Thank you, Madam Speaker. Recently I met with workers at the Inuvik Transition House, which is a women's shelter in Inuvik. I have to tell you, Madam Speaker, I was very disappointed at how this government and its agencies treat an organization like the Inuvik Transition House which provides a valuable service to the community. Every year the Transition House must fight with the Inuvik Regional Health and Social Services Authority to negotiate a contract and secure funding for the next year. Every year the delays and frustrations surrounding the renewal of the contract cause stress and anxiety for the staff of the Inuvik Transition House.
In fact, Madam Speaker, just to keep the centre up and running, the Inuvik Transition House Society has to hold bingos on a regular basis to secure the necessary funding. The issue of finding adequate funding has become such a burden to the staff of the Inuvik Transition House that a staff member recently resigned because she could no longer handle the stress. The Inuvik Transition House unfortunately handles referrals from the outlying communities of the Beaufort-Delta. It has not received an increase in its contract or base funding for the last five years. Yet I know, Madam Speaker, that the Inuvik Regional Health and Social Services Board has gotten an increase of approximately $40,000 from the Department of Health and Social Services for delivery of the program during the same time frame. This does not seem fair to me.
During our AOC retreat in Tuktoyaktuk, we toured the transition house there also. They face the same problems as Inuvik, with inadequate and unsure funding sources. I am sure that the other women's shelters throughout the NWT would tell me the same thing.
In closing, Madam Speaker, I would like to say that I believe that women's shelters and transition houses are an essential public service and deserve to be funded as such. The people who work in these facilities are exposed to situations on a daily basis, dealing with the fallout from family violence that causes enough stress in their lives. As a government we should not be contributing to these stress levels. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
---Applause