Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. "A New Day" Men's Healing Program: WHEREAS taking action on the crisis of family and community violence is a priority of the 18th Legislative Assembly and the mandate of the Government of the Northwest Territories commits to continuing support for a healing program for men who use violence in intimate relationships;
AND WHEREAS colonization and the residential school experience are recognized factors contributing to intimate partner violence in northern Canada and the mandate of the Government of the Northwest Territories commits to implementing the calls to action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, especially related to violence against Indigenous women and girls;
AND WHEREAS northern research indicates that male violence against women is committed across the Northwest Territories, including communities where victims have no access to local RCMP detachments, local victims' services workers, and or local women's shelters and that, even where these services exist, communities continue to have high rates of gendered violence;
AND WHEREAS "the Northwest Territories has the second highest rate of policereported family violence, at roughly 7.8 times the national average, as well as the second highest rate of policereported intimate partner violence, at roughly seven times the national average and 3,536.1 women victims for every 100,000 people";
AND WHEREAS the "A New Day" Men's Healing Program is the only program in the Northwest Territories which directly addresses the healing needs of men who have used violence in their relationships to change men's behaviour and prevent future violence;
AND WHEREAS uncertainty surrounding the "A New Day" Men's Healing Program has negatively impacted current program delivery, and future program disruption would negatively impact both current and potential participants as well as their partners and families;
AND WHEREAS violence against women will not end until those individuals who commit such acts are equipped to choose, and do choose, another path;
NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, that the Legislative Assembly strongly recommends that the Department of Justice take immediate action to extend the service contract and funding for delivery of the "A New Day" Men's Healing Program by one year, to December 31, 2017, thereby granting sufficient time for the completion of a program evaluation as well as any subsequent required program transitions;
AND FURTHER, the Legislative Assembly strongly recommends that the Department of Justice inform the Standing Committee on Priorities and Planning of its plan to implement the recommendations of this motion before the end of the 2016 calendar year;
AND FURTHERMORE, that the Government of the Northwest Territories provide a comprehensive response to this motion within 120 days.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Motion is on the floor. The motion is in order. Member for Deh Cho.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mahsi to the seconder of the motion, the MLA for Yellowknife Centre, Ms. Julie Green. I also thank my colleagues for support of this motion. I also acknowledge the presence of the staff at the New Day Program and the leaders of the Tree of Peace Friendship Centre who are in the public gallery.
A New Day Program has helped me. I made a wrong choice and sought help to understand myself and how abuse affects our families and our communities. The Dzene K'oonii Program offers an immediate circle of support that enables one to review the things in slow motion to reflect upon one's self, learn about resolve conflict and make healthy choices to maintain balance in one's family.
Today I'm doing well with my children and family and it's because of the A New Day Program. Mr. Speaker, the A New Day Program is recognized by the Public Health Agency of Canada, Canada's Aboriginal Best Practices Programs. It is part of a national network of addressing family violence and violence against women. Mr. Speaker, family violence in the Northwest Territories is at a crisis level. Reported domestic violence rates in the Northwest Territories are nine times the national average and second highest rate in Canada.
Sadly, the scenario is like this. Too often there is alcohol or drugs involved, there is an intimate relationship and an argument ensues about an issue that leads to an escalation of violence that leads to hurt and pain and sometimes tragically the death of a loved one.
This vicious cycle of family violence and violence against women must stop. The A New Day Program is an initiative that meets the goals of the mandate of the 18th Assembly by addressing family violence. Mr. Speaker, healing is recovering from a wound or trauma. Wellness means living a healthy and balanced lifestyle. Healing and wellness are critical needs for our families and our communities. While it is easy to associate the legacy of family violence to the abuse of alcohol and drugs, the impacts of residential schools and its effects are far reaching and intergenerational.
I remain hopeful that the recommendation for action of the Truth and Reconciliation Report will help address healing and wellness initiatives that we need for our families and communities. This motion, if passed, will recommend to Cabinet that the A New Day Program continue functioning without interruption while evaluation is completed.
Mr. Speaker, I'm living proof that the A New Day Program can help us come to terms with our past and move beyond the use of violence as a way of coping with the things we all struggle with. There is far too little support for our residents who accept that they need assistance. Let's not eliminate one of the few programs that is available and working. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
---Applause
Masi. To the motion. I'll allow a seconder to make her remarks. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to start by saying how very proud I am of my colleague Mr. Nadli. He has taken constructive steps to make himself a better man by starting on this healing journey, and we are all the better for it.
