Debates of May 14, 2007 (day 6)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, WHEREAS many Northwest Territories children have suffered and continue to suffer as a result of sexual abuse perpetrated by persons in positions of trust;

AND WHEREAS many survivors of sexual abuse feel betrayed by a system which has failed to protect them or to demonstrate that it cares;

AND WHEREAS recent events in the community of Hay River have clearly demonstrated the vulnerability of our children to sexual predators;

AND WHEREAS the technology and databases are in place to allow for the identification and monitoring of past offenders;

AND WHEREAS community and territorial leaders have a responsibility to ensure policies and checks are in place to minimize the risk of abuse to our children;

AND WHEREAS many government employees have routine contact with children either in their workplace or in the course of carrying out work in people's homes;

NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, that this Legislative Assembly strongly urges the Government of the Northwest Territories to implement criminal records checks at least every year for all public service employees who have contact with children, youth and other vulnerable persons;

AND FURTHER that the government direct all its boards and agencies to adopt policies and criminal records checks of all volunteers who have contact with children, youth and other vulnerable persons;

AND FURTHERMORE that the government make it a condition of all contribution agreements that the recipient organization implement criminal records checks for their staff and volunteers who have contact with children, youth and other vulnerable persons;

AND FURTHERMORE that this Legislative Assembly strongly urges the private and non-governmental sectors to adopt similar criminal records check procedures for their staff and volunteers.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The motion is on the floor. The motion is in order. To the motion. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I would like to acknowledge the efforts of Mr. Terry Rideout from Hay River in being instrumental in this motion coming forward to the House and for all the work that he has done in bringing attention to this very important matter.

Mr. Speaker, as legislators, we are obligated to do everything we can in our power to protect children, youth and vulnerable persons. Absolutely, this motion will not cover all aspects of where people may be at risk. This will catch people who have come in contact with the law already. Certainly, there is a lot of abuse taking place in our communities right now by persons where it is not reported and where these people have not been brought to justice. So this is one effort. This is one piece in an effort that we need to make to ensure that our children are safe and that they are protected.

Some folks may say that this type of a criminal records check for employees and volunteers, that this somehow might create some kind of offence that might discourage people from volunteering in our communities. But, Mr. Speaker, I submit that if you weigh the inconvenience for the potential offence of this against the possibility of even one instance of a child being hurt by a sexual predator, I would say that we should proceed with this and not worry about any of those kinds of negative implications or backlash to this. People need to understand that our intentions are good and are motivated by good and valid reasons when we speak in support of this motion.

We need to make criminal records checks a normal course of action so that when people are entering into positions where they are employed or they are volunteers, this becomes a well accepted, normal course of action that they would be called upon to agree to a criminal records check.

With that, Mr. Speaker, again, I would like to thank Mr. Rideout and I would say all these voting in favour of the motion. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. To the motion. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to thank Mrs. Groenewegen for bringing this forward. I am in full support of it. That is why I asked her if I could second this motion. To me, this motion really speaks to the principle of the people we take care of. That would be our youth, our children, the people at risk. They could be our seniors. They could be anyone.

Mr. Speaker, I believe we are duty bound as Members here to find ways and take every step that we consider reasonably possible to protect those from the predators that prey upon those people at risk I talked about earlier. Mrs. Groenewegen talked about the small amount of inconvenience. I don’t think it is an inconvenience to ask people who put themselves in positions of trust and we don’t know what happens. This is just one more element to ensure that we can trust people and nothing, or at least we can try to make sure nothing, happens.

Mr. Speaker, recently, in the last couple of years, the federal government put their sexual offender registry into force. Now, if you had been charged with a sexual offence after that period once it had come into force, you are on that registry. But this not only looks at those people; it looks at everybody else who was charged with some type of sexual offence beforehand and any other type of offence that may be relevant to be made as notice to that employer or volunteer agency. So this is almost like this motion sets forward a method or process to help find gaps in the system because predators are a cunning bunch. They will find ways to look for opportunities. That makes our job even tougher here at this Legislative Assembly to ensure that we close those doors and we stop that access. If this is just a small step in the right direction, I think it is certainly the most reasonable step and it is certainly not an onerous process to ask someone to fill out a criminal records check. Therefore, everyone, the parents dropping their kids off, maybe their parents who are seniors off in facilities, or whatever the case may be, it gives them the extra little bit of comfort to know that that facility is being run properly and taking care of their loved ones.

