and services?
I’ll definitely pursue that. Whatever we do at this venue is interdepartmental. There is a lot of discussion on programming, working with the Yellowknife committee, the social committee. I will be working with my colleagues as we move forward on this particular important piece of work.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.
Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I talked about the Small Communities Employment Strategy. I have questions for the Minister of ECE on that topic. Will the Minister consider having the Small Communities Employment Strategy delivered at a local level as much as possible?
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. That’s one of our intents as a department, and I believe that is the GNWT’s intent to deliver programming at the community level as much as possible, whether it be at the regional office, at the local office. I’ll continue to work with the Member on the areas of challenges that we may have. Our goal is to effectively and efficiently deliver those key programmings into the communities.
Will the Minister allow as much flexibility into the program, into the three programs with the intent of maximizing local spending at the local level?
I need to work with the Member on the specific item that he’s referring to and defining the flexibility. We do have staff at the community level that work closely with the regional office, and also from regional office to headquarter office. We can provide those valuable services to the community through that venue.
When we talk about it at the community level, if we don’t have people present, then how can we deliver that program effectively? Those are areas that we need to seriously look at and how can we deliver those in a timely manner and efficiently. I will continue to work with the Members on this particular piece of work.
Will the Minister pass the majority of the responsibility of delivery to community client service officers at the community level which we have in Tu Nedhe, have them fill the roles as career development officers which are usually regionalized or headquartered and have them play a role during the rest of their time for the day? Right now they’re working half days. Have them do the career development officer position so that they can work full time in the communities.
In Lutselk’e we have a dedicated half-time position client services officer. This particular position deals with various cases on the client files. Adding more duty to that individual’s duties may be a challenge to some degree. Another area we can look at is the regional staff being visible in the community as much as possible. They are responsible for Lutselk’e and Fort Res. I can look at that angle, how we can deliver with the resources we have from the regional perspective into the community. I, again, will work closely with the Member on this.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final supplementary, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Within the confines of these programs, would the Minister consider contribution agreements with the Aboriginal and local governments for transferring funds to those governments for employment purposes?
Those different contribution agreements we have conducted in the past with the First Nations community organizations. We can look at it as a potential to explore those areas and see what can come out of that or involve the Member in the discussion, as well.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Deputy Premier, who also happens to be the Minister of Health and Social Services. I want to reference the statement earlier by the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs when he spoke about the value of strong community governments and also stated responsible, responsive community governments are critical to support healthy, safe, and vibrant communities. I think that my Member’s statement referenced a strong and viable and responsive community, my own, which is attempting to provide better services for their residents.
I’ve heard the explanation from the Minister of Justice as to why the GNWT is withdrawing from the Yellowknife Social Issues Committee. I would like to ask the Minister, the Deputy Premier, and the Minister for Health why the Health department felt that a health representative could not sit on this committee.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Neither department is withdrawing from the committee. What we’re doing is suggesting that there be a more appropriate change of status that would allow them to get more involved in a more effective way.
Thanks to the Minister. I am pleased to hear that I think the Minister said participation on the committee will still go forward. I do have to question, though, that this was a rather strong response to a situation in which employees felt uncomfortable. Certainly as Members, we’re often put in situations where we feel uncomfortable and we always have the opportunity to declare a conflict of interest. I think that could have been an appropriate response from these representatives.
Within many our communities there are interagency committees which meet and they include participation of GNWT staff from within the community. I’d like to ask the Minister whether or not he sees an interagency committee in, say, Lutselk'e, to be different from the Yellowknife Social Issues Committee. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I’m not quite sure of the structure of this committee compared to, say, an interagency committee, if it, in fact, exists. My understanding of most interagency groups that I’ve been familiar with is that it ebbs and flows and gathers around projects or specific issues to try and resolve situations at a committee level. In this case, it’s an arrangement that we think is not harsh or overly dramatic. We think it’s a measured, careful, thoughtful response, and coming up with a solution very similar to the solution put forward by the Member for Great Slave as a way to keep everybody engaged in a way that will respect the positions that they’re in and potential conflict issues, and still allow the group to perform the functions that it was intended to perform the same as at the interagency groups. Thank you.
If the Minister doesn’t think interagency committees exist, he might perhaps ask some of the representatives within communities. In my travels to communities, I think I’ve met with two or three of them and they seem to be pretty permanent.
To the Minister’s statement that there will be continued participation on the Yellowknife Social Issues Committee, I’d like to ask the Minister if the Department of Health and Social Services is actively working with the Social Issues Committee to figure out what that participation can be, and when we might expect some sort of a revised indication of support for the committee. Thank you.
Our engagement will be the same as what has been outlined by the Minister of Justice that was a jointly-signed letter, and it’s an approach that we think will allow us to move forward and still have involvement in an advisory capacity, and as the Minister of Justice indicated, we’re receptive to the types of suggestions made by the Member for Great Slave. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Health and Social Services getting back to my statement that I made earlier today. In my statement I highlighted a Yellowknife scenario, but believe me, the situation where parents are losing their teenage sons and daughters to alcohol and drugs can happen in communities across the Northwest Territories; Inuvik, Fort Smith, Hay River, just to name a few.
Many families here in the Northwest Territories are being ripped apart with nowhere to turn when their children aged 15 to 18 take to the streets, are drinking, doing drugs and stealing. We need to make sure that as a government we have the resources to help the parents who find themselves in this nightmare scenario of not knowing where their son or daughter is and whether they are safe.
In the example I outlined in my Member’s statement where a mother goes into Social Services and absolutely lays all of her cards on the table, my first question is: why in cases where it is very apparent that the young person is obviously making bad decisions and bad choices does Social Services say that unless this person is willing to agree to help, they cannot make them do it? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Firstly, I’d indicated that I believe that in almost every community, if not every community, there are places to turn. There are your parents. There are your relatives. If there are health officials, if there are social service people, if there are teachers, if there are other people that work in the community, there’s your clergy that may be available, that we have those resources. The issue that the Member asks about in terms of the example he raised, I don’t have the full details, but I would assume that there’s an age issue and that the individual, the youth is old enough and they have certain rights of their own, as well, that have to be respected. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, if a child is 16 years old, why can’t addictions treatment be given and mandated to that youth at a parent’s request when the teenager who is oblivious to their problem says no, the treatment can’t be enacted upon? I’d like to ask the Minister why this is the case that a 16 year old whose parents want them to get treatment cannot force that child into treatment. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, there are rights issues based on age. There are very few cases where you can have some type of custodial disposition that will give legal authority to take somebody involuntarily into a treatment program. Those usually work through the courts, if it’s through the young offenders process or if it’s through an arrangement with the Department of Health and Social Services where there is an actual custodial disposition through the courts. But as a matter of practice for those types of situations where you’re dealing with family issues and these types of circumstances, when you’re 16 years old they have rights that have to be respected regardless of what the parents may think or want to do. You’re not in a position to do it unilaterally. Thank you.
I suspect that from the age of 12 to 18 it would be the same answer that the Minister would give us. I’d like to ask the Minister specific to families that are experiencing difficulties with the youth between 12 and 18 years of age what programs and services currently does the Department of Health and Social Services have at their disposal to help families going through these traumatic experiences with their children. Thank you.
