Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, later today I will be tabling a document entitled "Zero Tolerance for Violence: A Status Report." This document was prepared in fulfilment of a commitment made in the "Renewed Partnerships" document that followed the final report of the Special Committee on Health and Social Services. It is also part of the government's ongoing commitment to ensure that dealing with violence remains at the top of the list, not just of the government's priorities, but of everyone's priorities.

The reality is that many of our people are not well. Many individuals and families are caught up in a cycle of abuse and neglect that is profoundly unhealthy. The violence that takes place is as much a symptom as a cause of that unhealthiness. Violence, and our tolerance for violence and denial of its effects, will continue as long as our communities and our families remain unhealthy. A strategy to eliminate violence is essentially one which has, as its fundamental goals, the wellness of our communities.

Such a strategy, called the "community wellness strategy," is currently being developed by a broad coalition of 30 different social agencies, aboriginal and cultural organizations, women's groups, mental health services providers and government departments. The departments of Health and Social Services, Justice and Education, Culture and Employment are working closely together in this process, with the overall direction being provided by the broad coalition of 30 groups.

These groups, in spite of their diverse mandates and approaches, share a common understanding about the seriousness of the problems faced by our communities. More importantly, there is also a shared vision of the direction in which we all would like to move towards achieving health in our communities.

The community wellness strategy properly situates violence in a broad social context, rather than isolating it and trying to deal with it as a discreet problem as we have done so often and so unsuccessfully in the past. The strategy also is anchored in a community development approach. This approach is based on the belief that we must start a process that reverses the long-standing trend of removing responsibility and power from the communities. It is exactly that trend that is responsible in large measure for the extent of dysfunction that is now characterizing our communities. In addressing the issue is this way, we are getting at the heart of the matter, we are cutting away at the roots of family violence. This is the only approach that holds promise in the long term, and it is one that communities have been encouraging us to pursue for some time.

At the same time as this process of developing a strategy moves ahead, we continue to do whatever we can to improve the response of the justice system to acts of violence. This includes working together with the federal government and our provincial and territorial colleagues in designing changes to the Criminal Code which will provide the greatest possible degree of protection to victims of violence. The document looks in detail at some of the proposed amendments that have been brought forward recently.

The document also discusses other specific initiatives that are being looked at here in this jurisdiction such as a victim impact statements program; changes in our programs which will free up resources so that greater assistance can be provided to victims, and proposed amendments to the Limitation of Actions Act.

The government is also looking closely at other measures such as emergency intervention orders to protect victims of family violence, similar to what has been enacted recently in Saskatchewan; a number of housing initiatives to respond to the recommendations of the Special Committee on Health and Social Services; and, possible legislation to provide leadership from the Legislative Assembly with respect to acts of violence by political leaders.

If we look down the road at what we are hoping to achieve as a society, I think we would all agree that the goal of wellness is something we all share. Wellness, we would all agree, is not compatible with violence, particularly violence directed at our family members and loved ones. Madam Speaker, we will reach this goal by making it a common cause and working together to achieve it. The community wellness strategy process is a promising start to this process and I believe it deserves the support of all of us. Thank you.

---Applause