Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services regarding child and family services.
I heard the Minister say there that they are planning to update our legislation to bring it in line with the federal legislation. And Mr. Speaker, one of the key principles in that federal legislation is section 15 that says no child should be apprehended solely on the basis of his or her socioeconomic status including poverty, lack of adequate housing, or infrastructure, or the state of health in his or her parent or care provider. And Mr. Speaker, I I am concerned that we are still apprehending many children for those exact reasons.
So my question for the Minister of Health and Social Services is when we bring this legislation forward, will we adopt the same principle, that no child should be apprehended due to their parents' socioeconomic status? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I recognize that that the Member is duly concerned about children being removed from their homes where poverty rather than parental neglect is the primary issue. That is something that we're aware of. And we do have voluntary service agreements and brief service agreements which will assist families with their with their needs for shelter, food, and so on so that the children are not removed because of poverty.
This is obviously a systemic issue. It's a question of an inequity within the system. Some children have much more than others and that shouldn't be that shouldn't be a matter for child and family services except to support all families equally to ensure that children thrive. So there is a wholeofgovernment committee looking at integrated service delivery which would address all these areas. It would take into account housing, income assistance, health and social services, all the social envelope departments, to create an integrated service delivery model for families where neglect because of poverty is the issue and to find a wholeofgovernment remedies to that. Thank you.
Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I appreciate that. My concern is that with the service agreements they are relying on, you know, additional other GNWT resources to be provided, and we all know that there is a strain on those resources. And so what I think needs to happen here is either the child and family services workers have their own resources or there's some sort of prioritizing. We all in this House want to have integrated service delivery. But the reality is, is that there's just not enough houses for them to house all the homeless people presently. And I think we need to prioritize that anyone facing an apprehension can immediately get access to that. So I'm wondering if the Minister will look into some sort of prioritization for those voluntary agreements that CFS workers can, you know, essentially jump the line, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the Member's point but I don't think that priority or access to their own resources is the issue here. The primary issue that is discussed every day in this House is housing. So, you know, the family may live in conditions that are overcrowded, the housing is inadequate and potentially unaffordable. So those are the kinds of issues that need to be addressed on a across departmental basis. It's not a matter of money. It's a matter of finding a place for a suitable place for families to live, and that's why I think that work on this integrated service delivery addressing poverty for families shows a lot of promise to come up with a holistic solution for families where their socioeconomic circumstances are the primary reason that their their children aren't thriving. Thank you.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate that and, you know, I have had constituents and I know people who've they worked with integrated case management and they are moving towards an integrated service delivery model. I guess my question, though, is, you know, in times of emergency, I believe those CFS workers need their own resources. They need to their access to their own funding that is separate outside of waiting for, you know, our a shared vision of GNWT having all of its services delivered.
I'm wondering if the Minister could speak to whether there is potential to provide specific funding that is unique to how child and family services wants to spend it in the case of an apprehension or a plan of care agreement. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to say that apprehension is always the last resort. And so at this point, we do have these service agreements available that family preservation workers, social workers can sign with families to ensure that their basic needs are being met. I don't know if it would be useful for these workers to have a another way of accessing money, whether that would improve the service delivery, the timing of it, and so on. To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure what the process is of getting money now and how onerous that is to meet a specific deadline. So I will make a commitment to the Member to look into that question and determine whether, in fact, having family preservation workers and social workers with their own pot of money would, in fact, facilitate getting the money into the hands of families. Thank you.
Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