So, Mr. Speaker, I will be supporting this motion. I want to thank the Member for bringing it forward. I also want to thank her guest here in our gallery today for helping initiate some of this process. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. To the motion. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I, too, will support the motion that is before us today on criminal records checks. Mr. Speaker, it is something I feel very strongly about. I believe the justice system in this country is too lax and it is no fault of young children, who have offenders molest them, that our jails and our justice system fails and lets people out of jail early that will re-offend. They are out there, Mr. Speaker. We have to take every step that we can to ensure that our children are safe in our communities and they are not going to be victims of sexual abuse perpetrated by these types of individuals. As I said, it is better safe than sorry. I know that it may be a little onerous on organizations and whatnot to carry out these criminal records checks, but I certainly would air on the side of caution when it comes to protecting our children. That is what this is intended to do.

I also wanted to say, as a society, we just can’t tolerate abuse of any kind, sexual in nature or otherwise, against children. I think, as a community, we have an obligation to report abnormal behaviour by individuals to the RCMP. I think everybody can work at this together. If you see something in your communities that doesn’t add up, that is not quite right, say something to somebody because, chances are, something is going on there, Mr. Speaker. I think, as a community and as a group of individuals, we owe it to each other to look out for each other. If something is happening in your communities, please say something to somebody because children may be affected. We certainly wouldn’t want that to be the case, Mr. Speaker.

Again, I do support the motion as it is presented today. Like my colleague, Mr. Hawkins, I would like to thank Mr. Terry Rideout for coming forward and pursuing this with the vigor that he has. I think it is a tremendous thing that he is doing and all the accolades that that deserves, Mr. Speaker. Mahsi.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. To the motion. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to just speak briefly in support of the motion. I do believe many organizations in Yellowknife anyway, already do criminal records checks on people that work with children. I know that the schools do that and the Arctic Winter Games Society I know is engaged in that. If anybody signs up to be a volunteer, they would have to go through a criminal records check. I think this is being done. However, this motion is to fill the gaps and to make it as comprehensive as possible. So I support that in that way.

While the government does not have the power to make the private sector do it, I think this is a statement of encouragement for everyone to consider doing that where they are creating workplaces where their employees are in close contact with children and youth. I don’t want to repeat everything that has been said already in support of this motion, so I will just leave it at that and I will be voting in favour of the motion. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Ms. Lee. To the motion. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Villeneuve.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I, too, rise in support of this motion. It is a good start. I know a motion like this doesn’t give all families 100 per cent confidence that our systems are protective of our children, but at least we are starting somewhere to give people a level of confidence to look at this government and say that we do care about our valuable resource here in the North, being our children, and that we are willing to take some extreme steps to ensure that that safety is covered under an umbrella motion like this which would basically give all our families in the NWT some level of comfort in our social institutions across the North. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. To the motion. The honourable Member for Monfwi, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. (English not provided)

Mr. Speaker, I, too, support this motion that’s in front of us. I’ve spoken in my language about the importance of having a criminal records done on whether it be government jobs, but it is happening in our backyard as well with mining industries. Our elders have always stressed look out for those little ones, they’re the future leaders, they’re the ones who will be sitting here. They were talking about us and now we have to pass on the torch to protect our young ones. Even the mining industries are protecting their valuable assets, their precious diamonds, and also we have to protect our precious children. There are young ones in school.

I’d like to thank the Member from Hay River, Mrs. Groenewegen, for this motion that’s been brought forward. The Member from Hay River pursued this avenue. I think this is very important and that it’s time that we, as a government, moved forward and legislate this because it’s already happening in the North here. The private sectors are doing it, why not us as government? We deal with children; we deal with teachers; all the professional levels. Some may have records that we don’t know of and they are working with children. Volunteers, the community organizers, the sports coordinators; there is a whole variety of positions. So I think now is the time we act on it. Mahsi.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. To the motion. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I, too, want to thank Mrs. Groenewegen for bringing forward this motion and also Mr. Rideout, who is also here in the House.

