Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Premier of the Northwest Territories. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission report has recommendations in terms of how do we address the whole residential school experience in terms of its impact in First Nations communities. The Government of Northwest Territories has been playing a lead role, which I commend, and I’d like to see the GNWT play a continued role at the national level. My question is to the Premier. There is great work with other partners at the national level and I wanted to ask the Premier if he could update this House as to what residential school survivors can expect in terms of the federal government's response to the TRC report and recommendations in terms of healing and wellness initiatives for residential school survivors. Mahsi.
Honourable Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to thank the Member for the question. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission final report is probably one of the major reports with regards to Aboriginal people and how residential schools affected them, and as the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs, I'm the current chair of the Aboriginal Affairs Working Group. With the new federal government in place, they have placed working with Aboriginal people and Aboriginal governments as a top priority. We have always reached out to the federal government to participate in the Aboriginal Affairs Working Group, and I'm very pleased to say that when Minister Bennett, the Minister for Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada, was in Yellowknife we had the opportunity to meet. She specifically requested that the federal government be part of the Aboriginal Affairs Working Group. I see it as a significant opportunity for all of the provinces and territories, all of the national Aboriginal governments and the federal government working together, not only on truth and reconciliation, but on other important Aboriginal issues. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you to the Premier in terms of highlighting some of the major initiatives that are happening at the national level. The impacts of residential schools are prominently and significantly, of course, felt at the community level, and that's where families that have gone through this experience, from my parents to their parents, generations. The impacts are deep-rooted. What steps is this government undertaking to ensure that the federal initiatives of healing and wellness are brought to the community level?
We have interacted significantly with the commissioners of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. I met with the Prime Minister; he reconfirmed his priority to deal with Aboriginal people, and we as a government have responded to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s recommendations and we will continue to work in that regard. With regards to the residential schools and the communities, we will continue to look to improve in that area, and as the Prime Minister has said, reconciliation should be a commitment by everybody in Canada.
My final question is just a follow-up in terms of some of the information that the Premier has shared. One of the things that is disappointing is that there wasn't an exercise in terms of working with elders for them to document their experiences. One example in my home community that served the Sacred Heart Mission School, there was a society that was established to help former students to deal with the traumas of the past, but at the same time to guide the process in terms of giving expertise to the federal government. Has this government undertaken steps to ensure that bodies of that nature, like the Sacred Heart's Residential School Society, are consulted? Or else groups at the community level are brought into at least the stream of trying to build frameworks in terms of how these federal initiatives will come to the local level? Has there been work in terms of preparation work, and also, at the same time, a level of consultation with these bodies?
Those would be areas that I would have to follow up on, with regards to some of the specifics that the Member raises, but I do know that the federal government provides $5 million a year through the Department of Health and Social Services for community wellness programs. Certainly, in my mind and in my view, the examples the Member raised certainly would fit into that area.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
