Mr. Speaker, can the Minister provide some insight on the reasons why an evaluation of the child and youth counselling program was initiated recently? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Thebacha. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for the question. It's the practice of Health and Social Services to evaluate programs once they're up and running. The last segment of this program was introduced in the last school year. So the timing was right to conduct an evaluation of the program now. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, can the Minister explain what the scope of the evaluation of the CYC will be and what the intended outcomes are for that review? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the CYCC program was developed with feedback from a wide variety of people, including students, parents, health authorities, and others. And so we're going back to that group and asking them what they think the strengths and weaknesses of this program is, and particularly the extent to which it is achieving its goal of improving access to mental wellness supports for youth. So the evaluation there was a portion of it that began last year with staff who were leaving in the last school year and continuing on now with the public engagement period. And rather than waiting for the whole report to be done at the end of August, myself and the Minister of ECE have committed to make changes that will be in place in time for the new school year where those changes seem to be of benefit to the program. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, can the Minister explain the type of feedback the health department has received to date from students, parents, and educators on the impact of the CYC has had in schools so far? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the only formal feedback we've had to this date is from individuals who accessed the child and youth care counselling program that was captured in the 2021 community counselling program client satisfaction questionnaire. That questionnaire showed a 78 percent satisfaction rate with CYCC services. But it's important to note that the response rate for that questionnaire was low, and so rather than relying solely on that we are now inviting parents, students, teachers, and community members to give us their views on how the program is working. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Thebacha.
Mr. Speaker, with the introduction of the CYC, there were several former student counsellors in all regions of the NWT, including in Fort Smith, who lost their jobs because they didn't have the education, qualifications, required for the new positions. Given this program evaluation, can the Minister tell us if there's a potential for former school counsellors who lost their jobs under CYC to have their old jobs reinstated or reconsidered? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this evaluation is not at that point and this is not the forum for HR. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Great Slave.
