Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to make a statement today about family violence shelters in the NWT. The five NWT shelters provide safety and support for women and children fleeing family violence. In some cases the shelters provide outreach programs for women and the children who have witnessed abuse programs in the communities. The five shelters are: Aimayunga Women and Emergency Foster Care Shelter in Tuktoyaktuk, Inuvik Transition House, Alison McAteer House in Yellowknife, Hay River Family Support Centre, and Sutherland House in Fort Smith.
These shelters have been assisted for the past four years with capacity building funding provided by the GNWT Department of Health and Social Services. For a relatively small amount of money -- $100,000 per year -- the directors of family violence shelters in the NWT have been able to meet regularly to look at and develop policies and procedures, share information, best practices, coordinate approaches for high-risk cases and situations. These meetings are scheduled when possible to take advantage of training opportunities or allow shelters outside of Yellowknife to participate in the Coalition Against Family Violence.
This funding has supported a variety of training efforts for staff. For instance, two shelter workers, one from Fort Smith and one from Yellowknife, are well on their way to achieving certificates in the Women’s Shelter Crisis Worker Program through Portage College’s distance education program.
This week, for the first time ever, the directors of family violence shelters from north of 60, from the Yukon, NWT, and Nunavut, are meeting in Yellowknife. This meeting was made possible through a grant from the Canadian Women’s Foundation.
I want to acknowledge the important work that staff of our family violence shelters performs for women and children in the NWT, as well as the board members of each of those organizations. I want to also acknowledge the support of this government, which is aiding shelters to maximize the collected resources and increase the quality of services for women and children in the NWT.
The capacity building funding enables our shelters to try to do more than just apply band-aids to the issue of family violence. Family violence shelters are a critical pillar in the broad range of services that are required to prevent and address family violence. I certainly support any expansion into smaller communities and, once again, I applaud the efforts of all these organizations throughout the NWT.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.
