Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, on behalf of the Ordinary Members' Caucus, I rise today to speak on the issue of violence. Madam Speaker, recently the Members of this House adopted a declaration of zero tolerance for violence. This was seen as a good first step; a symbolic statement of our commitment to ending the violence which exists in our communities.
The government has responded to this declaration with the development of a strategy of zero tolerance for violence. During the last session of this Assembly, the Minister of Justice tabled an interim report on this strategy. The Members were pleased with the words in this document. However, Madam Speaker, all we have so far are words. Nice words, encouraging words, but still only words. We need to turn these words into action.
As an example, this morning Mr. Ballantyne and myself met with the coordinators for the four victims' services programs operating in the Northwest Territories. In spite of the Minister of Justice statement in this House on October 18th that funds had been increased to these groups in the past few years, these coordinators told us that none of their programs had seen any increase in GNWT contributions.
In addition, these programs have only received part of the funding they got last year, at least so far this year. In October, the Minister also said he would ensure funding for these programs to complete the year. However, this has not been communicated to the programs. The Rankin project is already in the red and there is no indication of if or when more funds are coming.
Madam Speaker, most of the coordinators rely heavily on volunteers. In Yellowknife, over 3,000 hours have been donated by local volunteers. But without core funding, these volunteers won't have the structures needed to get the work done. Madam Speaker, it is said that actions speak louder than words.