Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am going to read the report, the Child and Family Services Act review.
The Way Forward
The grim legacy of residential schools continues under the current child and family services system. From Fort Liard to Ulukhaktok, members of the Standing Committee on Social Programs heard these sentiments hundreds of times. Families lose their children instead of getting help to cope; children are sent away to distant foster parents instead of to the homes of extended family. Alcohol and other addictions ravage families and communities but there are few practical avenues for treatment, and little or no local support for those who do strive to break free.
The stories are all too real. Families across the Northwest Territories have suffered incredible tragedy and heartbreak in the past 80 years. First, severe flu epidemics took a terrible toll. Then, as families struggled to rebuild and recover, their children were taken away and sent to residential schools, often hundreds of kilometres away, with no way to get there but dog team. Communities emptied of young children were left to mourn; the children grew up without parents, missing the love and knowledge they deserved. This devastating practice went on for decades. The effects, spanning four generations, are still being felt today.
Testimony from our communities is supported by the shocking fact that more than 90 percent of child welfare cases involve aboriginal children. The causes are rooted in a long history of discrimination, assimilation, trauma and cultural loss in residential schools, social inequality and poverty, poor housing, and the lack of focus on prevention and support for families in need by child welfare services.
Community input is also consistent with the evidence of professionals in the field, which shows that many parents involved in child welfare cases are victims themselves. A comprehensive 2003 study found that in 88 percent of cases, the female caregiver suffered from a physical, emotional, cognitive or behavioural issue, and was the victim of domestic abuse 73 percent of the time. In 38 percent of cases, the female caregiver disclosed that she was herself maltreated as a child, as did 23 percent of the men. The male parent in child welfare cases is a perpetrator of domestic violence in 41 percent of cases. Alcohol and drug abuse are prevalent among both parents.
But that is not the end of the story. In its review of the Child and Family Services Act, the committee heard that changes must be made both to the legislation and to the way it is delivered. Many objectives of the act are simply not being met. However, Members also heard that there is hope, that the communities want to take responsibility for their children, that a new relationship can be built with the Department of Health and Social Services. It is in this spirit that the committee offers its recommendations for change. In fact, committee members believe change is already underway. In the interest of building stronger families, the Minister of Health and Social Services assigned child and family services’ staff to tour the communities with us to hear directly from the people.
The committee came away from the tour with great confidence in local leadership and the communities’ ability to play a key role in improving the child welfare system.
We were given a great deal of excellent advice, and there is more of it in the pages that follow. Here are the essential recommendations, from which the rest flow:
Focus on prevention and early intervention, helping families stay together and heal; including expansion of the Healthy Families Program into every community.
Take the least intrusive measures possible to deliver child welfare services, with increased emphasis on collaborative processes to solve family problems.
Set up and fund child and family services committees in every community, as set out in the act, providing resources to communities taking more responsibility for child welfare.
Provide alcohol and drug treatment, readily accessible and convenient to all communities.
Extend child and family services to youth aged 16 to 19, with provisions to assist young adults to age 23.
Improve the administration of child and family services by updating procedures, with particular emphasis on increasing extended family placements, custom adoptions and community-based solutions.
Develop a comprehensive Anti-Poverty Strategy that includes coordinating the work and policies of the departments of Health and Social Services; Education, Culture and Employment; Justice; and the NWT Housing Corporation in areas related to child welfare, such as social assistance, legal aid and housing.
Develop a strategic plan at the Department of Health and Social Services, incorporating the recommendations of this report, starting with a response to this report within 120 days.
Mr. Speaker, prevention and early intervention have traditionally been given low priority by the Department of Health and Social Services, but some positive steps have been taken in recent years to support families needing help. The Healthy Families Program is available to families, beginning with pregnancy and extending to children up to age five. The program features home visits to promote positive parenting, healthy childhood growth, and parent-child bonding as well as referrals to other community services. This is an excellent example of the direction child and family services should take. Unfortunately, the Healthy Families Program is only running in four large communities. The program is under-resourced and must be expanded and available in all communities.
Only the community of Fort McPherson has ever had a local child and family services committee, although provisions for them were made in the act in 1998. By setting up these committees, the department can rebuild its relationship with the communities, put local knowledge to good use, and shift its focus to prevention and early intervention with troubled families. Extended families will be more likely to be involved in solutions to family problems; some communities will likely work to restore the traditional role of elders. To be effective, child and family services committees must be properly funded and supported.