Mr. Speaker, women experience violence in greater numbers than men, but it's true that men also experience violence, and the effects of this violence include things like injuries, depression and other mental health issues, disease, addiction and even death. There are economic costs as well, mostly with loss in productivity but also the cost of treatment that amounts to billions of dollars a year.
Violence against women is a worldwide problem being addressed by the United Nations, national governments and territorial governments like ours. The recent report by the Chief Public Health Officer of Canada says, as you've heard, the NWT rate is nine times the national average, and believe it, Mr. Speaker, from December 2011 to December 2012 five women, five women, in the NWT were killed by intimate partners, and I'm going to name them because they should never be forgotten: Jenny Pingo of Tuktoyuktuk, Mary Laboucan of Fort Resolution, Carol Buggins and Linda Lafferty of Hay River and Yvonne Desjarlais of Yellowknife and most recently May Elanik of Aklavik.
Mr. Speaker, this is a problem everywhere in the Northwest Territories, and this is what's important to know in the context of this motion. Violence against women is not inevitable and it is preventable, and the key word here is prevention. Prevention involves reducing the number of new incidents of family violence with actions that address systemic issues. Why do men use violence against women and how do we stop them?
The Coalition Against Family Violence and the Department of Justice spent more than two years looking at programs that would help men to stop using violence. What they came up with is not an off-the-shelf program, but one which is culturally appropriate and community-based, and as my colleague Mr. Nadli said, the Public Health Agency of Canada has designated it an Aboriginal Best Practices Program. It is on the face of it the right program for this territory.
The department decided to pilot the program. It got off to a rough start because the non-profit contracted for delivery collapsed. The program really didn't start until two years ago and it was supposed to be a three-year pilot, but it's been incredibly successful in the time it has been going with more than 350 people who have attended some aspect or all of the program since it started and the anecdotal evidence is overwhelming in saying that it's effective.
Mr. Speaker, this program starts with asking men to take responsibility for their violent actions. They then go on to engage in individual and group therapy, they explore the circumstances and feelings that trigger a violent reaction such as their residential school experience and the feelings of anger and powerlessness that go with that memory. They begin a healing journey that addresses their unresolved trauma.
Some steps along the way include, as I said, defining abuse and taking responsibility for it, creating a relapse prevention plan, talking about the physical and psychological effects of abuse for women, and they also talk about how they can be part of the healing process for the women they've abused if the partners agree to participate. Many, many men have started their healing journey with the help of this program and more are ready to start. A New Day is set up and it's ready to continue and continuity is very important in this context.
I have no quarrel with evaluating the pilot. That is the right thing to do, but the prospect of shutting the program down before coming up with a replacement is completely unacceptable. Women have the right to be safe from violence, and that means intervention like family violence shelters, but it also means systemic addresses such as the A New Day program. This program needs to be extended for a year while the evaluation is not only finished but shared and plans are made for next steps. Mahsi. Mr. Speaker.
Masi. To the motion. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak in support of this motion on A New Day Men's Healing Program. The motion speaks clearly to the need for this program, Mr. Speaker. Taking steps to combat family and community violence are among the priorities identified by the 18th Assembly's mandate. Similarly, our mandate commits to implementing the calls to action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission especially related to violence against Indigenous women and girls.
These are among the most difficult and pervasive problems facing our communities. The impacts of violence are felt throughout the family and community and don’t just go away. Indeed these impacts can be multi-generational if they're not addressed. Most clients of A New Day are self-referred; they go to the program because they choose to. Many of them are residential school survivors. Colonization and residential schools are recognized contributing factors to intimate partner violence.
Family violence is well known to be cyclical, and only through active, directed intervention will the cycle be broken. So it is important that we take immediate steps to preserve this program. We must make sure that the service continues to be available to NWT men and their loved ones, and we must demonstrate clearly that this Assembly is dedicated and determined to confronting this issue.
In my view, the continuation of this program should not even be in question. When men choose to find help, confront issues within themselves and seek a path away from violence, there must be support available to them for that journey. Helping make sure that support exists may be among the most important steps we take as an Assembly. I offer this motion my strongest endorsement. Those are my comments. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
To the motion. Member for Hay River North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I support this motion. The government is mandated to provide a men's healing program, and morally there is no question that we should be. Whether the funding for A New Day continues beyond next month is dependent as the Minister says, upon the findings of a third party evaluation.
