Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. I want to pick up where I left off two years ago with my questions on the status of creation of a child and youth advocate in the Northwest Territories.
Can the Minister update us on the jurisdictional scan that was underway in February 2020 and provide a copy to regular MLAs and the public? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wasn't the health minister at that time, and I did not make this commitment. It is my understanding there was a jurisdictional scan done and it has been it has been completed, that it is primarily about information sharing, which is a huge issue with respect to our path forward with child and family services and Indigenous governments. So it doesn't speak about the power or the role or the responsibility and so on of a child and youth advocate. That's not what it's about. It's about information sharing.
The focus that we have now is to work with Indigenous governments for them to exercise their lawmaking power under the federal act respecting First Nations, Metis, Inuit children, youth, and families to draw down responsibility for their own administration of child and family services. So we're looking at community or regional or Indigenous government based solutions rather than a broad territorial office of an advocate. We're not looking at a child advocate at this time. Thank you.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. I'll go back and see what kind of commitment was made by the previous Minister on this topic but that was just disappointing to hear the Minister say this.
So, you know, the department has come up with this quality improvement plan in response to the auditor general's findings, and of course the Minister's just raised that there are consultations going on with Indigenous governments. So can the Minister tell us if the creation of a child and youth advocate is a specific topic of these consultations with Indigenous governments or other groups? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Yes, thank you. In the negotiations to date, this hasn't been a topic of discussion. I note it's also not a topic of discussion in the recently tabled Child and Family Services Act Review Report from the standing committee. The point of Indigenous governments creating their own child and family services law is that they they won't need an advocate. It's their law. They decide how it's implemented. Thank you.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. Of course, there are other children that may not get covered by these negotiations, but I'll just park that one for now.
The auditor general in that report was not complimentary of how we have been carrying out child and family services. The report of this House or one of the standing committees that supported a child and youth advocate with regard to the auditor general's report, so. When does the Minister actually expect that we could ever establish an Office of Child and Youth Advocate for the Northwest Territories? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the child and family services system has been through a complete overhaul since the second of the OAG reports was tabled in 2018. And we created the quality improvement plan that the Member referenced which is now in its in its last days. We are going to create a bridge plan which will move over both the completed and incomplete actions that came out of the quality improvement plan.
We also as as the Member knows, we are going to revise the Child and Family Services Act to align our legislation with the federal legislation that came into effect in January of 2020. The basis of that legislation is that we act in the best interests of the child and that the best interests are for the child to maintain their connection with their family, with their community, and with their culture. So that will be the basis of the changes that we that we're going to make. As I say, other than the Member bringing this topic to me today, it hasn't been a request that I've heard otherwise. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. But I don't know where she's been for the last five years, then, if she says this is the first time she's heard this raised. In fact, I can probably cite where the Minister herself raised this issue in the previous Assembly. But, you know, these offices are found across the country, we're the last jurisdiction without one, and I would like to get a commitment from the Minister that she's actually going to seriously examine this issue of establishing a child and youth advocate for the Northwest Territories. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it's true, as a Regular Member I did advocate for this. But I have to say how much has changed in the child and family services environment.
The colonial approach of "father knows best" with some kind of office that takes care of the whole NWT is no longer considered best practice. The best practice now is for Indigenous governments to write and implement their own child and family services law and be accountable to themselves and their Indigenous Members for the provision of child and family services. That's what we're working on. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
