Debates of November 2, 2022 (day 131)

Date
November
2
2022
Session
19th Assembly, 2nd Session
Day
131
Members Present
Hon. Diane Archie, Mr. Bonnetrouge, Hon. Paulie Chinna, Ms. Cleveland, Hon. Caroline Cochrane, Mr. Edjericon, Hon. Julie Green, Mr. Jacobson, Mr. Johnson, Ms. Martselos, Ms. Nokleby, Ms. Semmler, Hon. R.J. Simpson, Mr. Rocky Simpson, Hon. Shane Thompson, Hon. Caroline Wawzonek, Ms. Weyallon-Armstrong.
Topics
Statements

Committee Motion 338-19(2): Measure Cultural Safety Effectively, Carried

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this committee recommends that the Department of Health and Social Services implement an approach to measure whether users and nonusers of GNWT addictions services find those services to be culturally safe and provide a timeline for implementation. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

The motion is in order. Ms. Nokleby.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, it was obvious during the briefing, or debriefing, whatever you want to call it, with the AOG that this term of "cultural safety" and "indiginization" is thrown around quite lightly within or often within departments but without a real clear understanding of what that actually means. I don't have all of my notes from that meeting in front of me at the moment, but it was apparent to us that the AOG was not finding that the government was meeting this commitment at all. And so I just can't stress enough again how important this is for the government to actually be measuring whether or not what they're doing is culturally appropriate or culturally safe rather than just telling people that it is culturally appropriate and culturally safe given that it's coming from a colonial perspective. Thank you.

Mahsi. Mr. Johnson.

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Chair. I'd like to just point to the wording of "non-users" in here. I think the department and the work plan has made some good commitment to, you know, survey and work with users of our addiction services, follow up with them, try and get some sort of tracking on how our services are working. It's a much harder ask to track people who are not using your system, but I think there is a wealth of information and lessons to be learned from people who, you know, perhaps tried ten years ago once to approach the GNWT for addictions services and have never felt safe going back or perhaps have never felt safe, you know, approaching the use of ours services. And so I think the department's going to have to make a concerted effort and get creative in approaching people who, you know, are suffering from addiction but are not willing to seek help and identify the barriers that they face. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mahsi. The motion is in order. To the motion.

Speaker: SOME HON. MEMBERS

Question.

Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? All those abstaining? The motion is carried.

Carried

Mr. Johnson.