As I mentioned, the NWT Seniors' Society is the lead on the Network to Prevent the Abuse of Older Adults, and they offer a number of workshops called Creating Safer Communities for Older Adults throughout the NWT. The community of Fort Providence invited the NWT Seniors' Society to present this workshop in September of 2020. The workshop was attended by five elders, I'm told; a home support worker; a justice worker; and the elder coordinator. Both the chief and the RCMP also attended part of the workshop. What they tried to do in these workshops is emerge with a plan for how they are going to address the specific elder abuse that exists in their community, and it's my understanding that that plan is now in development and that it will be taken back for the elders to review to ensure that it is meeting their needs. That's the plan for Fort Providence.
Thank you for that. I know I keep hearing the NWT Seniors' Society. I believe the government puts money towards their organization. Like I mentioned, I don't know how much involvement they have with many of our seniors in the small communities. We never see representatives in those communities. There are serious problems here. I have been talking to people in my community this past week, and there are people who work on the ground with them. They have serious reservations about what anybody is actually doing to help the seniors because they are facing them almost on a daily basis, and they don't know where to go or who to turn to to help them address these issues of elder abuse, especially the finances and everything because everything is getting more complex, now. People are starting to set up e-transfers and stuff like this and those kinds of mechanisms and withdrawing. That's the stuff I'm starting to hear, and it's almost like we need someone. I'm just wondering if the Minister can provide an advocate or an official position in the communities to assist elders to combat this elder abuse syndrome.
As I say, the department has been funding the NWT Seniors' Society to provide these workshops, and those are ongoing. I have to tell you that elder abuse is like intimate partner violence in that the victims are often shamed, not willing to come forward to say that they have been taken advantage of. It can be difficult to have victims of violence come forward and say that they are, in fact, victims of violence, let alone to then reach out for help. One of the things that we've been doing with our health staff is to train them to look for signs of elder abuse and to support seniors and elders to access all those same services that we provide in the case of intimate partner violence. That would include family violence shelters, court orders, emergency protection orders, social worker assistance, restorative justice, and counselling. All of those things are available to elders to cope with their situation.
The bottom line here, as it is with intimate partner violence, is that we need to change attitudes, that we value our elders. We're not just talking about it, but we are walking that talk in saying that we value our elders and that we won't put up with exploitation and neglect.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Deh Cho.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Minister's replies that the NWT Seniors' Society is looking to address the situation and that it's not an easy fix. That's why I ask if we can get someone to go out and actually interview the elders with a translator or one of the caregivers because I understand that social services has been approached in my community and they refused to assist in this regard because they are dealing mostly with child and family services, that is, taking children away from families, but they refused to help in any regard. We've got two positions like that in my community, and we've got nobody there to advocate for the seniors in the small communities. This is a serious issue, and I would like to have some resources into our communities to assist in interviewing the elders. Let's make a positive step forward in trying to address this issue. I would really appreciate that. Mahsi.
I am shocked that social workers have refused to provide service to elders who are experiencing different forms of abuse. That's certainly something that I want to follow up. There are services available now. For example, the Office of the Public Guardian is a place that elders can go to get services to protect them and their decision-making ability. That exists only in Yellowknife, but it is possible to make a call to the Office of the Public Guardian and ask them for help. We have, in Yellowknife and somewhere in the Deh Cho, adult social workers. Social workers perform a variety of functions not only limited to children. There are a couple of things that I am going to follow up to assist the Member in understanding what available help there is in his community. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am going to take advantage of the Minister being responsible for both ECE and Justice and, as well, make him answer a few questions that his colleague, the Minister of Finance, may have input on. My first question is: what is the Minister doing to work with local organizations, such as BACupNorth, in addressing systemic racism, not only in the public service, but also in the criminal justice system across our territory? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Great Slave. Minister of Justice.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a meeting scheduled with BACupNorth. It has been on the books for some time. There were some issues, I think, finding a time that worked for everyone. That is happening on March 15th. We have our community justice committees, which support communities to develop alternatives to the criminal justice system, such as diversion programs. We also have, what I set as the Minister, annual policing priorities. I just recently sent out letters to the Indigenous governments to find out what their priorities are so that we can incorporate those. Those are some of the things that we do to work with communities and organizations. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Growing up in western Canada, I never knew anything about Black history or the history of African-Canadians in our country until, as an adult, I went to Halifax and first heard of Africville. It has come to my attention that literature around Black history is all but absent in our school curriculums and systems. What is the Minister doing to change this in our educational institutions in the North?
