Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Given the recent scathing report of the Auditor General of Canada and work done in the 16th Assembly on child and family services, and with over 100 combined recommendations between these two initiatives, we know the Minister and his department have their work cut out for them. Therefore, it’s important that we keep tabs on where this is going and their progress. My questions today are for the Minister of Health and Social Services.
Following the Office of the Auditor General of Canada Report on Child and Family Services, the Minister indicated his intention of hiring two assistant directors, one for child and family services, a second for mental health and addictions.
Can the Minister indicate if this is indeed complete and in place? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Minister of Health, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have one of those individuals in place. We have been recruiting for the other one without any success at this point, but I will certainly keep the Members informed as to when we’re finally able to successfully fill that position. Thank you.
So, we’re at 50 percent on that question.
According to the department’s Building Stronger Families Action Plan, in response to the OAG report, it states on page 7 that a forum of directors of social programs will be responsible for implementation.
Can the Minister indicate why are not the assistant directors, in conjunction with the director, responsible for implementing the action plan? Why the watered down approach in response to such a serious issue? Thank you.
It’s hardly a watered down approach. The territorial director is involved in that working group as well as the directors of social services and all the authorities in the Northwest Territories. They meet on a regular basis – monthly at this point – to ensure that this progress, this initiative is rolled out as the timelines have outlined.
Mr. Speaker, on page 7 of the same action plan, the department’s senior officials are described as “risk adverse, where out of sight out of mind defines the optimal level when it comes to child protection services.”
Can the Minister inform the House, does this set the stage for further failures when there appears in a department’s own words a culture of complacency among its top officials? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, it doesn’t seem to be in the right order here. That was something that was occurring. That’s one of the main reasons we’re doing a fundamental change in how we provide child and family services in the Northwest Territories. According to the Auditor General, there wasn’t enough accountability, so we actually made all the CEOs in all the authorities associate directors under the legislation, which has brought this to the forefront and made it a priority in every authority.
To the Member’s point, this is a priority; it is being dealt with; we are moving forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Short, final supplementary, Mr. Dolynny.
Mr. Speaker, I do appreciate the Minister’s comments here, but it appears that we’re still moving very slowly on this serious issue.
We can only assume that hiring the Child Welfare League to help the GNWT with the action plan and the numerous and new enhanced activities that we’ve heard and been proposed will cost considerable money. Yet it appears that no new additional resources have been used or put forth in the budget, which suggests failure.
Can the Minister indicate how realistic is it that his department is able to accomplish all this with no new investment? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, we’re conscious and aware of the fiscal realities of this government and we are doing the work that is necessary. We’ve got the team in place with the individuals who can do the work and we continue to move forward. We’ve already made significant progress. We’ll continue to make progress and this will happen.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
