Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are to the Minister of Justice, recognizing that the issue of family violence has to be dealt with across many departments. As I noted, the numbers speak to a dreadful situation of family violence and suffering in our communities: 223 family violence cases; 483 children witnesses; the second highest rate of family violence in the country and so on. The need for action is clear and desperate. Will the Minister of Justice commit to making action on family violence one of his foremost program priorities, and implement a plan to carry out the 19 recommendations of the phase 3 Coalition Against Family Violence report, and work with all of his Cabinet colleagues on integrated solutions? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The Minister responsible for Justice, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There’s no question that the NWT has one of the highest rates of family violence in Canada. This has long-term negative effects on the physical, social and economic health of the people of the Northwest Territories, so it’s clearly something that we all need to be working on, both on this side of the House and that side of the House.
On May 3, 2012, Premier Bob McLeod, as Minister of the Status of Women conference, confirmed his support, and Cabinet’s support, for the Coalition Against Family Violence’s prioritized recommendations to further address family violence. These are a social media campaign, the piloting of the 24-week program for men who use violence, and community outreach that projects the increased safety for women and children in their care. That’s the commitment of Cabinet and the government to move forward on this, and you will see some of this stuff actually has appeared in our budget this time around. There’s some money in the budget for an additional family violence coordinator with the RCMP, so we are working on that.
Personally, I am committed to this. I will work with my colleagues, and quite frankly, we all need to work together to find real solutions to this. I’m committing the department to working in collaboration and partnership with my colleagues and we will work with the Regular Members and we’ll try to find some real solutions. Thank you.
Thanks to the Minister for those comments and commitments. His reference to the Premier’s commitments, I think that’s very important and it’s appreciated. We need to now turn those commitments into action, and I know this side of the House will be willing to work with our Cabinet on that.
Ms. Alice Black’s death could have been prevented if there was police stationed in Gameti. Her killer was wanted on a criminal warrant at the time of the events. RCMP were unable to secure his arrest because they make only occasional visits to the community. They didn’t know it well enough, I suspect. We have a new police services agreement and it’s said to give us more control on the stationing of officers. Advocates repeatedly point to the need for beefing up police presence as a proven means of protecting families at risk of violence. What plans are in place to increase the number of communities with resident RCMP officers? Mahsi.
There are a number of communities in the Northwest Territories that don’t have permanent RCMP located in them. I have been meeting with communities, and I will continue to meet with communities along with the commanding officer of the RCMP, to work on community-based solutions. The RCMP may not be the right choice for every community every time, and we need to look at creative opportunities. I have met with the community of Tsiigehtchic and we are working on something there. I have met with the community of Colville Lake and we’re working on something there. I do plan to get to every community in the Northwest Territories, where we can have an opportunity to try to find some of those real solutions that work for the communities. Thank you.
I appreciate the Minister’s comments there. I know it’s tough. Resources are tight and so on, but I’d say the evidence speaks for itself here. Increasing the number of community shelters is also a critical need. Shelters now exist in only three communities. Lack of a place of refuge frequently means that women must stay in their homes and be subjected to repeated assaults. Not only that, funding for outreach programs has been cut for communities lacking shelters. What steps is the Minister going to take to provide women and children with places of safety from abuse and assault?
We do have some programs in place. One of them is the emergency protection orders that are available to individuals in this situation. We do have the new RCMP family violence coordinator position, which is going to be a real important resource to RCMP in the field, to help them focus priorities and focus solutions for individuals.
With respect to shelters and whatnot, that’s going to take more than the Department of Justice. We need to be a partner. We’re willing to be a partner. I will commit to working with the Minister of Health and Social Services, and my other ministerial colleagues, to address this. We will discuss this, obviously, in the Social Envelope Committee, and we will continue to work with our colleagues on that side of the House. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks again to the Minister. I know the protection orders mechanism has certainly been much appreciated and seems to be helping the situation. The 2008 survey of attitudes towards family violence shows too many people still think that family violence is a matter to be handled solely within the family. That’s the same place violence occurs. The need for a campaign of public awareness and education is a primary recommendation of both the Coalition phase 3 recommendations, as the Minister has mentioned, and of Ms. Menard, in the coroner’s report on Ms. Black’s death. The Minister says he is seeking further details on the form of such programming, and that’s good, but will he commit to making the introduction of that programming a priority for the coming year’s business plans? Mahsi.
I have had an opportunity to talk to representatives from the Coalition Against Family Violence, in particular, about the social media campaign, and I’m looking for information from them on what types of programs they see, what kind of campaign they see, because they’re saying exactly the same things: We have to change the attitude, we have to change the fundamental beliefs and ideas around family violence. I will work with my colleague, once again, and the Premier, who has indicated that we support the prioritized recommendations of the coalition. We will be working on this and we will be having more discussions, once again, with Ministers and Regular Members as we move forward.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