Mr. Speaker, I understand that we are in difficult financial times, and I'm not against cutting costs, nor am I against ensuring that the programs we fund are effective, but I am worried that the government may just see this as a cost saving opportunity. I might not even advocate for the extension of the program if the department had something similar ready to go. But as it stands, if this program is cut, the territory will be without a men's healing program, with no guarantee they will get another one and no apparent plan from the department to implement something similar.
If the department is looking at this from a purely economic standpoint, it should consider the immense cost savings of preventing family violence. Keeping one person locked up in jail in the NWT costs over $100,000 a year, nearly half a year of funding of the A New Day program. What are the costs associated with multiple visits from the RCMP, or ambulance trips, emergency visits, nights in emergency shelters, removing children from their home, legal aid, time in court? If the program can help one individual to stop perpetrating family violence, cost savings in all these areas will be realized; and if the program stops the propagation of intergenerational trauma in one family, the cost savings are exponential.
The department also points out the number of graduates of the program, with the implication that the number may be too low to justify the cost. I know that some sort of metrics need to be used to assess programs, but I don't know if counselling for intergenerational trauma lends itself well to the idea of graduation. Over 300 men have accessed the counselling service, and just because they haven't all graduated from the program doesn't mean that there is no value in receiving counselling. What it does mean is that hundreds of men have reached out thousands of times. There is a clear and pressing need for these programs.
There is much more to be said about this motion, but I'll yield the floor and conclude by reminding all Members of this House that this motion simply asks to extend A New Day by one year. It's not a big ask. In fact, it offers a solution to the department's failure to prepare for this eventuality by not completing the review sooner or evaluating the program on an ongoing basis. I encourage all Members who believe that we need to address the issue of family violence to stand up in support of this motion. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. To the motion. Member for Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I stand in support of this motion. Mr. Speaker, the A New Day has a saying: we built it, they came and keep coming. Mr. Speaker, as of September, 299 men and 59 women were served through the program as of September 2016, and the number has risen as we are now in November.
Mr. Speaker, you see the intake we've had, yet we only have 2.5 people working there; two full-time positions and one part-time. Mr. Speaker, there are four stages of the program. The first stage is defining abuse and taking responsibility; number two is developing a relapse prevention plan; third, studying the effects of abuse; fourth, skills to repair and heal the effects of abuse.
Mr. Speaker, this is approximately 18 weeks to complete, depending on client participation. One thing the people at A New Day have noticed is that sometimes people can't complete the whole sessions, because they have to travel back to their home communities. But what they do notice is, when people do come back to the capital, they continue with the programs that they were taking.
Mr. Speaker, you know, we had a presentation this spring from A New Day and just with all the progress that they've made, at that time it was roughly a year and a half, it's pretty clear that the program is successful. Even if we could help a handful of people stay out of our correctional facilities, the cost savings there, that's one thing that the department needs to look at. How much have the numbers dropped in our facilities in the Northwest Territories in the last two years?
I'm hopeful that, you know, it's a small amount to look at the big picture of all the people that we're helping here. It's roughly $250,000 to keep the program operating, Mr. Speaker, and there are 350 people that this program is helping. That says a lot, Mr. Speaker, and for that I am in support of this motion. Mahsi.
Masi. To the motion. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Marci cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I, too, rise to support this motion. I went to the open house that A New Day had yesterday and I was pleasantly surprised by how much help they provided to people in the communities. I know that people from the communities I represent would be people that would attend the A New Day program. One stat that they gave us that kind of really hit home with me was the number of individuals that walked in off the street and voluntarily went there to get the help of these individuals running the program. I think, for me, that's an indication of how well this program is working. When people are there trying to get help, then they're not getting into trouble.
I think the first step to assist many of these individuals to understand the reasons they do the things they do, and I think the program provides that information to them. If you look at the group, and we throw numbers around like 299 men and 59 women up until the end of September, when you think about the families and the children and the spouses that are involved, that's a huge number for the NWT, of people who almost appear to be non-productive members of society to become real productive members of society. That's very important, because productive members of society don't go to jail, and productive members of society send their children to school, and they become a support to the family. When there is violence in the home, the persons who are the most affected are the smaller children.
