Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today is V-Day, a day when we focus on the tragic violence against women and girls in the North. You can’t get through a newspaper without reading of these horrors across the NWT. Our non-government organizations are our public record and our own Assembly Members place this issue at the top of the public agenda. Despite GNWT program action, the numbers and suffering mount.
We all know the facts and we must act. Here are some priorities for action, priorities that I’ve collected directly from the YWCA Yellowknife and the Centre for Northern Families.
First, the government must commit to maintain its current funding level of $500,000 for phase III of the Coalition Against Family Violence Action Plan. Women cannot be safe until we have an RCMP presence in all our communities. Without enforcement, emergency protection orders mean nothing. We must have these police. The Trauma Recovery Program for women and children who have experienced violence needs to be reinstated. Community-based programs that support both men and women in transition must be established. Enhancement funding for shelters outside Yellowknife, in Tuk, Inuvik, Fort Smith and Hay River, are desperately needed. Our non-government organizations look forward to implementation of the new program for people who violently abuse, and to support the recommendations of the five-year review of the Protection Against Family Violence Act.
The Y and Centre for Northern Families stress that addressing violence against women shouldn’t be just all about intervention. Shelters, prisons, victims services, RCMP, courts, et cetera, are needed but, Mr. Speaker, we must place greater focus on prevention.
The Coalition Against Family Violence had an all-day meeting yesterday to plan for the next phase of the action plan. I look forward to a prompt briefing on the meeting results and confirmation that funds will be allocated. I know these measures are costly and the money is short, but people are suffering and dying. We must put our resources to our priorities. Mr. Speaker, we have to do a better job. Mahsi.
