To the motion as amended. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise to speak in support of the motion as amended calling for a review of the Child and Family Services Act and its implementation. Mr. Speaker, all Members are aware from their work with constituents that there are very complex issues involved in family law or among the most difficult, painful and contentious situations we encounter. Issues involving family breakdown, the care and safety of our children, situations of controversial evidence and decisions dictating custody and visitation are painful for everyone. For parents, children and the protection and enforcement officials called upon to act on behalf of society, this is very hard going.

The will of the courts, access to legal aid, the unfair balance of resources between government and legal aid lawyers, support of our legal aid professionals and the actual and potential role of court workers all interact with child and family services’ decisions and policy and are an area that must be considered in this review. Recently, the Department of Justice has implemented a number of initiatives that will help. For example, the mediation service for couples applying for divorce now can be considered as mandatory in some jurisdictions.

Our law of governing these situations, the Child and Family Services Act, is 10 years old, yet we know there are aspects of it that have not been acted upon and there are gaps such as the 16 to 18-year-old youth mentioned. Child and family services is an area of public policy that is always on the move, changing with case law and emerging attitudes and the development of improved means to bring about humane solutions to disputes and situations of hardship. The basis of society’s attitudes is constantly changing, especially in regards to gender balance and custody orders and views on the nature of parental control and definitions of abuse. At a minimum, our implementation of law must react to these changes and continually improve itself in this extremely delicate area of public policy.

It is time we looked again long, hard and thoughtfully at how we help children and parents through the most difficult times of their lives. From our work with constituents, we also know that our processes have some serious shortcomings. It is time to take stock and refocus our ability to help in keeping with today and safeguarding our future that is our children.

I fully support the motion as amended for a review of child and family services with special regard to the children and the role of the parent and will vote in support of the motion. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. To the motion as amended. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, am in full support of this motion and to the intent of the motion, which is that we need a review of the Child and Family Services Act. Like my colleague Mr. Abernethy, I want to state that I am not speaking against the activities, the jobs and the work that social workers do. I think that they do a fantastic job, as has already been stated. I support them, but children are our greatest resource and we need to protect them. The families who children live with are a necessary resource for children. At times, families break down so we need to have an act which works well, that can protect children and that also can assist families in providing that protection to children.

The motion states that there are expressed concerns with the current Child and Family Services Act. I won’t go into them. They have been mentioned in the whereases. They have been mentioned by my colleagues. There are concerns out there. I think they should be dealt with.

Over time society changes. Our expectations change. Accepted practices change. That is where we are at in relation to our Child and Family Services Act. Family law practice now as opposed to 10 years ago encourages that we avoid the court process. Certainly our act does not encourage the

avoidance of the court process. We are moving more towards mediation, conciliation and arbitration in many areas, but also in the area of family law. I think that is something that needs to be provided for in our act. Our act doesn’t allow for that. At the moment, the only option for a parent who has had a child apprehended is to go to court. That has proven to be a process which does not work. It is proven to be ineffective for the child and for the parents.

I also believe that we need to establish a child advocate. I was very pleased to see that the Department of Justice is considering the establishment of just such a position. We need to have someone who can act who is endowed with the authority to be the protector of our children’s rights. The Child and Family Services Act is a very large and very comprehensive piece of legislation. Any large, comprehensive piece of legislation should be renewed periodically. It was mentioned by Mr. Bromley that this one is 10 years old. Many pieces of legislation that we are currently putting in place have a provision for a review after a certain period of time. This particular act does not and it’s time, I believe, that we do review this piece of legislation. We need to determine whether or not the act is working as it should. Ten years ago, it was seen to be the be-all and the end-all, but as times change and as the act is actually put in place and we work through the processes, we have determined that there are some areas where it’s not working and certainly the anecdotal evidence, which I have heard and which other Members have heard and have seen, indicates that it is not working perfectly.

To me the review will identify areas of concerns and areas that are creating problems. It will allow us to look at those areas and to make recommendations to make the system better and that’s what I’m after. So I urge all Members to support this motion. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. To the motion as amended. The honourable Minister for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think that we can all agree that children have a fundamental right to be safe and receive loving care and support. Children also have the right to live in an environment that enables them to succeed in life. Parents have responsibility for raising their children and ensuring these rights are respected. Unfortunately, in the North and across this country there are cases of child maltreatment, neglect and abuse. The NWT Child and Family Services Act was put in place to ensure procedures are in place to both protect the safety and well-being of children and to provide services to families who need help.

Mr. Speaker, our act is a unique piece of legislation that was designed after many years of consultation, to emphasize the value of cultural and spiritual beliefs, the importance of immediate and extended family and the value of community participation. It is one of a kind made-in-the-North legislation. In fact, the NWT Child and Family Services Act is the only legislation in Canada that is inclusive of community participation in decision-making and, above all, this act was designed by the 13th Assembly to ensure

that the best interests of the children are respected.

Mr. Speaker, I do appreciate that the act is more than 10 years old. Practice and legislation must be kept current to meet the needs of the people we represent and I also appreciate that there is a concern with the existing legislative framework and some of these applications and implementation.