We've seen this in the NWT. There are all kinds of statistics that indicate that we have a very high ratio compared to the rest of the country, in the NWT, in violence. If we could bring that down, this group is working to bring that ratio down, working to bring the ratio down to as far as they can. If they could eradicate family violence, that would be absolutely awesome. That would be something that the whole of government wants. That's something that everybody that's elected should want.
When you move forward and you say, "We will eliminate violence," and you're creating productive people that are going to help their children go to school, I mean, the longterm positive ramifications of something like that are enormous. I've seen this program for the first time, and I've heard a lot about it. The honourable Member from Deh Cho has told me about the program, but, for the first time, I've seen it. I was amazed.
They're in very cramped quarters. As the Member said, all of us could hardly fit in their office, and that's where they provide the program. They don't have all of the space necessary maybe to run the program, but they've done a real good job, I think, of running the program. You know, you get people coming back from the communities, as the Member for Mackenzie Delta said, come back into the community. After they've left, they come back to the program.
People have done some stages of the program, come back and finished the program or try to come back to finish the program. Just overall, it's a good feeling to see that people who are walking in off the streets and are trying to do something and they're recognizing, trying to do something positive for their lives which is ultimately going to affect the people that they love and the people that are in their homes.
So, I strongly support this program. I think that a byproduct of a program like this is lower medical costs to people, to the spouses, to the individuals, lower justice costs, lower RCMP costs. There are all kinds of reasons that this government should support this. For the low amount of money that is being spent, there are all kinds of positive and huge impacts, positive fiscal impacts to our government, positive fiscal impacts to the NWT. For that reason, I think we have to have this program continue. Marci cho, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. To the motion, Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I stand in support of this motion, as well. What I found really interesting I supported this program since I first heard about it, and I had the pleasure of attending their session last night and we were able to get a whole bunch more information to help us understand even further the importance of it. I was a former JP, so I understood what emergency protection orders were and why that was important, and that was prevention, stopping it. Well, here's a great program that is all about prevention.
The Government of the Northwest Territories states that A New Day is part of the commitment to address the call to action put forward by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Canada, so the government has already said that it's part of that.
Mr. Speaker, 83 per cent of people are selfreferred, 83 per cent. People come off the street and go there to help themselves, 83 per cent. That means 83 per cent may or may not be in the system. That's amazing. How can we not support something like that?
Mr. Speaker, I was honoured to listen to the messages and that, and what I want to do is I want to put a voice to this. It's not my voice that I'm talking about here. Here's the voice of the people that are part of the program. This is how powerful this is, and I'm only going to read certain ones. I could we here for a while, but I just want to read about five of them. The first one:
"I wish all people had this knowledge that you guys have here so violence among our people would stop." Wow. What does that say?
"Now I understand abuse can be verbal, mental, emotional, spiritual, physiological, sexual, financial, and physical." That is what EPOs talk about. Abuse is not just physical; it's a whole area.
"I'm so proud of myself for facing the charges and going to court. I'm okay if I go to jail. That's how I will take responsibility, help others feel safe." Taking responsibility, that's what we're trying to do. That's why we're trying to educate people is taking responsibility, and they're learning that from this great program.
"I notice when arguments are going to come up, and I can stand up for myself in a good way and avoid it getting worse. This will stay with me as long as I use it. I just walk away if it gets to that point. I'm learning as I go." Human nature, how we learn to deal with issues, wow, that, to me, is amazing. We all should be able to do that, and this program is teaching people how to do this.
The last one I'm going to say is, "I don't know, but something clicked with him. He went to this program and switched his shifts so he can spend more time helping me with the kids. This program really works. Thank you." This is coming from a lady who wasn't prompted to bring this up. She spoke at a meeting and said how well this program is.
Mr. Speaker, it's about families. We talk about over 350 people being impacted by this, but we're not talking about all the families and the repercussions going on afterwards and how it has an impact on that. That there is huge. We want to look after our people? This program is looking after our people.
The 2.5 staff, the volunteers, the students, they've made an impact, not just on the 350 people but the families and 11 of our colleagues and seven of them over there. They've had an impact on us, and society has said, "Great job." It's recognized nationally. We should be supporting it. So I will be supporting this motion. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. To the motion, Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Mr. Speaker. First off, I want to thank the mover, the Member for Deh Cho, and the seconder, the Member for Yellowknife Centre, for bringing forward this important public policy matter before the House and before the public. Really, it's about the future of men's healing programs in the Northwest Territories. That's what this is really about.