I had a similar experience as the Member. We didn't really learn Black history in school here in the territory. Right now, the NWT grade 5 social studies curriculum introduces students to the experiences of the Black population in Nova Scotia, both historically and today. Students are given opportunities to examine and question social reality through critiques of media, public policy decisions, foreign policy choices, newspapers, historical accounts, and school life itself.
ECE agrees that more representation and acknowledgement of Black history and present day are needed through NWT schools and is currently working with partners to ensure that appropriate resources are identified and made accessible to NWT schools. This need was highlighted and arguably heightened with the recent Black Lives Matter international protests, which compelled ECE to reach out to local NWT advocacy groups.
ECE met with representatives from BACupNorth in December to discuss their thoughts and recommendations on the inclusion of resources in NWT schools. Discussions identified the importance of students understanding and learning about the history of Black Canadians but also the positive history. We do have a negative history in Canada, but there are also numerous positive contributions, as well. We want to make sure that we are giving a full picture.
There is a follow-up meeting with BACupNorth in early March, and ECE is currently reviewing a list of recommended reading materials that have been identified for NWT schools to help ensure that students of colour see themselves in the books that they read. ECE will ensure that copies of these recommended books are distributed to all NWT schools by the beginning of the upcoming school year.
I am really glad to hear that, particularly the idea of critiquing things that have happened in the past and looking at things through a new lens. My next question is a little bit redundant like the first, but I would like to know what the GNWT is doing. We have seen a lot of evidence of police brutality, derogatory treatment, and incarceration of Black and Indigenous people across the country and here in the North. What is the GNWT doing itself, or internally, to address anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism in law enforcement and in the criminal justice system?
I recently met with the commanding officer of the RCMP, and he had also met with BACupNorth. He was very open to working with them, continuing to work with them, and providing them support in any way that he could. I know that the RCMP also, here in the territory, undertakes cultural training and community integration, but I don't think they do elsewhere in Canada. In that sense, they are ahead of other jurisdictions.
In terms of what we do to address some of the issues surrounding Indigenous people in the justice system, there is the integration of Indigenous culture with input from elders. We have traditional liaison officers. I know, in the South Slave, in SMCC, there are some amazing programs. Those are going to be rolling out to other correctional facilities in the future. As we transition to the new Corrections Act, I think that we are going to see a lot more of that acknowledgement that we need to really work with the people in the system.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My last question just has to do with the upcoming cultural sensitivity and training that we will be doing. Does the GNWT make available to all GNWT employees cultural sensitivity training that has the purpose of raising awareness on how to interact with Black or people of colour in the workplace and other departments? I do recognize that I am kind of asking a lot of the same questions. Thank you.
We're breaking down silos here, and my colleague from the Department of Finance helped put this answer together. I'm just going to read it verbatim so that I don't mess it up. No shooting from the hip this time.
The Department of Finance is launching an anti-racism campaign through the months of March and April. The campaign will include printed and video resources that encourage public servants to explore anti-racism and to take action against all forms of racism, along with virtual training and workshops.
This month, the department is also rolling out training for all employees on Indigenous cultural awareness and sensitivity. This training will be launched this month and includes content on anti-racism, unconscious bias, white privilege, and how those topics impact all members of our communities. This training will be available to all members of the public.
Additionally, the GNWT has an advisory committee on diversity and inclusion. This committee provides assistance on improving access for designated employment equity groups in the public service by promoting awareness, working with departments to find ways to remove and prevent barriers faced by these groups, and promote support and increase diversity within the GNWT. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We need emergency shelters in my riding. Two weeks ago, I asked the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation to get me the locations of the units in the communities of Sachs Harbour, Tuktoyaktuk, Ulukhaktok, and Paulatuk. I haven't received anything yet, but I am hoping that we could get this done this week so that I could pass on to my leadership what units are available, either COVID-19 shelters or emergency shelters. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Nunakput. Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Currently, now, in Paulatuk, we don't have any units available. All of them are occupied. For the communities of Tuktoyaktuk, Ulukhaktok, and Sachs Harbour, those communities I will provide the Member with the numbers. I do have them here, but it will probably take me 20 minutes to name them all. I will follow up with the Member with the list. Thank you.