Mr. Speaker, I would hope that the work of the committee deals on the efforts of many communities, families, parents and child protection workers to improve the lives of the children. Their efforts can be seen in our apprehension rates, which have gone down by 8.6 percent over the last three years, and by the number of children receiving services while in the care of their parents and families, which has been going up. There are more children, at least 52 percent of children, who are being taken care of by extended family. In fact, in many places in our Territory, plan of care committees involve all of the extended family of children in care.

Mr. Speaker, I have in my possession, I happened to run into a document here called, it’s a report on matters related to Family and Social Services Act, which was tabled on May 17th , 2007. It was chaired

by Ms. Sandy Lee. Membership of the committee included a Mr. Yakeleya, Mr. Braden, Mr. Robert C. McLeod, Mr. Jackson Lafferty and Mr. Calvin Pokiak. That was the last review. It was a clause that was reviewed. It was a bill that passed to allow a review. It put an obligation on the child protection workers and Department of Social Services to make sure that they appear before court within 72 hours to justify why a child should be in care. In reviewing that bill we heard many of the concerns that the Members are raising and it is a fine piece of work, I must say, and I hope that…I have had a chance to re-read it and there were lots of good recommendations made and I am sure that this work the committee and the Members are suggesting will build not only on this work, but many other reviews that were done before.

Mr. Speaker, I believe that whatever we do in this House it must always be done to protect children and ensure that they can grow up to be healthy parents. I would like to just give my commitment to the Members to work with the committee, and the Department of Health and Social Services and myself are ready and willing to provide any

assistance that the committee may require. I look forward to working together on this most important work that we have for this Legislature, which is, first and foremost, protection of the best interests of our children.

So, Mr. Speaker, in closing, I’d like to just say that as is the normal procedure in this House, as this motion is a recommendation to this government, the Cabinet will be abstaining from the vote. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. I’ll allow the mover of the original motion to have closing remarks. Mr. Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to thank the Minister for her comments and I’d also like to thank all the other Members on this side of the House for their comments and their support of this motion. I think it’s important. I think the review is necessary and as a Member of the Social Programs committee and deputy chair, I actually look forward to getting it in and starting to work with my colleagues on doing the review. Mr. Speaker, in closing, I’d just like to request a recorded vote. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The Member is requesting a recorded vote. Would all those in favour of the motion as amended, please stand.

All those opposed to the motion as amended, please stand. All those abstaining from the motion, please stand.

The results of the recorded vote: nine for, none opposed, seven abstaining. The motion is carried.

---Carried

---Applause

The honourable Member from Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to go back to item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery.

---Unanimous consent granted.

The honourable Member from Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It gives me great pleasure to recognize Charlie Furlong, a constituent from Aklavik, in the gallery. Good to see you up and about there, Charlie. Welcome to the House.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. I’d like to welcome everyone in the gallery today. I hope you’re enjoying the proceedings. Item 18, first reading of bills. Item 19, second reading of bills. Item 20, consideration in Committee of the Whole on bills and other matters: Tabled Document 7-16(3), Ministerial Benefits Policy, and Bill 13, An Act to Amend the Commissioner’s Land Act, with Mr. Krutko in the chair.

I’d like to call Committee of the Whole to order. Two items under Committee of the Whole: Tabled Document 7-16(3) and Bill 13. Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The committee wishes to review Bill 13, An Act to Amend the Commissioner’s Land Act, during Committee of the Whole and we’d also like to suggest that we get right into Bill 13 prior to taking a break, if that is okay with the committee.

With that, we will go on to Bill 13, An Act to Amend the Commissioner’s Land Act. With that, I would like to ask the Minister responsible for the bill for any comments. Mr. Robert McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. You have before you Bill 13, An Act to Amend the Commissioner’s Land Act, with amendments made by the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Infrastructure and agreed to by me, I made a commitment on behalf of the department to return to the standing committee in the fall with a legislative proposal that deals solely with performance security.

The Commissioner’s Land Act is a very old statute that was derived from the Federal/Territorial Lands Act. We recognized that the act in its present form does not reflect modern day land administration principles or practices. Accordingly, the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs will begin a comprehensive review of the statute in the coming months, with the intention that a new statute be considered for the next Legislative Assembly.

In the meantime, Bill 13 is before you, which addresses some urgently needed changes to enable the act to function. The bill now contains three substantive amendments. They are: a new provision making Commissioner’s land exempt from the application of the Residential Tenancies Act; an amendment to enable the authorization of the Commissioner to start legal proceedings against trespassers instead of the Commissioner himself; finally, an amendment to exclude the Commissioner from liability for injury or death when activities take place on developed Commissioner’s land without the written permission of the local land agent.

Bill 13 also contains several amendments that are not substantive in nature but were made on the advice of legislative counsel. Thank you for this opportunity to present proposed Bill 13 as amended. I will be pleased to answer any questions you may have.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. At this time I would like to ask the committee if you have any general comments. Mr. Ramsay.