Current practice has focused much of child and family services’ work on families embroiled in crisis, and on the legal steps necessary when children enter custody of some kind. Far too often, apprehension becomes a permanent “solution,” removing the child from his or her family and community. More than a third of the 600 children receiving child welfare services in the Northwest Territories are in permanent custody. Adjusted for our population, we place more children in out-of-home care than any jurisdiction in Canada. This can, and must, change. Less intrusive measures can keep more families together and keep more children in their home communities.
Time and again, the committee was told that child neglect and maltreatment are rooted in alcohol and drug abuse. When children are removed from a family, it is common for the Plan of Care Agreement to require parents to complete an alcohol or drug treatment program. It is almost a guarantee of failure. Treatment often involves significant waiting times for centres that are far from home, and those who do succeed find little organized support for continued sobriety once they return home. In addition, the disparity of service and support is too great between large and small communities. This too must change.
It is well known that the years of young adulthood can be among the most challenging of our lives. Young people in the child welfare system, from age 16 to 19, are disadvantaged in our current system, to the point that their human rights are compromised. The gap in services for this age group was first raised in 1977 and remains to this day. In this instance, the act must be changed to require the director of child and family services to offer the same services to young adults as children receive, and further, to extend the director’s parental responsibility for permanent wards to age 23.
There are other barriers affecting children and families, falling under the departments of Education, Culture and Employment, Justice, and the NWT Housing Corporation. Many of these barriers can be reduced with coordinated action guided by a comprehensive Anti-Poverty Strategy. It is important that social assistance augments child and family services’ work; that families facing court hearings have good access to legal aid; that a family temporarily losing custody of children has a home to live in when they are reunited. An alarming proportion of child welfare cases arise among tenants of public housing, telling us that we need to look at the circumstances and supports available to families in public housing. The committee heard about problems in all these areas and they must be solved.
The hard truth is that many problems with our child welfare system are decades old, and we have not done enough to address them or their causes. A review by the Child Welfare League of Canada in 2000 is still instructive today: too little was being done to help families, through prevention and early intervention; families were forgotten after children were removed; staff caseloads were too high; there were problems with recruitment and training; and there was a lack of aboriginal staff, especially in management.
That said, without the amazing dedication and good-heartedness of many individual social workers and foster parents, our system would be far worse. These people regularly go beyond the call of duty, and find ways to help children and families. This group of people will be invaluable in improving child welfare in the future. In a small system like ours, even a handful of people can make a huge difference.
Mr. Speaker, most of the changes we advise can be made or started immediately. That is the recommendation of the committee. We also recognize that some of our most important recommendations will require investment. The committee believes very strongly that the future of NWT children and families warrants this investment. Services to protect and build strong families will benefit our children and our communities. As legislators, we must set priorities to see this through. That is what our constituents want and expect.
We thank everyone who assisted us in this review. Thank you to all those who attended the community hearings, who shared their stories and experiences, to those who made written submissions, to the department of child and family services staff who worked with us, and to all those who enabled our work. It is now our aim, and our duty, to begin making the changes required to build stronger families and communities. The people of the NWT deserve nothing less.
Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker, and now Mr. Bromley will continue reading our report. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
MAKE PREVENTION AND FAMILY SUPPORT A CORE COMPONENT OF CHILD AND FAMILY SERVICES’ OPERATIONAL
The persistent high rates of child maltreatment in the NWT are a cause of great concern. The reactionary, crisis-response mode that child and family services operates in has not, and is not, solving child welfare problems, nor will it be able to in the future without serious changes.
Maltreatment is damaging children’s health and development, with dire consequences to our society. Maltreated children are more likely than others to suffer from physical, psychological and social problems that continue well after maltreatment has ended; for most, into adulthood. Victims of maltreatment often enter the child welfare system, which is very costly in itself. If we consider all the costs of case management, administration, services to families and children, foster care, adoption services, hospitalization, mental health care and law enforcement that stem directly from maltreatment, the expense is alarmingly high. The cost to children and their families, in human terms, is beyond calculation. In that light, child and family services must make proactive prevention and family support a core component of its Child Welfare and Protection Strategy.