I thank the Minister for that. I just want to ask the Minister: would the units be available to have as a warming shelter in the community? A lot of times, when people are unable to go home, if it's too cold to get to Reindeer Point, which is seven kilometres away, they have nowhere to go, other than staying with family. They don't want to put the burden on family. Are they able to go and utilize these shelters, and who would they contact to utilize the shelters in the community?
I would like to follow up with the Member and just specifically look at the communities that are in their ask for which communities need the warming shelter or the homelessness shelter initiative. Specifically for Tuktoyaktuk, I would like to follow up with the Member, as well, and identify what we possibly can have that is not allocated public housing units in the community of Tuktoyaktuk. Also, a majority of our homelessness initiatives are partnerships, so if the Member and the community leadership are interested in looking at homelessness initiatives, I would like to follow up with the leadership and with the Member, as well.
I thank the Minister for that. Would the Minister commit to working with me and the communities in Nunakput for a warming shelter or emergency shelter, whatever they want to call it? They just need a shelter, a warm place for these people to go and have a place to go. Would she commit to that?
This would be a collaborative approach, and I would have to speak with my colleague for the department of health, as well, and really strategize and identify the needs for the specific community that the Member is referencing and the need specifically in his riding, as well. I will follow up with the Member.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. On February 18, the Chief Public Health Officer recently announced a travel exemption for those arriving from Nunavut, and I'm sure the Minister knows what I'm going to ask next: can the Minister confirm that there are discussions with the Yukon for an NWT-Yukon bubble, as this was on the table before Yukon opened to BC in July 2020? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can't say I'm surprised by that question. I knew, as soon as that news release came out, the Delta crowd would want to know about getting to the Yukon. What I can say is that those discussions are not happening at my level. I am aware that the people in the Delta would like to be able to travel to and from the Yukon without the two-week isolation, and I am also aware that the situation is different now because Yukon has its own isolation protocol. It doesn't have the open border that it had before Christmas. What I can commit is that I will raise it with the CPHO at my regular weekly meeting with her. Thank you.
Since November 20, Yukon has halted its bubble with BC and has put in place a designated corridor for Alaskan residents travelling to the rest of the USA. Those were the thing that were of concern when we discussed it in June, so I will ask again: will the Minister continue to have this discussion sooner than later with the CPHO?
I am very happy to have this conversation with the CPHO. My next meeting with her is this week on Wednesday, and I certainly will raise it with her at that point and find out the status of the discussions that are going on around this. I just want to highlight that what we have with Nunavut is not a bubble. If people from the NWT go to Nunavut, they have to isolate. If people come to the NWT from Nunavut, they don't have to isolate, except in very specific circumstances, so it's not a two-way, open process. What I think the people in the Delta want is a bubble, where there is free movement across the border without isolation in either jurisdiction, so that's what I need to ask the Chief Public Health Officer about when I meet her this week.
Again, the Dempster Highway is a vital lifeline for the Beaufort-Delta and access to essential services, services they cannot get in the NWT by road, and it's too expensive by flight for most families. Will the Minister consider exemptions for members travelling to Yukon as there have been exemptions for NWT people travelling into Yukon? Pointing to what the Minister responded to last, we're looking for exemptions; we're looking for anything.