Mr. Speaker, some time ago an incident happened up in Inuvik that saw that this type of procedure didn’t happen within the residential school system. In a span of 20 years we had different people in our system that were hurting a lot of boys, and the communities weren’t aware of what was happening. You talk about betrayal of trust; you know it’s in the community. These men today are in the community and they are working on their own families, healing their own issues and dealing with their own demons because of something like this that didn’t happen in the '60s; it happened in the '70s. Finally it got some attention when one of the men spoke up and something like this is devastating.

Certainly, my heart felt, I don’t know if it’s sympathy, my heart felt sorrow and also appreciation for people in Hay River who had an incident like this in their community in terms of the damage that this one person could have done, or maybe has already done, in Hay River. What are we doing as a government to help that community deal with this issue here? Certainly for myself in Inuvik and Grolier Hall, that it was only after 20 and 30 years that it received some attention as to how this has really impacted our lives, impacted our families. The betrayal of trust was so deeply felt by our people, our mothers and our fathers, on this issue here that things like this happened in a government institution, also in the Roman Catholic run system here and that we ask that this government looks at this motion very strongly and supports this motion in terms of, as Mr. Lafferty has indicated, our precious resources, because this could cause a lot of problems for our people here.

I am too, in terms of support of this motion, to see which way the government will handle this issue here in terms of dealing with it and giving it some awareness and giving some strong messages to the people that work with our children that a situation like this will no longer be tolerated in our small communities. So thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen, for bringing this motion forward.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. To the motion. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Pokiak.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to thank my colleagues Mrs. Groenewegen and Mr. Hawkins for putting forward this motion. I, too, will support this motion; however, Mr. Speaker, I think it takes incidents like what happened in Hay River to bring something like this. I really appreciate that my colleagues are standing up here today to support this motion. I think the intent of the motion is well to do. We have people that we have to trust with our children, like teachers, doctors, nurses, RCMP and lawyers. These are the people that we put our trust in with our family, with our children. So I think it’s important, especially on the government side, that we’re requesting the government implement something like this for our employees but even go further to ask the private sector to do that. I think just by standing up today I hope that all people that are out there, whether they’re employees or contractors, will implement something like this to everybody. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. To the motion. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, stand in support of the motion. Mr. Speaker, my family has long been involved in volunteer organizations that deal with youth and people who are in vulnerable positions and it is, I think, very much standard practice and best practice in organizations, progressive organizations, that this kind of caution, this kind of due diligence, if you will, is something that is very commonly exercised. In fact, I think it’s a condition of the insurance that many of these organizations need, that they have this kind of policy and this kind of practice in place.

Implementing such a thing would be no small task. There are hundreds of people involved in connection with our boards and agencies and our direct employees, but I think it is something that we should absolutely consider. This is a very strong and very clear recommendation to government. It should not be taken casually and we look forward to a plan and an approach for implementing what really is now in so many other sectors standard practice and, indeed, best practice, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Braden. To the motion. The honourable Premier, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to say that those of us in Cabinet certainly agree with the sentiment that’s expressed here today, that this is not the kind of issue where we have to have…(inaudible)…debate and disagreement, but one that we all have to stand together on.

Mr. Speaker, I just want to point out that our government already does conduct criminal record checks on people who are in positions of trust and also for those who are in highly sensitive positions. Protection of those that are most vulnerable has to be our highest priority, and our government will look very carefully at this motion and see whether there are things that we can be doing in an even better way. However, since this motion is a recommendation to the government, we will not be voting on it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. I’ll allow the mover of the motion to wrap up debate. Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Members for speaking to this motion and for your response to it. It’s very encouraging. I really hope that, as the Premier says, that the government will take this recommendation very seriously. Certainly there are certain segments where there are already criminal records checks being conducted when people are hired to certain positions, but there are gaps. Certainly one of the gaps is the organizations that are funded by our government and the employees of our boards and agencies. Right now I know that in Hay River, the school board is just now dealing with a policy to have this implemented for volunteers and people working in the schools. So there are gaps. The government has gone some way and I think this motion speaks to the need to do more where it is in our ability and within our scope of responsibility to do so. So I hope that the steps that will be taken as a result of this motion will be dealt with expeditiously, that we will see policies drafted and action go into place in a timely manner, and that this will become a standard protocol for people who are working for the government, who are working for agencies funded by the government, and also that the people in the Northwest Territories will hear this discussion here today and will adopt these principles, too, in the private sector and in the non-government sector. With that, Mr. Speaker, I would request a recorded vote. Thank you.