R.J. Simpson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Most of those supports are offered in the corrections system, seeing as how that is how Justice usually interacts with people who need those supports. There are psychologists in the North Slave and the South Slave, and there are counsellors in all of the facilities. There are traditional healing programs at the South Slave; it especially has a lot of programs like that. There is an Indigenous pre-treatment healing program, which is made in the North. We hope to roll that out to other areas, as well. There is a Northern Sessions program, which offers treatment; I wouldn...

It would be great to have "one system to rule them all" and not have to worry about trying to mesh different systems together, but the fact is that it's difficult. We know that from systems that we currently have that do not talk to each other, and so we really need to know a lot more about what we are going to do. We really need a solid plan before we invest in something like that. At this point, there is not a plan to create this system, but we really do need to put in the work to make sure that we do not just spend a whole bunch of money for nothing. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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...

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...

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...

It is my goal to ensure that the concerns brought forward by staff will be addressed. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Immediately following the beginning of the pandemic, all of those types of programs stopped. However, in July of 2020, they were reinitiated. That work has been going on in certain places. However, I note the Member is concerned that the work isn't happening in her community. Some of the things that need to be considered are basically public safety. There are always assessments of offenders. It depends on who is at the facility at that time. This is something that I am following up with further with my department because I know that it has been raised a number of times. I am looking into this...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following two documents: "Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 497-19(2) Corrections Workplace Assessment;" and "Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 528-19(2) Integrated Case Management." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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, 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...