The Child and Family Services Act not only allows the director to provide prevention services to children and families, but emphasizes this approach. Although there are currently a few prevention programs supported by child and family services, such as the Healthy Families Program, these programs are starved for resources and lack capacity to take on more clients. The unfortunate reality is that crisis cases eat up the lion’s share of child welfare resources. This crisis-response mode is not sustainable.
Alcohol and drug-related child neglect, followed closely by domestic violence, is the number one cause of children being referred to child and family services. The majority of the parents involved live in poverty and struggle with mental health issues. To address those issues, it is important that government develop a stronger and more effective social safety net as part of its Anti-Poverty Strategy, considering child welfare programs in the process. There is a great need for better coordination of government services.
Although prevention of child maltreatment requires a government-wide approach, child and family services plays the key role. During the committee’s visits to the communities, members heard how many parents, especially young parents, would benefit from counselling and support groups. We need to vastly improve pre- and post-natal care and parenting skills, offer respite services and child care, plus in-home supports and home visitation programs. Investing in these prevention programs early will reduce the demand for protection services in the near future.
Amend the act to:
mandate prevention and early intervention; include a presumption of prevention and early intervention in the principles of the act;
include the presumption of working with and providing support to the whole family to address protection concerns and develop policy and standards to support this change;
mandate community-based services that must be provided by the director in all communities;
oblige the director of child and family services to consider first local, then regional, and finally territorial treatment options for cases requiring alcohol and drug treatment or rehabilitation;
require the director to provide adequate timely support to parents requiring alcohol or drug treatment or rehabilitation so that they are able to complete terms in the Plan of Care Agreement within a reasonable time frame.
Develop a comprehensive strategy to provide resources and capacity for prevention and early intervention programming.
Work with departments and organizations such as Education, Culture and Employment; NWT Housing Corporation; Justice; Health and Social Services; and the RCMP, to improve coordination of services and supports, at both the policy and delivery levels.
Ensure funding for prevention and early intervention programming in every community, and present a budget for it to the Legislative Assembly in the 2011-12 budget session.
Expand prevention services at the local level by delegating responsibility and providing support to community agencies.
Expand the Healthy Families Program to all communities with high priority.
Develop policy to allow the director to provide financial support to families in emergency situations.
Encourage self-referrals and early intervention by providing more voluntary services.
Develop policy that encourages the use of supervision agreements and plan of care agreements before apprehension.
Provide in-home supports and services as a means of keeping children safe in their homes.
Develop public education and community-based parenting programs.
Develop services for collaborative crisis planning with families at risk of developing protection concerns, with particular focus on families with infants and youth (because these factors coincide with a high level of stress in the household).
Develop more resources for alcohol and drug treatment and rehabilitation in each region and support local program alternatives.
Develop a policy regarding victims of domestic violence that includes:
providing services and supports that allow them to keep their children safely in their custody;
advocating for victims and supporting them in criminal proceedings against the perpetrator;
providing temporary shelter and support to allow victims and their children to leave their homes where abuse is taking place.
Provide grants and resources to community organizations to provide community-based services and supports, including shelters, food banks, counselling resources, treatment programs, healing camps, on-the-land, et cetera.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to pass the baton to my colleague Ms. Bisaro to continue with the recommendations. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
TAKE THE LEAST INTRUSIVE AND MOST EFFECTIVE MEASURES TO DELIVER CHILD AND FAMILY SERVICES
The legacy of the residential school system and the historically poor relationship between the communities and the department responsible for child protection continue to colour people’s present-day experience with child and family services. Their relationship is marred by lack of confidence and trust in the staff, the policy and procedures, and the administration of the Department of Health and Social Services.
In every community visited by the Social Programs committee during the review, there was unanimous agreement that child and family services’ interventions are too intrusive and damage children, their families and their communities. One reason for using intrusive measures such as apprehension, the committee found, was that when communication breaks down between families and child protection workers, the workers feel powerless and are inadequately trained to use alternative solutions to protect children.
The most effective way to reduce the number of children being taken into care, and to ensure that only those who absolutely must be taken from their parents’ custody are removed, is to use collaborative processes that focus on communication and alternative approaches to dispute resolution.
