Thank you, Madam Speaker. If we are to restore momentum in our efforts to bring about gender equality in Canada, social, economic, and recovery efforts must take a feminist approach and, more so in the North, an Indigenous feminist approach. How does the Premier intend to ensure that economic and social recovery takes an Indigenous feminist approach in the Northwest Territories, and what will that look like in terms of changes on the ground? Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. When I hear that economic recovery has to take a feminist approach and it has to take an Indigenous feminist approach, as well, basically, that is saying to me that one size doesn't fit all. There is lots of research that says that once size doesn't fit all when we talk about many things in life. What does that look like? I think that the Department of Finance was one of the first ones to come out of the gate and say that they were starting to do a gender-based analysis of all of their work, and I think that that should go across all departments. Like I said, one size does not fit all, and we do need to look, whenever we do our programs, at how that impacts on the most marginalized of our societies. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Recognizing COVID's negative impacts on mental health and family dynamics, has this government put any special measures in place to assist women who are experiencing family violence during the middle of the pandemic?
I would like to defer that to the Minister responsible for the Status of Women.
Minister responsible for the Status of Women.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. This is an item where there are a number of different things happening that are specific to women in the North and the response under COVID. There certainly has been funding that has been under specific pots of the relief funding that we received from the federal government that is required to go toward supporting vulnerable populations. That would be particularly people fleeing relationships of violence, certainly, the majority of which do tend to be women. There has also been funding that has been directed toward supporting women who would be more vulnerable, for example, by the provision of cell phones for women who would be in relationships that put them at particular risk, in a context where they would have less access to outside sources during the course of the pandemic in a lockdown. Staff who are involved with status of women are continuing to engage because we are actively doing the work around preparing for the national inquiry in our action plan. That has also been continuing to happen throughout the course of the pandemic, and that gives a further opportunity to speak to women in the context of the pandemic, as well. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
We have long heard of the efforts of the NWT to introduce third-party reporting of sexual assaults. What is the status of this work within the Northwest Territories, and what changes can we expect to see this fiscal year?
I would like to defer that to the Minister of Justice.
Thank you. Minister of Justice.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Sexual assault is underreported in the territory, and I'm sure really around the world. Many survivors don't feel that the justice system will help them, or there could be other reasons why they don't want to come forward to the police. As such, there are some jurisdictions that have a third-party reporting system whereby the victim can go to that third party and they will let the police know anonymously what happened. That person can then access the support services until such time as they are ready to report this. The GNWT has been looking into this. There were some meetings in 2019 and as recently as this August, and we are finalizing what that third-party reporting could look like. We have been in talks with the organization. I don't have a timeline on when we're going to see something roll out, but we are quite far along. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. During the 18th Assembly, the then Minister of Justice informed this House that the Aurora Research Institute was contacted to identify best practices to prevent and reduce family violence. Domestic violence deaths almost never occur without warning. In most cases, there have been repeated instances of violence and indicators of risk, as well as opportunities for agencies and individuals to intervene before an incident that ultimately results in death. What can the people of the Northwest Territories expect to see as a result of the work done by the Aurora Institute? Thank you.
The GNWT Interdepartmental Working Group on Family Violence commissioned the Aurora Research Institute to provide an evidence-based report for the GNWT to use as a guide to shape the actions and the investment of the GNWT in responding to the crisis of family violence. The results of this report show that we need an integrated, community-based approach to appropriately support families and prevent violence. They identified five main themes: education interventions; cultural integration; the justice response; the clinical response; and system transformation. This will require a change to our system, and we started this change by creating a territorial director of family violence to coordinate this work. I look forward to working with our partners in responding to this. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Justice. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
