Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was 14 when that report came out. We recognize that family violence is a crisis and is of incredible importance here, in the Northwest Territories. In Cabinet, we have established different committees of Cabinet to focus in on some of the challenges that we face here, in the Northwest Territories. We do have a social envelope committee of Cabinet that does look at this issue and look at how we can work better as departments to address those issues. I'm not convinced that right now we need to stand up a new committee, but I do hear the Member, and I will certainly ask the departments to go back and look at what was done in the past, and whether or not there is value in re-establishing a committee like that, or whether or not we can do those things through our existing social envelope committee of Cabinet.
The Minister can find the report in the library, or I can lend him my copy, and he can have a read of it. What I hear him saying is that he's going to create an echo chamber of government departments speaking to one another rather than consulting with people who are front-line service providers or who have a stake in this system as victims, as batterers, and so on. Why can't this work include a broader array of people than simply having people within government talk to one another?
We have a positive working relationship with the Y, with the Shelter Network, with the Status of Women, who are all working with us closely to create awareness and work to help reduce and hopefully eliminate family violence here, in the Northwest Territories. We take their input. We have reviewed reports. Recently, a report came out in 2017 from shelter executive directors. We aren't in an echo chamber. I appreciate the Member's pessimism, but we believe this is important. We are working on this. We are working closely with our partners, and we continue to do so.
This work is so important that, in the last three years, the budget has increased by 5 percent or $172,000. On what basis is the Minister treating this crisis as a crisis?
I just want to make one quick correction. The research that I was referring to was actually conducted by the Aurora Research Institute, and it examined the responses to intimate-partner violence in the Northwest Territories.
With respect to funding, the Member knows how this Assembly works. They know that we have to go through a business planning process, and we have to make a business case for increasing funds. I am proposing that we increase some funding here to the shelters here, in the Northwest Territories, through the next budgeting cycle.
Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when the barges are in crisis, there is money to be found immediately, and the problem is on its way to resolution. Now that we are in the fourth year of this Assembly, the Minister is making a business case for more resources for family violence. I can't say it's too little, too late. Everything is appreciated, but the fact is that this area needs serious attention. It needs new initiatives, and I'm looking for a commitment for the Minister of action, not just talking. Is he able to make that commitment? Mahsi.
To address family violence is going to take a community. It's going to take multiple departments. The Department of Justice is doing a number of things, as is the Department of Health and Social Services. Education is doing things as far as educating youth. The Department of Health and Social Services alone is spending $2.9 million dollars to fund shelters. We recognize, through work that we've done with them, that this isn't enough, so we will be proposing some increases in that area. On top of that, the Department of Health and Social Services alone spends another $477,000 to support different campaigns like What Will it Take?; different programs like the non-shelter regional protocols teams have been set up, that's $210,000; programs for children who witness violence, $75,000; Territorial Family Violence Shelter Network on top of what we give them, there's another $100,000; and the Family Violence Awareness week is $10,000. I'd hardly say we're doing nothing. I agree we need to do more, and we're committed to doing that, and we will be discussing that through the next budget cycle. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. My question is for the Minister of Justice, who is responsible for victim services for this government. Can the Minister explain if there is a plan to expand the current community-based victim services offered through 10 coordinators to all of our communities, and, if not, why not? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Justice.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Member opposite for his questions. There was a review in 2014 of victim service coordinators, and I can advise that this program started out in the late 1990s, with funding initially in two communities in the NWT, Yellowknife and Fort Smith. The Government of the Northwest Territories now provides funding for 11 community-based victim services workers in eight communities, including Yellowknife, Fort Smith, Inuvik, Fort Simpson, Behchoko, Fort Good Hope, Tulita, and Hay River. Workers in those communities also provide victim services to surrounding communities through telephone outreach or in person if necessary.