In order for parents and families to participate and communicate effectively with child and family services, it is necessary to use the least intrusive measures possible, develop advocacy tools to ensure that parents' rights are protected and allow them to participate more equitably, and engage the community in building the foundation for a new relationship with the department that is meant to serve them.
Amend the act to:
add consideration for the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and the Rights of Aboriginal Peoples to the Principles of the Act;
include the presumption of least intrusive measures with special focus on prevention, early intervention and mediation;
include the presumption of working with the whole family;
include the presumption of keeping families together and reunifying separated children and families to the extent possible;
to allow the establishment of an early intervention team for self-referred cases and cases where a referral was investigated and the child is not currently in need of protection, but where protection concern exists. The early intervention team should be made up of:
the child protection worker,
immediate and extended family members,
a member of the child’s band council administration, and
any professionals with sufficient interest in the child.
Change the threshold for apprehension to include:
a child should not be apprehended if the protection concern would be alleviated by providing financial support or other social services to the family;
confirmation that the child protection worker has considered and/or attempted to provide services which were ineffective in alleviating the protection concern.
18
Develop policy and practice that is culturally appropriate for the NWT, with special emphasis on consideration for aboriginal culture, extended family support systems and a community-based approach.
19.
Amend the act to include a presumption of using collaborative processes, mediation and dispute resolution, from early intervention and throughout the protection process.
20.
Integrate collaborative methods into policy and standards, including dispute resolution, participatory planning and other tools to improve communication.
21.
Include in the policy and procedures a meeting with parents and families for the purpose of outlining all of the options available to them in the child protection process.
22.
Language used in the act, in policy and in practice, should be non-adversarial and contribute to a collaborative process, and building understanding and better communication.
23.
A formal conflict resolution policy should be developed by the Department of Health and Social Services that includes the use of dispute resolution techniques and third-party mediators, negotiators or arbitrators.
24.
Use dispute resolution to allow placement or return of the child to non-custodial parents, relatives and extended families as a means of avoiding apprehension.
25.
Amend the act to:
revise Section 85(1) and 85(2), to allow the participation of advocates in all meetings between the child and/or parents, and staff of child and family services, court proceedings and case reviews. An advocate may include:
a legal professional or lawyer,
a member of the extended family or a friend,
a member of the parents’ band council administration,
a member of an organization active in the individual’s community, or
a professional with sufficient interest in the individual.
Include that if the child is an aboriginal child and belongs to a band council, notice should be served to the band council prior to both the apprehension hearing and the protection hearing;
make the affidavit available, with the consent of the parents, to the band council of an aboriginal child, if a representative of the band council administration requests it;
formalize the child and parents’ rights to legal counsel at all stages of the child protection process;
require full disclosure of the director’s files for the purpose of the court process;
revise Section 8(4) to provide meaningful access to legal recourse for victims of false reports, and consider other consequences for knowingly making a false report.
26.
Establish a mechanism to ensure that every child’s voice is heard, and that the child understands what is happening to them at every level of the child welfare system.
27.
Develop a program for training child and family services committees in such areas as human rights, the child protection process, and advocacy.
28.
Encourage band administrations to participate and advocate at all levels of the process and include them in training activities.
29.
Work with the Department of Justice to address gaps in services provided by Legal Aid, by:
making lawyers more accessible early in the child protection process;
providing resources for assessments and expert witnesses;
extending the billable case management time lawyers are allowed to work with clients.
30.
Start dialogue with lawyers, courts and the Department of Justice to:
integrate dispute resolution and collaborative processes into court processes;
build awareness of child welfare issues and best practices.
31.
Develop a client service approach at the department and authority levels, supported in policy and procedure, as well as client service training for staff.
32.
Enhance child and family services’ relationship with the public by conducting more public education, training and workshops in communities, for both the public and staff.
33.
Rewrite the act in plain language, with special effort to avoid use of adversarial language and concepts.
34.
Develop plain language policy and procedure documents for public information; such as guides, “how to” resources, a website, and pamphlets for parents, families and children involved with the child protection system.
35.
Develop policy and guidelines describing who and under what circumstances information from case files may be shared.
Mr. Speaker, at this point, I would like to ask my colleague Mr. Abernethy to continue reading the recommendations. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
PROVIDE QUALITY INTERVENTIONS AND SERVICES IN RESPONSE TO CHILD AND FAMILY WELFARE CONCERNS
It became evident during the review that the department and its authorities face several major administrative challenges, including human resource management, supervision and oversight, monitoring and evaluation, data collection, technical support, and policy development. New approaches and strategies are required.
Case management and social work practice are also challenging the department, authorities and individual workers, reinforcing the need for regulation of social work practice, capacity building, and the development of new policies and procedures.
One of the primary functions of the department is to provide services that lessen the suffering and hardship of children, families and communities. The committee's findings show that poor program management and failed implementation of the act contribute to the challenges and hardships of residents of the North. To address this, the department must be able to provide, as a minimum, adequate services to children and youth in care and, ideally, services that help these individuals to thrive.
One key finding of the review is that youth are under-served by the Department of Health and Social Services, and other departments, and are falling into poverty, homelessness, violence and crime. This gap must be addressed, as unequal government services and supports for youth is a violation of their basic human rights.
To reduce child maltreatment and abuse across the territory, quality interventions and support services are required in every community. In the long term, quality interventions at an early stage will replace the volume of crisis-response interventions, which will eventually reduce both the human and financial costs of child protection.
36.
Amend the act to:
require the Legislative Assembly or a committee of the Legislative Assembly designated or established by it to review the provisions and delivery of the Child and Family Services Act at the next session following each successive fifth anniversary of the tabling of this review in the Legislative Assembly;
require the director to develop a monitoring and evaluation framework, reviewed and updated on a regular basis;
ensure regular reviews and updating of policy and standards.
Required policy updates include:
apprehension guidelines;
guidelines for collaborative processes, collaborative planning and dispute resolution;
requiring the supervisors to approve interventions;
policy and guidelines for using least intrusive measures;
guidelines for using supervision agreements, voluntary services agreements and plan of care agreements as part of early intervention;
guidelines on privacy and information sharing that clearly indicate when, what and how to allow access to case information;
guidelines for the provision of services and supports for prevention and early intervention, after apprehension and after the child has been returned to the care of the parent(s);
policy and procedures that minimize the number of moves experienced by children in care.
37.
Develop policy and guidelines that prevent inappropriate and potentially harmful placements.
38.
Develop a human resource strategy that includes:
reducing caseloads;
hiring more child protection workers and social workers, with special focus on aboriginal recruitment;
using more lay workers where possible;
retention planning;
providing regular and ongoing training and support to child protection workers and social workers;
using legal clerks to assist staff with court documents.
39.
Make updating the policy and standards manual a priority by assigning staff to lead and manage the project, and complete it within a reasonable time frame.
40.
Improve supervision and oversight by requiring regular meetings, supervisory approval of interventions, and increasing visibility of supervisors.
41.
Develop policy and standards for monitoring and evaluation activities.
42.
Replace the Child and Family Information System (CFIS) with a computer program that is up to date, user-friendly, and able to assist the department in improving case management, monitoring and evaluation, data collection, and planning.
43.
Amend the act to mandate cultural training for social workers and child protection workers.
44.
Finalize the social work regulation process; once complete, all designated child protection workers must be certified social workers.
45.
Training for child protection workers should be expanded, regular, and ongoing, and should include:
building practical understanding of the act and familiarization with the policies, procedures and regulations;
training on human rights, the law, legal processes and court documentation;
focus on understanding the options and processes available under the act;
how to refer clients for prevention and support services;
practical training in communication, collaborative process and dispute resolution;
cross-cultural training relevant to the NWT;
case management and lease intrusive measures;
training on the implementation of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (ATIPP) and how to share information within the limits of both ATIPP and the Child and Family Services Act.
46,
Improve case management by developing policy that includes:
regular meetings with clients, case review and progress monitoring;
regular visits to children in care;
providing early intervention and prevention services and supports for clients.
47.
Ensure that expertise in mediation and dispute resolution is available to both the department, and at the community level.
48.
Create a “Best Interests Assessment” for use by child protection workers during intervention planning to ensure that interventions are done in the best interests of the child.
49.
Instead of the child protection worker, another HSS staff person with training in collaborative processes and dispute resolution should have the responsibility of informing parents about the child protection process, their rights and responsibilities, and generally to provide assistance to parents and families.
50.
Amend the act to:
allow the judge overseeing a protection hearing to consider returning a child to a non-custodial parent or an extended family member who has regular care or contact with the child;
allow short-term extended family foster placements with an expedited community screening process;
allow assisted fostering by extended family, and develop policy to carry it out;
include the consideration of custom adoption as a placement option and develop policy to implement it;
allow assisted adoptions;
include that the court can consider placement and make a non-binding recommendation to the director;
require the child protection worker to consider consulting the child’s extended family on placement arrangements and options.
51.
Develop a database that flags case files when children become eligible for adoption.
52.
Enhance the foster family placement and recruitment program to include:
a focus on aboriginal recruitment;
a more appropriate vetting process;
greater placement flexibility;
greater financial, social and other supports for foster families;
emphasis on local placement.
53.
Create more short-term non-foster placement options, allowing flexibility for community input.
54.
Develop therapeutic placement services that include regular counselling and supervision, proper assessments and treatment of disabilities and special needs, and provide the special care that children in care generally require and deserve.
55.
In policy, allow foster families to maintain contact with children and, where possible, place children with the same foster families they have been placed with previously.
56.
Develop policy and practice to keep siblings together in placements to the greatest extent possible.
57.
Develop policy and procedures to provide financial, respite, training, and other services and supports to foster families.
58.
Amend the act to:
require the director to offer the same services to youth as to children;
define youth as a person from age 16 through 18, who may opt out of services and supports offered by the director, and opt back into services at a later time;
extend the director’s parental responsibility for permanent wards to the age of 23 years;
require the director to provide services and supports to children and youth transitioning out of care and develop supporting policy.
59.
Develop policy and standards that include following up on children and youth after they have left the care of the director.
Mr. Speaker, I’d like to pass the reading on to my colleague, Mr. Krutko. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
CREATE POSITIVE OUTCOMES FOR CHILDREN, FAMILIES AND COMMUNITIES
Positive outcomes will result from combining quality social services and interventions with activities that encourage community participation, ownership and empowerment. As an important step in developing better relations with the community, the department and its authorities must work with communities on all levels: project planning, implementation and evaluation. Empowering the communities to take responsibility for their own child protection and family services and supports would go a long way towards effectively managing cases of maltreatment and abuse in a culturally and contextually relevant way.
One of the key ways to empower a community is by developing community agreements, establishing local child and family services committees, and delegating authority. These provisions currently exist in the act, but major challenges prevent their implementation. These include the department's fear of risk and liability, gaps in community capacity, resource constraints, lack of public information and awareness in the communities, and lack of initiative at the department and authority levels to engage communities effectively.
60.
Amend the act to:
require the director to actively pursue the delegation of responsibilities to aboriginal and community organizations, as defined in the regulations;
require the Minister to enter into a community agreement in each community, even if the agreement simply states that the community does not wish to acquire responsibilities from the department of child and family services.
61.
Develop capacity for monitoring and oversight at the department and authority levels that would be required with delegation of authority to community organizations.
62.
Develop policy and standards for delegating responsibilities and services to community organizations.
63.
The department should develop a plan and policy guidelines in preparation for devolution by working with the authorities and communities, including both aboriginal and non-aboriginal Northerners in the planning process.
64.
Support and encourage interagency meetings and coordination of services at the community level.
65.
Amend the act to:
require the director to provide funds, including a salary for a committee coordinator position and per diems for members, training and support to child and family services committees;
allow flexibility of mandate and function for the child and family services committees so that communities can create a model appropriate to their culture and situation;
allow and encourage child and family and services committee members to participate in all child protection processes and develop the supporting policy.
66.
Assign one or more staff members to pursue and administer the development of community agreements, community standards, and child and family services committees; provide public education and capacity building services to communities.
67.
Community agreements should be designed to develop understanding and consensus on contextually appropriate definitions of neglect, harm and abuse.
Mr. Speaker, at this time, I’ll pass the reading onto Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The committee recognizes the health and welfare of families are influenced by a great many factors, many of which fall under the control of other divisions of the Department of Health and Social Services, or other GNWT departments altogether. Much can be achieved by taking a unified approach to improving services that often have a profound influence on child welfare.
68.
