Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday in Committee of the Whole, the Minister of health said that this $100,000 of funding that was cut to the shelter network had to do with their ability to do online training. So my question is, does the Minister believe that training in trauma-informed practices can sufficiently be done through Zoom? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Great Slave. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this funding was -- I believe has been around for a bit, and what it has been used historically was for training. Recently, most recently, this -- the portion of this funding was used to develop online training modules and so, therefore, you know, we all know in this House, you know, many of us have used virtual meeting spaces, virtual tools to do a lot of our meetings. You know, I have meetings on many things right across Canada with other health Ministers. The other piece of this is that this work on the modules, training modules, are fully paid for, so they will be highlighted, the first two modules, and the rest of the modules are still to be developed, but that -- like I said, those are fully paid for. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So the shelter network funding is used for more than training. It's also used for sector-based meetings and gatherings in person. Does the Minister believe that in-person connections for a sensitive sector such as this are not necessary? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My staff have just recently, as of February 7th, met with the shelter network and have reported to me that the shelter network has used this funding to have face-to-face meetings, multiple face-to-face meetings throughout the year. In recent discussion with the shelter network, the staff have confirmed that the biggest gap by the loss of this funding is around these in-person meetings. I understand that it's not ideal for face-to-face meetings. You know, we have a huge geographic territory, and the cost of moving people around in the territory has become significant. And so trauma informed training can be appropriate for virtual environments, but the department is also committed to working with -- you know, to supporting the networks to find ways for them to support each other in their communities, within their own networks, within the community networks. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister responsible for Health and Social Services. Final supplementary. Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, the building shelter capacity funding for the $100,000 that we're talking about today was not used to develop the training that the Minister talked about earlier. That's separate funding that the YWCA secured through Women's Shelter Canada.
But my question to the Minister would be that, you know, since the NWT has the second highest rate of family-based violence in the country, families turn to shelters and safe homes more than we want them to, Mr. Speaker. Will the Minister commit to working with the Minister to reinstate this funding? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yes, this is a very sensitive topic for many families in the Northwest Territories, myself personally, Mr. Speaker. However, when we have funds with -- that we are supporting many NGOs throughout the Northwest Territories and many different sectors, we have -- you know, we look at how we're getting the funding. And one of the things that we've had to do is look at how we're getting funding and so, currently, the department invests $3.85 million annually to fund the family violence shelters in the Northwest Territories. Through the department, they also fund $1.36 million to support funding to the shelters. And so, you know, there's a lot of money going into the shelters. And we can say with all of our NGOs that, yes, it's probably not enough. Every single NGO and the work that they do could use more money, you know, and I think that's the thing that we're trying to do, is we're trying to use every little federal piece of dollars that we can do, find, to support some of those NGOs. So although, you know -- what I'd like to say is that we are continuing to find ways to work together with NGOs and to support them but, however, you know, this is the funding that has been allocated for this year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member from Mackenzie Delta.
