Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Like the chairman of SCOF, I, too, would like to see some certainty come out of our discussions today that we are going to be able to address this issue. I know that the Minister of Justice has said in a Minister's statement that he recognizes the importance of the volunteers who provide the victims' assistance programs. As I pointed out to him, if we can't find some more money for them, there won't be any volunteers to thank. I think that we really do want to see, whether it's from the Minister of Justice or from the Minister of Health and Social Services, a commitment that this issue will be dealt with. It's not enough for us to hear the Minister of Justice say that with other Ministers he hopes that he will be able to come to grips with the recommendations of SCOF. I think we're looking for it to be put much more strongly than that. We can't be satisfied
that once the community action fund is set up, perhaps a result of the discussions will be that the victims assistance programs will be dealt with.
The Premier's comments give me some concern as well because I don't think we can free up enough people in Social Services to provide the amount of service that is necessary and that we are getting for the dollars that we spend now. I don't know if the Premier is aware that 3,197 hours were donated by volunteers in Yellowknife alone in 1994 to provide victims' assistance. Mr. Chairman, that's more than 3.5 PYs if they were to be taken in full-time equivalents. I'm not sure that by giving the responsibility for distribution of social assistance to Education, Culture and Employment, we're going to free up 3.5 PYs to replace those volunteers who will disappear if we can't find a way to ensure funding for them.
In Fort Smith, at least one full PY was donated in terms of the hours of time donated. Is the Premier saying that in Health and Social Services we're going to be able to, by handing on SA to ECE in Fort Smith, devote one full-time position to assisting the victims of crime? I think it's got to be remembered that more than half of the referrals in all of the programs in operation in the territories now are for either child sexual abuse or adult sexual assault. Those are the areas in which we're not often getting the victims to come forward as competent witnesses because of the trauma. Without adequate support, quite often their cases are not resulting in convictions. I think it's extremely important that we recognize the value of what this government gets from volunteers. While it is good to say that we may be able to assist these programs by increasing social workers' time, there is no way that this government can afford to replace the amount of volunteer work that it is presently being provided in Fort Smith, Rankin Inlet, Yellowknife and Iqaluit.
We need to find some way to expand the program to other communities; to support it in those communities where it is operating now and to expand it. Volunteers will do the job for far less than what government workers can afford to. They need the support and assistance of government workers, but we have to recognize the true value of the work that is being provided here.
I'm pleased to hear the Premier say that she is totally in concert with our recommendation, but I don't believe it can be addressed simply by the time that the social workers will now have because they're not handing out social assistance. I think what we really want to hear is a very strong statement by one of these two Ministers to indicate that we will find some way to deal with this very serious concern of the committee. Without hearing that sort of commitment, I think it does make it difficult for us to continue on with this consideration. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.