Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Earlier when we were considering this department we had a number of questions that we had asked. I’d like to just follow up on some of those questions.

One of the questions we were asking relates to the Minister’s response to the Child and Family Services review and was about publication information. We had asked for some plain language information, how-to resources, things on the website, pamphlets and whatnot to be done up and it was consistent with one of the recommendations we had in the act. I was wondering if the Minister could tell us if they are going to move on that. Whether we can expect to see some of those plain language how-to guides and resources for print and distribution to people throughout the Northwest Territories done during the 2011-2012 fiscal year.

Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I responded to the chair of Standing Committee on Social Programs on that issue on February 25

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and

indicated that we will implement that.

So we’re happy to see that commitment. We’re happy that’s going to get done.

The second one we talked about previously was the policy and standards manual. When we were out talking to the people, including staff, it was made clear that a lot of work needed to be done to the policy and standards manuals to make them a little bit more clear, a little bit more plain language, make it easier for the employees to understand, but also clarity for, once again, residents of the Northwest Territories. We were at that time seeking a commitment from the Minister to include these revisions in the 2011-2012 main estimates for completion or at least noticeable completion or progress during the 2011-12 fiscal year. I was wondering if the Premier can let us know the status of that request.

That item also was requested by the Member in the standing committee and I responded to the standing committee on the same day, February 25

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, that we will implement that

within the upcoming 2011-12 fiscal year using our own resources. That would also include consulting with child protection workers and managers. Thank you.

I’d like to thank the Minister for the commitment to get that done. Once again, I think that’s incredibly important for our users and for the administration of the Child and Family Services Act overall.

Another area that we talked about was obviously a critical area to us, and it’s one of the aspects that made the Child and Family Services Act unique in all of Canada, and that was the establishment of child and family services committees. Currently, there is one child and family service committee in

the Northwest Territories and that’s in Fort McPherson. Yet the act does say that we will have a child and family service committee in all the communities throughout the Northwest Territories. We had asked during our previous discussion that the Minister commit to five. There was some discussion during business planning, I believe it was in the business plans, that the department would work towards having five committees established in the 2011-12 fiscal year, but we didn’t see any budget line for it, and I still don’t see a budget line for it in the main estimates. I’m wondering what is the status of the commitment for five in 2011-12 as outlined in the business plans. Thank you.

Our commitment is to bring that forward into the next business plan process. Thank you.

That’s not consistent with what we heard during the business planning process this time. We were under the impression that the department was going to work towards the implementation of five. With one already in place, that means four more. Meaningful work towards implementing four more for a total of five during the 2011-12 fiscal year. I’m curious why that’s gone, why that’s no longer a commitment of the Minister as outlined in the business plans.

It is consistent with the way the main estimate is presented. There is no money allocated for the children and family services committees. Our response to the recommendation from the committee was that we do appreciate the need for that. We would like to proceed with that but in order to do a proper job of it, we need to get the funding for that. We believe one of the main reasons these committees have not been successful in being established, even though, as the Member states, that these were provided for within the legislation, is because it’s not properly resourced. To be able to do that we believe that it should be presented as a part of the business plan process and properly resourced. For that reason we are making a commitment again that we will present it as a business plan initiative for the next fiscal year, 2012-13, which process would begin almost immediately after the main estimate is approved and finished. Thank you.

Mr. Chair, I remain confused. Once again, during the business planning process we understood that the department was committing to making substantial progress towards having five child and family service committees in the Northwest Territories. We didn’t see the budget line in the 2011-12 main estimates, which is why, frankly, we were confused. We fully expected to see that. As I’ve said, it’s an incredibly integral part of the Child and Family Services Act and its implementation. We’re talking about empowering

communities and giving them the ability to help themselves when it comes to child apprehensions. We’re talking about implementing committees which could significantly save us money and improve results for our children, those children that are in jeopardy within the communities.

Frankly, I need to understand how it went from being yes, in the business plans we’re committed, to the main estimates, no evidence of it at all, to now, oh, we’re going to do it in 2012-13. How can the Minister commit the next government? I mean, often I hear we can’t commit the next government to this, that or the other. I’m not confident that by saying today, oh, we’ll do it in 2012-13 means that it’s going to get done. We’d like to see something done now. We would like to see a commitment to move on the child and family services committees as the Minister said she would during the business planning process. Where is the consistency? I don’t understand what I’m being told, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Chair, the Member can be as confused as he lets himself be, so I’m not sure if I can help him with that. The fact is, and when I say that we’re going to proceed, we’re going to present this as part of the next business plan, it doesn’t mean that I’m committing the next government. We are still going to be in this Assembly as we review the next business plan. The Member’s been here for three years. He knows what the process is. We’ve outlined in our reply to the committee a number of competing priorities that the Members have presented to us and the Member knows already that the business plan review process considers lots of initiatives that come forward from not only this department but from all other departments as well. I have made it clear that my department will present this and the other item that the committee has presented as a priority item.

There’s nothing to be confused about the fact that this was mentioned in the business plan which we reviewed in September and the main estimates that are before us. It does happen between the business plan and the main estimates. We have presented detailed information about how much money it would cost for us to establish these in the communities and to properly resource them and to do it right. I really feel, Mr. Chair, that the department went a long way in meeting the demands of the committee. They asked for four things to incorporate into our existing budget. The budget is already stretched and we have offered to incorporate upwards of $600,000 from within to meet the demands of the committee and the Members. This is not just my budget, