Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It seems we are going to have to bring the federal government kicking and screaming for them to actually come up with their action plan to implement the calls for justice for the Inquiry into the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. I am happy to see that the GNWT is rolling out their own action plan, but I have concerns about whether we will implement some of the most serious calls to justice in the life of this Assembly. My question for the Minister responsible for the Status of Women is: when are we going to see our action plan?
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister responsible for the Status of Women.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Keeping in mind the principles that were set out by the national inquiry for the put through the final report, which included stating that we need to take a decolonizing approach, that we need to have the inclusion of families and survivors, that the conclusions should be self-determined and Indigenous-led solutions, I have decided, Mr. Speaker, that, when work that has been done to date, organizing, as the Member has already described earlier, organizing the work that is happening within the government already, that could be happening soon and that may take longer to happen, it is not good enough for the government to simply make our own list of what we are doing. We, in keeping with those principles, need to take that out to the Indigenous people, to the communities of families and survivors, and let them confirm if, in fact, us looking at ourselves is accurate. If what I'm seeing, where we think we are is actually accurate, they should be the ones. If we're going to do this right, they should be the ones that tell me, "Yes, you're right. You're doing okay here, but you're not doing okay there." We can't look at ourselves without going back out to those that we are hoping to be actually benefitting. As such, Mr. Speaker, instead of having it ready by June, by taking this additional step, I am expecting that the draft plan shall be ready by October. Thank you.
I hear what the Minister is saying, and I recognize we have to take direction from those who are closest to the plan. My biggest concern is: when I go through the plan and if I cost it in my head, it's millions and millions more dollars than we actually have to fully implement. I think this has been a systemic problem across the GNWT is that we often create great action plans but don't back them up with the dollars. Will the action plan that is presented at the new date be costed for each of the calls to justice?
Implementing all 231 calls to justice will, indeed, cost probably not only millions. It may well cost billions of dollars. That's not going to deter me from putting forward the implementation plan, the action plan, and, again, the draft plan because, again, the point to be is: it's going to be a living document that goes back out into the community, to the people who we're purporting to be serving.
No, it's not going to be a full costed plan. What I do intend to do is to try my best to subscribe to the principles that are in the final report and speaking to those principles, which is what they say very clearly is the foundation for all 231 calls to justice and really looking at way we do things, how we do things, and where we're going. Along the way, that can, then, filter back into each department as we prepare our business plans, different levels of government as they prepare their own budgets, looking at what we do already and where we need to go. While that won't necessarily be costed one by one, I do believe that, by laying all this out, we are going to be better placed to make better decisions about how we properly address the budgeting to achieve the things that are in that plan.
I'm hoping that the Minister, I'd like to get into the weeds a little. There are certain calls to justice that, no matter how much consultation or how much talk we have with people, simply costs money, and it's a yes or no. One example is calls to justice 4.5. We call upon all governments to establish a guaranteed annual living income for all Canadians, including Indigenous peoples. I've spoken numerous times about a guaranteed income in this House. Our current Income Assistance is neither guaranteed nor annual. Will we implement this calls to justice?
I watched as an advocate at the national inquiry, as the national inquiry struggled to be something that was built in a legal system and built in a government system, which is, in fact, the same system of legality and government that they were trying to address and to change, and it is a struggle. I can't say whether or not we, as a government or the national government, are ultimately going to implement this specific calls to actions or when or how.
What I can say and what I want to do is do what the national inquiry was calling on, which was to implement the principles, to look at the principles, and to apply them to every single one of the 231 calls to justice. That is not a small task, but we're going to do our best to lay that out in that spirit, to do it in a way that responds to the principles. It takes it out back out to the people who are meant to be served, to include the families and survivors, and to be decolonizing in our approaches, and then, rather than being stuck within the systems that we are still stuck in, do what I can to try to be thoughtful and progressive in how we put forward this draft plan.
No, I can't say whether or not we're going to address the specific one that the MLA has singled out. I'm not going to prioritize or hierarchize the different calls. We're going to look at the whole thing, and once we have that draft plan in place, it may well be that the individual families or survivors, Indigenous governments, may then say, "This is how you need to roll it out, and these are the priorities." At this point, Mr. Speaker, it's not for me to make that determination.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think the Minister could have just said no. I've asked the Minister of ECE multiple times, and he gives me pretty clear nos on that one. I didn't expect a different answer there, but I'm going to try again with another call to justice: 5.6(4), guaranteed access to independent legal services must be provided throughout court processes as soon as an Indigenous woman, girl, or 2SLGBTQQIA person decides to report a defense, before speaking to the police, they must have guaranteed access to legal counsel at no cost. Mr. Speaker, I don't know how you can go out and consult with victims and they will not want free independent legal advice. There is really no one who is going to say, "No, I don't want that." This is a simple yes or no. Do we change our legal aid policy to provide legal services to victims of crimes? Are we going to implement this calls to justice? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I am going to do my best to maintain the principles from the national inquiry which say, that you must look at all 231 of the calls to justice, that we have to take decolonizing approach, inclusive approach, a self-determining approach, a trauma-informed and cultural safety approach. I simply am not going to pick out one and give an answer right now, Mr. Speaker, of which one will or will not be implemented when or how. I am struggling, Mr. Speaker, with how to be decolonizing in the approach to the action plan, working within a system that is still the system that people were telling us is colonial. It is challenging to figure out how to create an action plan which is a thing that governments do. When that is something that is so historic and so built into the structures and the systems that we have, how do I go out? I'm sure that most survivors would like to have free legal advice. That seems self-evident. As far as an action plan that is meaningful in a response to the national inquiry and the totality of all 231 calls to justice, I am determined to try my best to go about differently how to create that draft plan, and that means not picking one out right now and not being premature about what that draft plan's going to look like or where one individual one of the calls to justice is going to fall. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Hay River South.