I recognize that the A New Day program was a pilot, but it's a pilot project that actually works. I think we will all welcome the evaluation report as it's likely to improve whatever the programming is and this program in particular, so that's something I think we all look forward to.
I visited with the A New Day program last night, like some of my colleagues here, and I understand that it's based on best practices and so on. To me, this works. What I'm most concerned about, Mr. Speaker, is there are no plans for filling the gap in service here. We've got an evaluation. We've got a Minister who says: I'm waiting for the report. But there are no plans for what happens after December 31st, no plans whatsoever. There is going to be a loss of momentum, a loss of capacity, and a loss of continuity, as some of my colleagues have said. So this lack of planning is causing extreme uncertainty for the staff I want to recognize the important work that they do but it's causing uncertainty for men in the Northwest Territories, as well. I don't think that's a good thing, and I don't think it's fair.
It's important that the public also understand that this motion is not binding. It's going to send a very strong signal to the other side that the Regular MLAs want this kind of a program to continue and want this program to continue, but it's not binding on the other side, so it's important that the public understand that.
I am going to be supporting this because it's simply the right thing to do, and I want to go on record as supporting this program. So, with those words, Mr. Speaker, I will be supporting the motion. Mahsi.
Masi. To the motion, Member for Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, rise to support this motion here. I was grateful in attending the gathering last night there. I can see a lot of passion in the staff and the surroundings that they have to work within, and I'm extremely proud of our House Members that showed up in support of this program. Just showing up there has really shown to the staff that you've got passion to deliver the programs.
I think it's not only incumbent upon us but our fiduciary obligation to support this, continue it, and moving it from the category of pilot to continuance. So I would not urge or recommend, I wish to see in the evaluation report that we have client submissions as well as staff submissions so that the end reviewers of the evaluation could not only see the department's evaluation but the recipients of the program. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. To the motion. Minister of Justice.
Mr. Speaker, the department absolutely supports the government's mandate to take action on the crisis of family and community violence. This includes the commitment made to continue the support for a healing program for men who use violence in intimate relationships such as the A New Day program.
There is no question that this program is needed and has helped individuals. We think that this program holds tremendous potential to help address the crisis of family violence in our territory. That is why the government has piloted the program since 2012 and why we are investing in an independent evaluation of the pilot project. We need to learn what has worked and what might work better in order to have the most effective program we can.
Since 2012 the GNWT has provided $978,905 for the delivery of A New Day. Thirty-one clients have entered the program, and 16 have completed the full sessions. There are important lessons to take from the experience of this pilot project. The evaluation will help tell us what is working and if any changes are needed to improve outcomes, including increasing the number of men participating.
The evaluation report on the New Day program pilot is being finalized by an independent contractor now, and the department will work as quickly as it can to respond to the evaluation. The current intake of clients in the New Day program will complete their sessions prior to the end of the current contract on December 31st, so we expect any changes to the program will not impact these clients. I know that there is a strong support for the program and keen interest in seeing its delivery continued. Not only is the existing contractor interested in continuing the program, other potential partners have expressed interest as well.
All Members of the Legislative Assembly want the best tools possible to eradicate family violence in the North. We agree with you and are working to achieve this goal. As a government we are committed to providing programming for men and we will continue to do so, but we need to make sure we are delivering it in a way that is effective and as accessible as it can be. Until we have seen the final evaluation report, however, it is premature to make a final decision on the best way to support men who want to make a change in their relationships.
As this is a recommendation to government, Cabinet will be abstaining from this motion. I have committed to share with Members the evaluation of the pilot project and will be pleased to make evidence-based decisions on how to best deliver the New Day program with the advice of the Standing Committee on Social Development.
The funding for A New Day program will remain part of the department's budget and decisions on how to best utilize those resources to deliver the New Day program will be made with the benefit of the lessons learned from the pilot project. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. To the motion. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise again in support of the A New Day program. It's not the first time that I've had the opportunity to support this very important program and to speak about the issue of the crisis of family and spousal violence in the Northwest Territories. I'm very proud also to stand with so many honourable Members who have spoken today in support of this program and who have taken a keen interest in the work that the staff of A New Day have done since their program started, to try to turn the corner on this.
