Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, of course, this week is Family Violence Awareness Week, and normally these would be questions steered towards the Minister of Health and Social Services, but today I am going to steer my questions towards the Minister of Finance.
Mr. Speaker, we heard earlier today in the House the discussion between my colleague, the honourable Member of YK Centre, and the Minister of Health and Social Services about financial resources. I would just like to ask the Minister: does the Minister have ways in which he can work with his colleagues at Finance and find some more or maybe some new additional resources that we can put towards this admitted identified crisis of family violence? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we are all well aware of the negative impacts of family violence across the Northwest Territories through the Social Development Committee of Cabinet. They have been working on trying to come up with some initiatives.
When the departments have initiatives, they come forward to FMB, and they pitch those initiatives, and we, in turn, have a look at them. If we have the financial resources, we look at trying to fund some of the initiatives that are brought forward to FMB. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you to the Minister for identifying a little bit more on the process. Aside from the departments recognizing that they have needs, is Cabinet identifying this as a crisis? Is the Minister of Finance, the lead Minister responsible for funding, will he lead the way in encouraging his Cabinet to support additional funds to help us overcome this identified crisis?
Of course, Cabinet is aware of the impacts of family violence across the Northwest Territories. Both sides of the House are aware of the negative impacts of family violence across the Northwest Territories. If there are opportunities for us to put some resources to some of the programs to help combat, then, we would be unwise not to. We have heard one of the Members talk before about the percentage that family violence has come down in some particular communities, and I would like to think that is a result of people in the communities starting to take action but, in some cases, there may be the financial resources available to them to try to combat this.
Thank you to the Minister for reminding us of the great work that the government is doing in all of the respective departments, and I appreciate that we are doing a lot of great things, and it is a large challenge in front of us.
Not long ago, Mr. Speaker, we are all familiar in 2014 with the Truth and Reconciliation report and the calls to action. Maybe I'd like to ask the Minister of Finance given that this is a government-wide, call it an initiative or a recognition with regard to the calls to action, what kind of financial resources is the Minister putting towards these calls to action because they are so interlinked with a lot of the matters that we're dealing with, with regard to family violence?
My understanding is that there have been some proposals that have been brought forward. We will have a look at those proposals. We will see if there are opportunities for us to put any financial resources towards them. This is an issue as the Member said that you don't have to look any further in the Northwest Territories to see the legacy of residential schools. We'll do what we can to try and put some resources towards some of the plan. We have to make sure we have a plan first. We can't just throw money at something. We need to make sure that we have a plan, and those resources are being put to good use, and they are actually doing what they are intended to do is to help people deal with some of the legacy of family violence and residential schools. We go through a business planning process. Departments come forward with some of the initiatives that they like to see move forward. We go through a business planning process. We hear back from committee on some of their priorities, and what they like to see some of their resources. We'll continue to work on that, but my understanding is there is a proposal, I believe, that is being brought forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