I would like to thank the Minister for that information, but I don't think he really answered my question, which was whether we are going to complete this network of community-based victim services in all of the communities we have? It's my understanding, the victim services coordinators, they don't necessarily have access to funding to assist victims or to travel to victims to provide support for basic functions such as getting ready for court appearances. Expenditures seem to require approval of justice staff here, in Yellowknife, who don't seem to be available on a 24-7 basis. Can the Minister explain how victim services coordinators access the Victims of Crime Emergency Fund and whether support is available 24-7?
In addition to community-based funding, the NWT Victim Services program administers the Victims of Crime Emergency Fund. This fund is intended to assist victims of serious violent crime. It can fund emergency expenses resulting from experiencing serious crime, as well as up to six sessions of emergency counselling with private counsellors to help victims. Secondary victims also deal with the consequences of victimization.
Victim services are provided on a 24-7 basis, but it is not always possible to provide emergency funding at all hours of the day. However, the practice is to provide emergency funding as soon as possible. As I mentioned in my prior answer, we do provide funding for 11 community-based victim services workers in eight communities. I don't know whether we could expand to all communities, but as I mentioned earlier, they do travel to communities outside of the eight.
I would like to thank the Minister for that information, and we will talk more about completing the network.
The exact duties and job descriptions of the victim services coordinators are not clear, as our government delivers these services through third parties in various communities. It is my understanding that some of these individuals perform many functions above and beyond the call of duty, including cleaning up crime scenes.
Can the Minister explain exactly what type of supports are available for these coordinators and whether there has ever been a review of the effectiveness of these supports?
We do understand that the victim support workers do an incredible job, and it can be particularly difficult. Support for the program, in order to recruit new workers, was another recommendation referred to in the 2014 report.
They do get annual training opportunities, so there is ongoing training that does take place, and in addition, every year the department holds a significant annual training event, where the training provided is typically as a result of victim services providers' requests. Examples include child court accompaniment, critical incident stress debriefing, compassion fatigue, and self-care.
There is ongoing training, they do receive training, and also, these meetings would assist them in that they can speak with their peers and learn from them.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I would like to thank the Minister for that. I was hoping to hear, though, about whether there is professional counselling available for the coordinators.
The community-based approach to victim services makes a lot of sense, and it has been in place, as the Minister said, since 1996, but clearly, the network of supports and coordinators has never been completed. It is unclear how often reviews have been conducted on victim services. The Minister mentioned a 2014 report. Perhaps he could table that in the House.
Could the Minister tell us, though, is he prepared to conduct a comprehensive review of victim services in the next year, 2019-2020? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
I can advise that, in addition to the programs and training that I mentioned earlier, that, starting this year, we are able also to start providing mental health supports above what the employers might provide.
The Member opposite mentioned the 2014 report. I haven't actually read the report. However, five years will have gone by early next year, and we are currently looking at conducting a follow-up next year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Further to my questions on inmate programming and services here, my first question is: does the North Slave Correctional Centre have a main core rehabilitation program designed with submodules? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Justice.
Yes, Mr. Speaker, there are certain programs that I can speak of.
The Corrections Service has implemented a Substance Abuse Management, SAM, Program, Living Without Violence, and Respectful Relationships programming designed to help inmates with shorter sentences, as well as those serving their sentence in the community.
If I might provide more detail with respect to some of those programs, the SAM Program, Substance Abuse Management Program, was launched in 2016, and it has been delivered 36 times. The Violence Prevention and Living Without Violence Program was launched in 2017 and has been delivered 27 times. The Respectful Relationships program has been delivered 12 times.
These programs have been delivered in various facilities and hopefully will lead to rehabilitation of inmates so that they can rejoin society. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thanks to the Minister for that information there. It is good to see that these are being offered, and I am hoping that the inmates are taking advantage of these opportunities.
My next question, Mr. Speaker: on the issue of trades or GED, can the Minister explain the success on how many inmates have enlisted in these two categories?
If I might mention some of the programs that we are offering to inmates at NSCC and FSCC: adult literacy and basic education; general education development, GED, I think it is known as; high school exam preparation; trades exam preparation; and life skills. So far, in fiscal 2018-2019, enrollments in education programs are: 38 inmates attending at the NSCC adult unit and 26 inmates attending at FSCC. I should mention also that the programs I mentioned earlier, such as SAM, are also offered in probation offices.
