Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to follow up on my statement and ask some questions of the Minister of Justice, who also happens to be the Minister responsible for the social issues committee of Cabinet.
The Premier spoke a bit in his statement earlier about the actions of the government in relation to development of an Anti-Poverty Strategy and I’d like to ask the Minister responsible for the social issues committee if he would provide a bit further information, an update for us as to just what work the Anti-Poverty Strategy group has done, kind of where we’re at.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister responsible for Justice, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I’ve mentioned previously, we have a steering committee in place which consists of government and non-government NGOs and individuals who have lived in poverty. There is also a working group, which the Member has mentioned herself, which has pulled together and done two roundtables where they’ve had an opportunity to bring different information to the table. They all come with their own perspectives and program areas. They’ve had an opportunity to discuss the different program areas and set some priorities for an Anti-Poverty Strategy for the Northwest Territories.
Originally we had indicated that we wanted to have an Anti-Poverty Strategy in place by Christmas of this year. However, based on comments from Members, based on a suggestion and a request from the working group and the steering committee, Cabinet has agreed to extend that deadline. We have extended the deadline to March 31, 2013.
As the Member has indicated, we want an Anti-Poverty Strategy that is right for the people of the Northwest Territories. It’s not just a government strategy, it’s a strategy for the people, for governments, all governments, NGOs and industry. We want to get it right. We have extended the deadline.
I’d like to thank the Minister for that update and elaborate a bit on what the Premier had said earlier. I know that both the steering committee and the larger group at the roundtables have been working very hard and I know that they have been working on preparing a draft strategy, some kind of a document. I’d like to know from the Minister when this draft document might be available and at that time, when it is available, will it be given to Members and the general public for comments.
We had hoped that we would have something prior to Christmas for the Members to look at, but we are in negotiation with the working group right now, trying to discuss when exactly we might be able to get something to committee and to the public. As soon as I know that, and I will have conversations with the lead department on that, I will get that information to the Member. We hope to have something early or something draft-like for the Members to see prior to Christmas.
A draft-like, that’s an interesting term. I appreciate it. I think that’s a commitment to have a document out there that Members and the public can actually have some input on.
Can the Minister at this point give us any indication of what kind of consultation with the public will be done once this draft or draft-like document is available?
I strive to come up with new and creative terms. We will have the draft available. It will be shared with committee. We’ve also committed to taking this draft out to community governments, Aboriginal governments, sharing it with the NGOs, sharing with individuals who are actively engaged in trying to address poverty in the Northwest Territories. We will take that out in that way and have everybody give us some feedback before we finalize this NWT document.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m glad to see you didn’t cheat me of my last question. To the Minister, I’d like to ask, I appreciate the commitment that we’re going to, I think, have broad consultation on the document once it’s out there. I’d like to know if the Minister has any idea how long it will take, once the document is finalized, to start implementation.
As I’ve indicated, this isn’t a GNWT document exclusively. This is a document for Aboriginal governments, community governments, Government of the Northwest Territories, federal governments, NGOs and industry. It will have recommendations that every organization and government can help to set their priorities for combating poverty. When we get the document finalized, it will come to the House for more discussion and hopefully we’ll see some of the activities begin to roll out through the business planning process. I couldn’t say when any individual activity will take place because, quite frankly, I don’t know what those individual activities will be.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