We've heard a lot about the evaluation holding up this process, and although it is important to use measurements such as evaluations, this program deals with a very systemic problem, and a problem linked to generations of abuse and violence, and that trauma is hard to treat; it's hard to measure. Recidivism rates in the Northwest Territories are notoriously hard to measure, so we have to be careful about how we use our resources and one of the things this motion calls for is to ensure there are no gaps in programming. As we know, this is the only program for men who use violence in the Northwest Territories, that's why it's so important the recommendations of this motion is heard by government. If there is a gap until we figure out what to do next, we're not going to have anything, and that's a situation that, quite frankly, is unacceptable.
I'm sure every citizen of the Northwest Territories has an intimate experience with family violence and that is also unacceptable, and this is a priority for this government, a priority for all governments. The Premier in the last Assembly spoke about this as well and spoke about the initiatives that they were taking; it's not a new problem. Finally we have a program that's sensitive to the needs of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission; it's sensitive to the needs around Indigenous identity and it needs to stay and it needs to be supported, and we need to find a way to better support it and better understand the numbers.
We've also heard very different numbers coming from the department. We heard it earlier today and we heard it just recently from the Minister. The numbers we're hearing from the Minister are 39 and the numbers we're hearing from the New Day program providers are 348. The 348 is a very helpful number, and I worry about the evaluation criteria if we're using 39 instead of a number of several hundred clients. So we'll have to see what happens with that evaluation, but in the meantime this motion takes us exactly where we need to be. It holds course on a program that is proven to be effective for clients and where staff is seeing a direct result.
As they told us last night at the open house, if you build it they will come, and they have come and they continue to come back. Once those doors close there is nowhere for these clients to go except back into dangerous situations without the supports that they've come to use to make positive, healthy choices for themselves and their families.
I hope that the "such as" in the mandate commitment, such as programs like the A New Day, does not hinge on the future of this program. The reason A New Day is mentioned in the mandate is because Members see the potential in it and continue to support it, and the future of this program should not hinge on two words: such as.
So, Mr. Speaker, I will conclude by saying I stand in support of this motion and I appreciate that we will all continue to work on this, use the evaluation data to make an even stronger program, and keep the same experts who have been building strong client relationships on the ground helping families heal where they belong. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. To the motion. I'll allow the mover to make his concluding remarks. Member for Deh Cho.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, family violence and violence against women is rising at an alarming rate, and it's pretty logical and basic that the A New Day program is trying to curb and eradicate what we're facing here in the NWT and also our communities. Mr. Speaker, it's a very difficult personal matter to talk about and I did seek counsel with one of my aunts and she's advised me well, this matter, we need to talk about it; we need to bring it out in the open so that our families and our communities are not alone. We have to address these matters, and the A New Day program is trying to do that.
A New Day has been a pilot program. It's been in operation for some time and it's been a growing experience, you know, and we had staff. But the important thing is that it's provided opportunities for people, you know, to really examine themselves and work on themselves, you know, for the ultimate interest and well-being of their families, and that's what it's doing.
The evaluation process is more likely, as a colleague has stated, that it's almost like yardstick or a measurement tool that we use to almost analyze whether the program is sufficient or not. I'm quite concerned that the Minister states that, you know, close to 40 people have gone through the program since the program was first established in 2012. It's alarming to know that, you know, perhaps the students are being misguided.
The other point that I wanted to make is, okay, well we've got this program, A New Day, what are the options, what are the choices for people? We see it right across Canada in First Nations communities, a large number of our people, a majority of First Nations people live in the correctional system. We need to embrace these initiatives that are novel and innovative and touch the core of community, First Nations people, at the ground level. We need to ensure that these programs continue.
Mr. Speaker, simply, this motion asks for more time, an extension, that maybe it'll give an opportunity for the Department of Justice maybe to reach out with the Department of Health and Social Services to see how it is that, you know, we could do more to work with the federal government to ensure that, you know, the actions and recommendations of the truth and reconciliation report reaches us in the NWT, especially in the far reaches of the NWT so that our communities and our families are able to take advantage of programs such as A New Day program.
You know, all I can say at this point is I encourage my colleagues and I appreciate their stand but, you know, throughout this whole process I appreciate their support. Mr. Speaker, those are the remarks that I have at this time. I'll ask for a recorded vote. Mahsi.