I recall here last year that there were some collaboration efforts on designing a joint program between A New Day and the centre. Can the Minister explain if that is under way?
Yes, I do remember that there was discussion about that so that prisoners or inmates would be aware of the A New Day Program. I believe some progress has been made, and perhaps I could look into that further and give the Member opposite a fuller answer.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, of course, this week is Family Violence Awareness Week, and normally these would be questions steered towards the Minister of Health and Social Services, but today I am going to steer my questions towards the Minister of Finance.
Mr. Speaker, we heard earlier today in the House the discussion between my colleague, the honourable Member of YK Centre, and the Minister of Health and Social Services about financial resources. I would just like to ask the Minister: does the Minister have ways in which he can work with his colleagues at Finance and find some more or maybe some new additional resources that we can put towards this admitted identified crisis of family violence? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we are all well aware of the negative impacts of family violence across the Northwest Territories through the Social Development Committee of Cabinet. They have been working on trying to come up with some initiatives.
When the departments have initiatives, they come forward to FMB, and they pitch those initiatives, and we, in turn, have a look at them. If we have the financial resources, we look at trying to fund some of the initiatives that are brought forward to FMB. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you to the Minister for identifying a little bit more on the process. Aside from the departments recognizing that they have needs, is Cabinet identifying this as a crisis? Is the Minister of Finance, the lead Minister responsible for funding, will he lead the way in encouraging his Cabinet to support additional funds to help us overcome this identified crisis?
Of course, Cabinet is aware of the impacts of family violence across the Northwest Territories. Both sides of the House are aware of the negative impacts of family violence across the Northwest Territories. If there are opportunities for us to put some resources to some of the programs to help combat, then, we would be unwise not to. We have heard one of the Members talk before about the percentage that family violence has come down in some particular communities, and I would like to think that is a result of people in the communities starting to take action but, in some cases, there may be the financial resources available to them to try to combat this.
Thank you to the Minister for reminding us of the great work that the government is doing in all of the respective departments, and I appreciate that we are doing a lot of great things, and it is a large challenge in front of us.
Not long ago, Mr. Speaker, we are all familiar in 2014 with the Truth and Reconciliation report and the calls to action. Maybe I'd like to ask the Minister of Finance given that this is a government-wide, call it an initiative or a recognition with regard to the calls to action, what kind of financial resources is the Minister putting towards these calls to action because they are so interlinked with a lot of the matters that we're dealing with, with regard to family violence?
My understanding is that there have been some proposals that have been brought forward. We will have a look at those proposals. We will see if there are opportunities for us to put any financial resources towards them. This is an issue as the Member said that you don't have to look any further in the Northwest Territories to see the legacy of residential schools. We'll do what we can to try and put some resources towards some of the plan. We have to make sure we have a plan first. We can't just throw money at something. We need to make sure that we have a plan, and those resources are being put to good use, and they are actually doing what they are intended to do is to help people deal with some of the legacy of family violence and residential schools. We go through a business planning process. Departments come forward with some of the initiatives that they like to see move forward. We go through a business planning process. We hear back from committee on some of their priorities, and what they like to see some of their resources. We'll continue to work on that, but my understanding is there is a proposal, I believe, that is being brought forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yesterday, I was reminded of a circumstance of a person that you might find yourself in, and that's facing a crisis. I was reminded that yesterday in terms of the discussion on child and family services. You face a crisis. Say, like you're in this boat that's sinking, and the captain tells you, well, stay calm and relax. Despite not having a life jacket, you are going to be okay. Yesterday, that's what I was told. Unfortunately, that is the reality and challenges that we are faced with.
