Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if I could just provide a very quick historical snapshot. While we have children in care right now in higher numbers than we would want or wish, we do have a focus on families and communities. All the programs we are delivering and designing are going to try to have that focus.
Mr. Speaker, just very quickly from the early 60s when I went away to residential school there were nearly 10 or so residential schools in operation -- Fort Smith, Yellowknife, Fort Simpson and Inuvik. Mr. Speaker, I can remember my early days in social services when we had receiving homes filled with young babies and group homes filled with young children, many of them permanent wards. We have moved away from that. We have changed our legislation to involve plan of care committees in the communities to involve families and to involve the children, when they are old enough, in their care and custody issues.
Mr. Speaker, we have also put 20 new social workers into the field to try to deal with some of the issues, but the sad reality is that we still consume alcohol five times the national average and many of the issues as they relate to jails and people incarcerated are tied to alcohol. Family violence shelters are fully subscribed to. They are always tied in with alcohol issues, and when those things happen children are affected.
Mr. Speaker, it is an ongoing issue. We recognize that there is a need to deal with families and keep children as close to home as possible, and that is what we are attempting to do. Thank you.