Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services and I want to follow up on my statement and ask some questions to the Minister about the office of the Auditor General’s report recently released.
The Minister has mentioned that he and I were both on the Standing Committee on Social Programs in the 16th Assembly and we did that in-depth review. I believe the Minister is probably even more passionate about that review of the 16th Assembly than I am. There were 70 recommendations in that report. Those recommendations, if implemented, would have had a very large impact on our system.
So, a couple of questions here. What has happened to those recommendations? How did we get to where we are today? How did we get here? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Minister of Health, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday, after the Auditor General report came out, I did send a letter to the Standing Committee on Social Programs and I was looking for an opportunity to sit with them and talk about the 16th Assembly report and also some direction that I have given to the department over the last couple of weeks and last couple of months with respect to the recommendations in that report.
I have talked a little bit about some of the foundational work that has been done, which is great, and I don’t believe it’s enough. I feel like we‘ve been tinkering around the edges, that we haven’t actually jumped into the meat of the issue.
When we did the review, we had an opportunity to meet and discuss this with so many wonderful people. I met some really passionate people on the file. At one point we had an opportunity to meet with an executive director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada. She actually travelled with us on that review. She talked a lot about differential, providing these types of services on a differential basis. This is something that we were all passionate about at the time and this is something that I would like us, as an Assembly, to pursue. It was one of the recommendations.
We have been moving forward on the recommendations. I’m looking forward to sitting in front of committee at their earliest convenience, go through the report, talk about some of the things we are doing and how we can move forward to improve all services to our children and families in the Northwest Territories.
Thanks to the Minister. I didn’t really hear an answer to my question. I’m going more to we are in a dire situation right now. There are a lot of things that have been pointed out in the report which have not been done over the last 10 to 15 years, from the sounds of things.
My question to the Minister, again, is: How did we end up in this situation. How did we get from there to here?
I think the Auditor General kind of hit it on the head when they referred to the lack of accountability in the system. I think it was Mr. Moses who outlined the structure where the Minister is responsible and then the director is responsible for the provisions of the act and they delegated responsibilities down to staff who actually report it in authority and move up, so there’s limited accountability in the authority which means it may not have been a priority to the degree we needed it to be, certainly not to the degree the Standing Committee on Social Programs in the 16th Assembly believed it needed to be.
I’m committed, as Minister of Health and Social Services, to make changes. One of the first changes I’ve made – and I’ve made the direction already – is from this point forward starting in July – it’s going to take us a bit of time to do the paperwork and get the job descriptions rewritten and the training done – the CEOs will be the directors, the assistant directors under the act, and they will be accountable at an authority level.
As far as why these things didn’t roll out as quickly as we’d hoped, there has been some work. It has been in the development phase. They have been working on the foundation. I want it to go faster and I want to see results in the life of this government. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I appreciate that some things have happened. I appreciate that it was difficult to put all 70-plus recommendations from the 16th Assembly report in place all at once, but it’s awful slow. I’m particularly concerned, Mr. Speaker, about the gap in services for 16 to 18-year-olds. I mentioned that in my statement. That is something which certainly could have been acted on from the time in October 2010 when that report was tabled in the Assembly until now. There could have been amendments to the act that were done. I appreciate the Minister says we are now – the royal “we” – his department is working on legislation, an LP has been forwarded and we are now working on the legislation, but it’s several years too late, in my estimation.
Can the Minister provide me with an indication of some of the changes we are likely to see in this legislation when it comes forward? Thank you.
It’s never too late. We need to get it done and we will get it done. With respect to the 16 to 18-year-olds, I’m sure the Member recalls if an individual between 16 and 18 wishes to have services, they still can volunteer for support. To deal with some of the other changes we have all discussed during the reviews of the Child and Family Services Act in the 16th Assembly, we are going to need some legislative changes. In the meantime, it needs to be across the department, because we talked about some individuals who choose not to receive services are not eligible for things like income support, so I have directed my department to meet with representatives of Education, Culture and Employment to see what we can do to make sure those individuals who choose not to take the volunteer services can receive coverage.
With respect to the act and what is coming forward, I have provided the LP; I have received some feedback from committee on things they would like us to include as we move forward. I’m happy to sit down and if I can get a meeting with the Standing Committee on Social Programs, we can have these discussions because I don’t think you want me to start listing these things off. We’d be here all day. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No, I don’t want to be here all day, but I was hoping you’d give us a bit of an indication of some changes upcoming.
The situation we’re in indicates that major change is called for. For a long time I’ve thought that the Department of Health and Social Services is too big. It’s a huge monster. It’s like a massive cargo ship in the ocean and it’s very difficult for it to make change.
I’d like to suggest to the Minister – this is something I’ve thought about for quite some time and it would be reverting to something we had a number of Assemblies ago – that social services be removed from the Department of Health and Social Services and set up as a stand-alone department or perhaps a department with one or two other small areas. I’d like to know if this is something the Minister would consider and bring to Cabinet for discussion.
It’s something that I’ve actually thought of at different times. I’ve had an opportunity to talk to professionals who were around in the day when the two departments were brought together or the many departments were brought together and services were shipped out to Education, Culture and Employment in other areas as well.
I’ve also had an opportunity to talk to a significant number of professionals in the system. At the end of the day, it’s my opinion what we want is an integrated system. We want social workers and social service providers able to work collaboratively with our health providers. I don’t believe there’s going to be benefit in the long term for us to split this up and create new silos when what we really want to do is find ways to work together. The Member is not wrong. Things have taken too long to happen. We need to take some action. We need some fundamental change, which is why I’ve said we need to stop tinkering around the edges and dig in and make some changes.
Once again, I’d love to have those conversations with committee and I’m looking forward to that opportunity. At this point, I’m not prepared to take forward an idea of splitting these departments. I think integration, working together and not creating more silos – we’ve all heard everybody say no more silos – isn’t going to help us. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