I am looking forward to the Member inviting me to drive down the Dempster to Whitehorse. I've never had the pleasure of doing that. The thing about travel restrictions is that we can only control our own border. The Yukon can put whatever conditions in place they feel they need. We put our conditions in place to meet our own circumstances. It's not as easy as just throwing the border open and saying, "Look, it's all going to be good." The Yukon needs to decide that it is good for them. I recognize the Member's passion for this, that she would like this corridor to open as soon as possible. I would like to tell her that it will open, but there is a process here that we have to follow.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With the large community uptake of the Moderna vaccine in the Beaufort-Delta, we've heard from most of the communities that we've had high uptakes of the vaccine, first and second in most. Can the Minister tell us if this will assist or increase the possibility of any decisions on a Yukon-NWT bubble? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It's my understanding that having a fully vaccinated population, or an almost fully vaccinated population, on both sides of the border would be very helpful in this situation. I am aware that Yukon has a similar number of doses available as we do with the same kind of timing and goals for vaccination, so I think that that will be useful in making the case to make free travel available between the two jurisdictions. This is a live issue. We hope to have all of our vaccine rolled out by the end of March, so I'm hoping to be able to ask the CPHO, as I mentioned, this week and have the good news prepared for the end of March. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Justice. It's no secret, I think, at this point that I am definitely a supporter of integrated service delivery, and I know that we've heard it mentioned time and again in this House. I want to better understand what the goal is of this Cabinet, during this Assembly, for integrated service delivery and what timelines we can expect to see. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister of Justice.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The idea of having a full-government approach to integrated service delivery and rolling this out across the GNWT is a big aspiration, and it takes a lot of work. It's an entire culture shift. It's not something that can be done overnight, although I wish I could snap my fingers and have it done. I share the Member's passion on this, so perhaps I can talk a bit about what's been done and some potential timelines.
In January, the territorial director for integrated service delivery engaged with over 100 GNWT staff to provide information on the fundamentals of integrated service delivery to start getting information out there. As well, the Territorial Senior Management Committee, which is comprised of senior managers from the various departments, are advocates for integrated service delivery within their departments. Most recently, a visioning exercise was completed with the management committee on February 2nd and 3rd to focus on change management and readiness and resulted in a solid understanding by all members of the committee of what the conceptual framework could look like for integrated service delivery. By April of this year, the department will have the conceptual framework finalized, and this work is critical to developing a real work plan, where we can actually start rolling things out. Working groups will be formalized based on the framework, and they are going to be likely linked to specific actions, to carry out specific actions. These working groups will develop the key milestones and timelines related to each of the actions.
One example is integrated case management. There are other places in the territory where they are doing some interesting things to integrate service delivery, for example in the Tlicho region, so perhaps there could be a demonstration site there, as an example. We have not had those discussions yet, but I am just throwing that out there. It's also the development of standards of practice and training. There is a lot of work that needs to happen, but I can assure the Member that I am fully committed. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I appreciate that it's a big aspiration and will require an entire culture shift, but I think that there are some pieces that we can start working on right now. I appreciate the Minister laying out some of the ones that they are working on. The City of Yellowknife drafted a homelessness plan, and it indicated a need for coordinated access to front-line services, so I am wondering: how is the Department of Justice creating government-wide coordinated access through common intake and access points to better serve NWT residents? That is so that people are not running from department to department to department to put together the pieces that they need, not only to survive but thrive.
As to the city's initiative, the territorial director of integrated service delivery has committed to joining any of those discussions and participating and contributing and learning. What we are looking at is seeing how we can perhaps co-locate services and collaborate in other ways immediately instead of waiting for this giant shift to take place, so that work is happening right now. There are some examples. There are things like the child- and youth-care counsellors; obviously, integrated case management; family preservation workers; the territorial-based support teams in ECE. There are a bunch of things that are happening, but we are not waiting for the final plan. We are trying to do what we can now, understanding that there is a need.
I am really happy to hear that because I know it's a huge undertaking, but I think it's a really important undertaking for us to make as many steps forward as we can on. I am wondering if the GNWT departments will be signing an integrated service delivery MoU between social envelope departments and relevant stakeholders and if that is part of the plan of the working group and the framework that they are putting together in April.
The departments have already signed an MoU. All of the social envelope departments, the deputy ministers have signed an MoU committed to carrying this forward, and partnerships with communities and community organizations are essential. Going forward, I am not sure how they are going to formalize those or what is needed, but they are essential. We will be working with them, MoU or not.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. The Minister touched on my next question a little bit, and that is in regard to privacy. I appreciate that this next question might be a little bit difficult to answer right now, but I am wondering if the GNWT intends to create an integrated information management system to better support NWT residents and prevent re-collection of relevant personal information, support networks, and support history. One of the things that I think could be really positive of that is people might be falling through the cracks at the same point a lot of times as they work through their crisis with GNWT systems. Without being able to kind of track the care that somebody is receiving, we might not be seeing important kind of consistencies in care and consistencies of where people end up falling through the cracks. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
