Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a few questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services following up on my Member’s statement. I’d like to ask the Minister, what is the department doing to meet the needs of women’s shelters in small communities like Tsiigehtchic? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Blake. Minister of Health, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I actually haven’t had any discussions with the Member on this and I was not aware that Tsiigehtchic was looking for a women’s shelter. When it comes to domestic violence and abuse here in the Northwest Territories, we work closely with the Department of Justice and other community organizations to try to find local solutions. But I would be happy to have discussion with the Member and the community. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you. Is the Minister willing to work with the community of Tsiigehtchic to identify a shelter for women and violence? Thank you.
We have five different regional shelters that are available to women and I know the RCMP are working closely with communities to try to find solutions that work with them. I’m happy to have a discussion with the community to hear their concerns and their desires and bring it back to Cabinet and committees. Thank you.
I mentioned in my Member’s statement that we only have one in each regional centre and that’s the five he referred to, but it’s time that we start working with the communities to ensure that we have this type of facility in our smaller communities. So if there’s no space available, is the Minister willing to work with the Minister of Housing to identify a unit if needed in Tsiigehtchic? Thank you.
There are multiple things going on here and I would encourage the community to continue to work with the RCMP to explore options and solutions for their community.
We, as a Cabinet, know that there are many solutions in communities. A lot of communities are stepping up with creative ideas and options for their people and we want to support that as much as possible. So I look forward to hearing what the community has to say. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Blake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It seems like every time we bring up issues related to what’s needed in the communities we get the same answer, “We need to hear what the communities need in the community.” Well, the communities are telling us as their representatives what is needed in the communities. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Blake. That’s more of a comment; but, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Member’s point of view and his concerns. Absolutely, as a government we’re committed to working with our communities and finding solutions that work for all people, but I do also have to remind the Member, as well as everybody else in the House, that we do have 33 communities, we do have fiscal limitations with what we can do and it might prove to be fiscally impossible to have individual women’s shelters in every community in the Northwest Territories. But working with the communities, finding solutions within the communities, by the communities, for the communities, I’m sure we can find ways to start meeting the needs of the residents in this particular area. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Mr. Nadli.
