Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that the Department of Health and Social Services develop a communication plan pertaining specifically to child and family services so that stakeholders and the public are informed about completed actions, upcoming changes and anticipated timelines. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The motion is in order. To the motion. Ms. Bisaro.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. Just briefly, this is pretty much self-explanatory, but it is important that the public know what’s going on. It is important that anybody involved in the child and family services system be aware of actions that have been taken and what changes the department is contemplating and also that they be given an opportunity to comment on those.
One of the things that we determined in the 16th Assembly when we did our report was that people really didn’t feel they knew what was going on within the child and family services system, so this communication plan is very important. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. To the motion. Minister Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The action plan will be public and it will include details on actions as well as providing some time frames. Performance reporting will also be public for anybody who wants to look at it. I can commit to updating the action plan with progress reports on a regular basis. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Abernethy. To the motion. Mr. Yakeleya.
From the action plan and the communication plan, I’m hoping that the Minister would look at all forms of communication and methods out there, CKLB or radio, not just a website. When you look at some of the stats in the Sahtu region, not all households in the communities are hooked up to the Internet. So, we don’t have everybody going to the website and English is not always their first language. There’s a high percentage of our people. So I guess in that sense, the target area, it’s the older people, then it has to be done in Dene Kede and do it in English there. So the communication plan needs to be constructed so that the grandparents know what’s happening if their children are in the care of a social worker or whatever. They know their rights, they know what they’re entitled to and that the communication plan is evaluated to say are we effective. So I wanted to mention that to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. Motion is carried.
---Carried
Ms. Bisaro.
