Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Office of the Children's Lawyer was established in the NWT in 2011. And since around 2017, it has been under the umbrella of the Legal Aid Commission, which is an independent government agency. It ensures that children can be provided with their own lawyer to represent them directly, and this often involves children in care. It is based on principles outlined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of a Child. When the government or anyone makes decisions about what is in a child's best interest, the views and wishes of that child need to be carefully considered and understood.
Children in care sometimes have negative and difficult relationships with their case workers, so those children can turn to a lawyer to advocate for them. But lawyers who take on this work face really challenging legal and ethical issues. These roster lawyers in turn need guidance from the Office of the Children's Lawyer, and that office needs to be managed by a lawyer with extensive relevant experience and an understanding of the needs of children at various ages and stages of development. Other staff within Legal Aid do not have that specific expertise.
At times, the OCL lawyer has taken on cases themselves but, beyond that, their role includes the following:
Advocating about children's legal rights to HSS, schools, families, judges, and to other lawyers;
Advocating for systemic change to the child and family services process, including changes to the Child and Family Services Act;
Vetting, training, and mentoring lawyers who are assigned to children;
Monitoring lawyers who are assigned to children's cases and responding to complaints about them; and
Keeping the OCL manual and code of conduct for lawyers up to date.
Now, Mr. Speaker, the OCL lawyer has recently retired. If no one else takes on those roles and responsibilities, children will be worse off because the legal assistance being provided to them will be compromised. I do not believe this Assembly wants to let that happen. So at the appropriate time, I will have questions for the Minister. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. Oral questions. Member from Monfwi.