The Department of Justice must increase its support for legal aid, and ensure access to legal aid for children and families involved with child and family services.
69.
The NWT Housing Corporation must:
develop and implement policies to ensure that child and family services’ clients are not prevented from reuniting their families due to loss of adequate housing under the control of NWTHC or local housing authorities;
ensure that its housing stock is fully utilized, particularly in communities with shortages of public housing;
ensure flexibility in dealing with child and family services clients.
70.
The Department of Education, Culture and Employment must review its income support and assistance programs, and ensure that:
support is sufficient for a family to live on;
support is delivered rapidly and efficiently, as called for in current policy;
applications and enrolment are simple and efficient;
renewals and updates of financial and personal information are required in a reasonable time frame.
71.
The Department of Health and Social Services must expand its addictions treatment programs to include alcohol treatment convenient to every region, and a basic level of treatment and support in every community.
72.
The Government of the Northwest Territories must develop and implement a comprehensive Anti-Poverty Strategy, involving all appropriate departments, that includes full consideration of child welfare issues.
73.
The Department of Health and Social Services must develop a strategic plan incorporating the recommendations of this report, starting with a response to it within 120 days.
Mr. Speaker, that concludes the overview and recommendations contained in the report on the Review of the Child Family Services Act – Building Stronger Families.
On behalf of the committee, I wish to thank everyone who helped us in our review of the act and its implementation. I thank all those who shared their stories with us, the communities that spoke of their struggles with these issues and experts and professionals that provided invaluable information and contacts.
We would also like to thank the Minister and the department for their assistance over the last year. The Standing Committee on Social Programs views the presentation of this report to the House as just a first step and we look forward to working with the Minister to implement these recommendations.
People spoke very strongly, Mr. Speaker. We cannot forget that. It’s long past time to deliver on years of promises to the people of the Northwest Territories. Together we can build stronger families. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The motion is on the floor. The motion is in order.
Question.
Question has been called.
---Carried
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize in the gallery today two professors of social work from Alta, Norway. Jan Erik Hendrikson and Nina Hermanson are here with us today. These individuals work with the indigenous Saami people in Norway and are travelling to the Northwest Territories and Nunavut hoping to meet aboriginal groups and leaders to gain further understanding of the social services. They are accompanied by Dawn McInnes, manager of NWT victims’ services with the Department of Justice. Welcome. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s my pleasure today to recognize two constituents, a newly published author, Ms. Karen Hollett, and Bettylou Mcllmoyle, who is up behind me somewhere. Thank you.
Thank you. The honourable Member for Yellowknife South, Mr. Bob McLeod.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to recognize Mr. Ian Burkheimer, who is the director of Partnerships with the Pacific Northwest Economic Region and accompanying him is Linda Ecklund, senior economist with ITI. Of course, I have to recognize my constituent from Yellowknife South, Dawn McInnes.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize all the visitors that we have in the gallery today and especially Ms. Karen Hollett, who I spoke of earlier for all the advocacy work she does on disability awareness. Thank you, Karen, and good luck with your book. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Thebacha, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It gives me great pleasure today to recognize Ms. Betty Villebrun, president of the Northwest Territories Metis Nation; Ken Hudson, president of the Fort Smith Metis Local; and Paul Harrington, president of the Hay River Metis Local. Welcome and thank you for coming to the Assembly. I don’t often get a chance to recognize folks. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize my constituent, Mrs. Davida Delorey, the closest thing to the first lady of the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. I’d also like to recognize a constituent of mine, Mr. Paul Harrington in the gallery. If we have missed anyone in the gallery today, welcome to the Chamber. I hope you’re enjoying the proceedings. It’s always nice to have an audience in here.
With that, colleagues, I’m going to call a short break for a press conference in the gallery and invite all our guests to join us in the Great Hall to mix with the committee. Thank you, colleagues.
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Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I just want to follow up on my Member’s statement regarding the concern of the residents of Wrigley and the impending closure of the Ndulee ferry. As I indicated, my constituents are very concerned. Last year at this time when the ferry closed early, residents were faced with extreme additional costs. This time the residents are asking for an extension to the end of this month, October 31st, only because they have low-income people, pensioners, people on social assistance that want to get out during that time to stock up on groceries for the two to two and a half months the crossing will be closed.
