Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. I’d hoped that the Standing Committee on Social Programs would have had an opportunity to discuss the Department of Health and Social Services’ response to our recommendations before we began debating in the House or talking about it in the media. However, the response was tabled and the free-for-all has ensued, so I too will now talk about the government’s response.
The Department of Health and Social Services indicated that they did not accept the recommendation for prevention and early intervention in the 2011-2012 budget because the budget had already passed. This sort of tells me that the reason for the recommendation was sort of missed.
The communities were told that a lot of issues of child protection and child apprehension was due to the addictions of the community. The Standing Committee on Social Programs recommended that the department provide support and resources to communities for such things as healing on the land. This was conditionally accepted by the department, but indicated that there was a certain amount of money being spent by the GNWT and the federal government. However, the community has indicated that they have not seen positive results.
The current Child and Family Services Act claims where the Child and Family Services Act committees would be set up in each community. This act has been in place for over 12 years and more attention was needed in this area, not just conditional acceptance with a provision that this could be done if there was more money. The Standing Committee on Social Programs saw this as a very important item in child protection.
Working with First Nations communities to create more foster homes that are culturally appropriate for children in care was also a recommendation. This would require work on the part of the department to work closely with the First Nations governments, and the department should endeavour to do so.
Many of the recommendations were accepted outright and this is a step in the right direction. I will have questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services at the appropriate time.