Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I’d like to respond to the Minister’s response to the Standing Committee on Social Programs with regard to child and family services. After glancing through the report, I have some real problems with the recommendations not being supported by the government; especially the 10 that are being rejected. Without those 10 recommendations being implemented, it very much undermines the community involvement in a process that should include communities, should include families and working with the families to find solutions to keep our children in our communities.
This legislation has been around as long as I have. It was introduced in the 13th Assembly, which is some 15 years ago. Yet the problems that this thing has, at that time the cost of this program was $2 million. Right now there are over 600 children in care in the system and it’s costing us $12 million a year. I go through this report and it says, well, because of fiscal challenges -- well, I think if you reinvest that $12 million, re-profile the program from what we heard going around to the majority of the communities throughout the Northwest Territories, and getting those people to come out to the meetings stating the concerns they have with the Child and Family Services Act, clearly requires some major changes and those changes are going to cost us money.
At the end of the day, what happens to the children in the system? As we heard lately in the news, these young people who are under permanent custody of this government are taking their lives. We have to do a better job to improve the quality of life of not only the children in care but of their families and their communities.
I, for one, have put a lot of time and effort into going out there, hearing from the general public, the people in the communities, the caretakers, the people who take care of children in foster homes, and most importantly, the children who have been affected by this system. I feel that we have to do everything we can to implement the 73 recommendations that were put forward and save the lives of the children in our system.
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
