Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Health and Social Services. I see the Truth and Reconciliation Commission as a springboard for further action. There are forms of injustice still being experienced by Aboriginal people.
Does the Minister of Health and Social Services recognize the direct link between the residential school legacy and the need to offer better mental health and addictions services for our residents in the North?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve had an opportunity to travel around the Northwest Territories and talk to many, many residents. I also attended the TRC hearings in Inuvik, where we had an opportunity to hear many people talk about their experiences in residential school and the trauma that has resulted.
We do have a significant number of people in the Northwest Territories who are suffering from mental health and addictions issues. To that end, we have moved forward with a Mental Health and Addictions Action Plan to help address these issues, to help residents of the Northwest Territories who have been affected by residential school and other issues throughout the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, during my statement I mentioned the Edmonton mayor’s plan to educate city workers about the history and impact of residential schools. The purpose is to deliver service in a more culturally sensitive manner to the city’s Aboriginal population. I think it’s a great idea.
Here at home we have incredible resources available to us: the residential curriculum produced by the Department of Education, Culture and Employment. My idea is to use the curriculum in all child and family services training. Child protection workers and the supervisors should know about this history.
Can the Minister commit to examining the feasibility of this idea? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, all employees of the GNWT currently have access to our Cultural Awareness Training program offered through HR, which does include history, treaties, and a significant amount of information to help all employees understand all people of the Northwest Territories.
But I hear the Member; it’s certainly an interesting point and I will explore it. I don’t know if it’s possible, but it is an interesting idea and I would like to follow up on it and I will follow up with the Member.
I look forward to the discussions with the Minister and Members from this side on the idea.
The mandate of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission includes a missing child project. I’d like to know what attempts, if any, have been made by the Department of Health and Social Services to identify missing children who have died while attending residential schools in the Northwest Territories.
Mr. Speaker, I don’t believe that it is the mandate of Health and Social Services to address that particular question. I know that question has been asked of by the Department of Justice in the past and I don’t know the status of the response, so I’m not the right person to answer that question, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Mr. Speaker, can the Minister inform the House… I would like to ask him if he would talk to the Minister of Justice on this issue here, because it does have some mental and health issues associated with families in our small communities who have children who have not returned back to the communities. It has caused mental anguish, some suffering to the parents and the families. That’s part of the legacy of residential school issues that we’re faced with.
Can the Minister meet with the Department of Justice and see how this issue is being dealt with by the Government of the Northwest Territories?
Mr. Speaker, I’m certainly happy to sit down with the Minister and have that conversation, but I’d like to encourage the Member to maybe join us. It is an issue that the Member has brought forward and I think it might be better for the Member to hear it from the Minister himself. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