My question is to the Minister of Health and Social Services. The mandate priority of the 18th Assembly was to address the whole issue of family violence as a crisis, and we've made efforts to address family violence. We look to our Cabinet colleagues, the Minister for their leadership role. I know there's been efforts like the New Day Program, and there is efforts to maintain shelters in each region, communities. Can the Minister update this House, the steps his department has taken to address the mandate priority that we set aside to address family violence? Mahsi.
Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, a zero-based budget exercise conducted during the 2017-2018 fiscal year was done to help inform a funding model for shelters here, in the Northwest Territories. That work has had significant progress. From there, we will be proposing some increases in the funds available to the shelters throughout the Northwest Territories for the next budget cycle. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I would like to thank the Minister for his reply. The other question that I have, we need to get beyond the attitudes in terms of the whole crisis of family violence in communities. We need to try to at least have some discussions and some of the cultural, and the barriers that we have to go through. One of the challenges in my view, we need to ensure that the initiatives that we undertake has a wide roll out, that it's not just perhaps, that Yellowknife is basically making statements on family violence. The regions and communities have to be involved. How is the Minister and his department undertaking to ensure that communities and regions are involved and families are involved with the discussion of trying to bring down the rates of family violence?
Once again, the Department of Health and Social Services isn't alone in working to address family violence. We are one of the partner departments that come up with solutions and programs that will help us reduce the incidence of family violence. However, having said that, the Department of Health and Social Services is doing a number of things. One of the things that we do is we fund the, What Will it Take? campaign. In that vein, we are working on some new videos to help address family violence and create awareness. One of them is going to be on consent, and that work is currently being done. There is a video for adults being done, as well as a video for youth, and there is also another video on elder abuse, and the filming is currently being done in early December. That work is being done in Fort Good Hope. There is an advisory group of elders supporting this video, so we are reaching out to people outside of Yellowknife to create more product and more campaigns to help us address this.
Mr. Speaker, we are also working on a shelter awareness campaign. This is an NWT-wide campaign to raise awareness about shelter services and how people can access them. The department does have a contribution agreement with the Hay River Family Support Centre in partnership with the "Y" here in Yellowknife, so once again, we're not just relying on input from those in Yellowknife, but input from those across the Northwest Territories who are on the front lines of addressing family violence.
We are doing the work, Mr. Speaker. We are doing the work. Obviously, more needs to be done. We hear you, and we are planning to make some improvements starting the next fiscal year when we make the proposal to increase funding for shelters.
Throughout my thoughts, my statement, and the questions that I have, I wanted to come to a common understanding, and I wanted to hear some good news. Get a status in terms of whether indeed we are addressing our mandate, and look and to see if there's ways from this side of the House we could help the leadership in terms of the Minister leading the charge against addressing family violence in the North. I think we have to get beyond the whole stage of denial and admit that we have a problem, and that's a big challenge that I see. Has the Minister, in his eyes, ensured that this is crisis levels that warrants a crisis response? Is the Minister confident that we have done all that we can to address family violence?
There are societal issues around this, and that we need to do more, and we need to continue to work together to destroy the stigma that exists around family violence. We have heard positive statements about the work we're doing with What Will it Take?, but we acknowledge that we need to continue to evolve and develop more programs and more awareness around family violence, which is why we are moving forward with these new videos that talk about consent. One is being done for adults; one is being done for youth. We're also talking about elder abuse, as it falls under family violence, and we are working with partners. We are trying to bring more. This is what we are proposing for this particular budget cycle, but there will be more. We have to continue to evolve, we have to continue to get the message out there, and we have to continue to work together.
Mr. Speaker, we have a number of videos out already, and I would strongly encourage the Member and all Members to re-distribute these videos through your social media campaigns, through your social media means. We need to work together to get the message out there and continue to destroy the stigma, break it down and have people talk about it. The more people are fighting against it, the better the results will be. It's going take all of us, Mr. Speaker. What Will it Take?
Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
Masi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my final question is more likely to be two questions. The first question would be: does the Minister feel we have done all we can to address our priority in the 18th Assembly by addressing family violence? Or does he also feel that this whole challenge would probably flow into the 19th Assembly? Masi.