I would like to ask if the Minister of Transportation would give this year’s consideration and what is the plan for the Ndulee ferry at this point?
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. Michael McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve listened very carefully to the Member’s statement, like I always do. I have to point out a couple of things that the Member raised.
First of all, he mentioned that there are new laws restricting the landing of airplanes on the highway. That’s not a new law. That’s something that’s existed for quite some time now.
I’m not sure what gives the Member any indication that we’re pulling out the ferry. There has been no notice that we’ll be pulling out the ferry. The ferry will operate conditions permitting.
I did receive the memo from the Minister that I wrote last week. They did use the date of October 25th, that’s Monday, as a potential date. Residents are concerned because they did get the same message from the Department of Transportation regional office in Fort Simpson. I just want to advise again that the residents have advised me that conditions are good and they don’t see the need for closing October 25th. I would once again, on their behalf, ask the Minister to do everything in his power to see that we can run the ferry until October 31st.
I’m glad the letter referenced the letter that we sent him, because I thought he didn’t get it. In the letter we indicated that the probability would be that the 25th was the date that weather would force us to close by. Weather conditions are what are going to dictate the operation of the ferry.
The ferry historically has run from anytime, or closed anytime from the 19th of October right to November 1st and we’re going to make every effort to keep running. Of course, the weather will dictate how long we can run. Ice conditions, of course, are going to be what’s going to factor in this and decide for us when we have to shut down.
I know that some members of the community of Wrigley and in the area are getting a little excited because there is some work going on at the slipways. That’s all preparation work for when the ferry is due to get pulled out. I wouldn’t translate that as indication that we’re pulling out the ferry anytime right soon.
What type of plan is in place if shutdown is imminent, and how much warning can the community get? I know that sometimes they give 48-hour notice when they shut down in 24 hours. I’d like to ask the department to try to guard against that and try to give the community as much notice as possible. October 31st, if we can get it to that date it will be an extreme benefit to the residents of the community.
Of course, the longer we can run it, the more benefit it will be to the travelling public that utilizes that ferry. We expect that we’re going to have a warm spell here in the next couple of days and that will probably help us with the weather conditions. We still think the 25th is going to be a date that we will probably be challenged with the weather and ice. We will follow normal protocol for notifying the community and the general public. Normally we advertise that there will be periodic closure well in advance, then we start giving the 48- and 24-hour notices that we will be pulling the ferry out. So everybody is aware, we’ll make sure that the Member responsible for this riding is notified along with the community leaders.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today my Member’s statement was regarding the power outages in Inuvik and the implementation of purchasing different microwaves, TVs and that for the community. Can the Minister tell me about the compensation policy at the Power Corporation that provided residents of Inuvik with payments for these damages?
Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Minister responsible for the NWT Power Corporation, Mr. Roland.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Power Corporation does have a claims policy in place that is available to every community as different things affect outages or problems. There have been many claims put in from different customers across the North. The reason that Inuvik is one that has been publicized is because it hit a large part of the community as a result of the outage and an overvoltage situation that fried many of the power bars and so on. In fact, when I was up in Inuvik it occurred and I happened to be in my office when my office one went out as well. Because it hit such a large part of the community and it wasn’t isolated to one subdivision or another, it was a large part of the community, that’s the only reason it has gone as public as it has. I will get a copy of the claims process and provide that to all Members.
Can the Minister tell me that the residents of other communities all across the Territory, such as Paulatuk... I mean, we had the same issues over the last few years and once they did try to claim, they went so fast and persistent in giving the same service into the communities. Can the Minister tell me the residents of communities that are able to participate in this program?
The residents of the Territories are eligible for this program if there is a claim or something that has occurred that caused the equipment failure in their residences or businesses. There is a process of evaluating those, and approvals that are in place, but I’ll get that policy and provide that to Members.
Can the Minister provide some background on the compensation policy? When it was started, how many times it’s been used, what’s the cost? How much money is it going to cost the Power Corporation to provide all the purchasing of all this stuff in Inuvik?
As I said, I’ll provide that claim process as well as get the update on the impact of the outage and the resulting overvoltage situation. I will provide that. The corporation holds an insurance package that allows for this to be dealt with in that manner as well.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. Final supplementary, Mr. Jacobson.
