Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today I talked about the issue of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder in the Northwest Territories. I don’t know the exact statistics, but I daresay we are still among the jurisdictions that are the most affected by this.
Mr. Speaker, I’d like to create a scenario. In a community a young woman comes into a clinic or a nursing station and finds out that she is pregnant. The workers in that community are concerned about social pressures and lifestyle issues that may not result in a healthy child being born as a result of that pregnancy. The young expectant mother does not want to pursue the option of an abortion. What do we have in our network of health and social services that would allow that care provider or that community health worker or that nurse practitioner to refer that young person to a safe environment for the duration of that pregnancy if that was their choice?
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I listened to the Member’s statement with a great deal of interest. It’s something I would like to look further into. I don’t believe at the moment that we have a system, legislative framework, policy or program that would intervene in that way with the pregnant mother
I do appreciate what the Member is saying, which is to support a pregnant woman whom we know to be at risk and see what we can do to assist. I’d be interested in looking further into that.
I consider this to be important. The outcomes we have seen in the people we care for, who are children in our education system…. Many end up in our justice system and on long term support from this government as a result of FASD. It’s far more costly than having the opportunity to refer those who wish to a healthy home environment.
When I was Minister of Health and Social Services, I had a chance to travel to Winnipeg, where they had a network of homes where people said: yes, we will receive young women into our homes; we will care for them; we will nurture them during this time of pregnancy.
Would the Minister suggest that’s a role this government could play, or would it take a non-government organization to step up? Who could organize such a network of homes, of families who would be willing to participate in this way on a foster family type model?
I think the Member is aware of the work this government does and that the western provinces, Nunavut and Yukon do to address FASD issues. I have to admit this is the first time I’ve heard it. I was not aware that this was being practised in Winnipeg. Perhaps there are other jurisdictions that are doing something like this. I’d be very interested in seeing what the program entails, how it works and whether or not we could look into implementing something like that here. It sounds like something that would require a great deal of work to explore, but I’m certainly willing to give the commitment to the Member that I’d be interested in exploring that further.
The age of the young people we may be talking about may fall in that gap. I think foster care funding is only available to children up to the age of 16. I believe that income support may be available. That’s for people who want to live independently, I believe.
Would there be funding available for a room and board type situation, a home boarding situation for a young person under the current programs that exist? Would there be funding available under room and board situations? It doesn’t fit the foster care age group, and it may not fit the income support model either.
There will be no program or money that would be available to do something like that at this time. If we as the government or the Legislature decide that this is something we want to undertake, then it would have to be introduced as a new initiative with new funding. Unless a pregnant mother falls into some other programs under Income Security or something else for health reasons, we do not have such foster family programming for pregnant women at risk. I think it’s something we could look into and explore further.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.
We’re very fortunate to have non-government organizations, NGOs, here in the Northwest Territories and here in Yellowknife that are very concerned about the fortunes of women and children
I would like to ask the Minister if she could, through some format, initiate a dialogue with some of these organizations that may have firsthand knowledge of these types of situations and come back with more information to gauge if there is interest and a need in the community for this type of service.
I am interested in collaborating with NGOs that might be knowledgeable or interested in this issue. As well as that, I think I will make a commitment to direct my department to do more research, gather information, look at the idea, explore it further and get back to the Member and Members on the other side.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.
