Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. In March, I asked the Minister of Justice who the lead department is within the GNWT for domestic violence. The NWT has the second highest rate of domestic violence in the entire country. At the time, the GNWT did not have a lead department for domestic violence, and I advised the House that I would come back around to the question by the end of the sitting. Unfortunately, our sitting was cut short, so here I am today. I would like to ask the Honourable Premier: which department is the lead department responsible for domestic violence for the Government of the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Honourable Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Domestic violence is not okay, and it affects many, many people in the Northwest Territories and throughout Canada. The Member is right; we have the second highest rates, and we do need to do something about it. There is no one answer to domestic violence, is the issue. We did talk about it at our Cabinet table. Things that we need to look at include our criminal justice response. It talks about treatment. We need to talk about housing for people. We need to talk about treatment for people who are the perpetrators and people who are the victims. It goes across all departments.
As such, then, we decided, as a Cabinet table, that it would make sense that the lead department would be Executive and Indigenous Affairs; I would be the lead. However, in saying that, it is very important to know that we all have a responsibility. All of my Cabinet Members and all Members and all of society have an obligation to speak out and try to address the horrible things that are seen when we talk about domestic violence. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I appreciate that Cabinet sat down and had this conversation and came up with a response. Thank you to them for that. What I would like to know from the Honourable Premier is if she would commit to creating a meaningful domestic and inter-partner violence prevention awareness campaign during the life of this Assembly.
It would be irresponsible not to do a thorough public awareness campaign, Mr. Speaker. For too many years, when I grew up as a child, the theory was, you made your bed; you lie in it. Days were different back then, and many women experienced that and had to live with that, because they were shamed if they did not, if they did disclose and decided to leave their partners.
Those times are done, Mr. Speaker. It is time for all of us to have a voice and speak out against it. Absolutely, Mr. Speaker, I will commit to having an aggressive campaign to actually get it out there in the public and have people talking about it. If we do not talk about it, Mr. Speaker, we will not address it.
I agree, and I appreciate the Premier's commitment to this. My third question for the Premier is: when someone disappears, the first hours are the most crucial. Mr. Speaker, there is rarely evidence that a crime has been committed; however, this is a prerequisite for police to be able to seek a court's permission for a search warrant or for personal records for somebody who has gone missing.
What I would like to know from the Premier today is: would the GNWT commit to bringing forward a missing persons legislation in the life of this Assembly? There is precedent set by other jurisdictions, by other provinces and territories, and this could serve as a model for the Northwest Territories. Would the Premier commit to bringing this forward for our Legislative Assembly?
I think that we are all committed to it, but for the specifics of that answer, I would like to transfer it to the Minister of Justice.
Thank you, Honourable Premier. Minister of Justice.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This issue dates all the way back to 2012. It was originally raised at the federal-provincial-territorial tables, and sadly, here we are in 2020 and, of course, the Northwest Territories does not yet have this legislation. Some provinces have moved ahead with their own, but it is not uniform across the country. We can't be left behind. Yes, Mr. Speaker, we are going to do the work that is needed to get ourselves ready, to do the investigative work, to put the proposal together. It is my hope that it would be ready to go this Assembly, but seeing as how I am, just today, turning my mind to it, I am not quite prepared to say a timeline to it, but I'll make sure we have a timeline possibly before I'm back in the Assembly, so we'll have a sense of whether that will be possible. At the very least, we are going to get it started. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the collaborative response from both the Premier and the Minister of Justice on that winner. Mr. Speaker, yesterday, we spoke in the House about if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. My last question for the Premier today in regard to domestic and inter-partner violence is: would the Premier commit to creating a GNWT action plan to address domestic violence and inter-partner violation throughout the life of this Assembly? Thank you.
Like I said, we brought it up at the Cabinet table. We have decided the lead. We have already put it on the Committee of Cabinet agenda. We will have a working group. We will be looking forward to that. At this point, I don't want to commit to an action plan. I want to make sure that we know what we're doing first.
I do believe that, if you don't plan, you plan to fail. However, Mr. Speaker, I also believe that sometimes the GNWT does way too many plans, and they sit on shelves and get dusty. I want to make sure that this work is a priority for this government. It's a priority for Indigenous women and girls throughout the Northwest Territories. Domestic violence has to be a priority for all people in the Northwest Territories. I won't commit to an action plan; I will commit to action. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Honourable Premier. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
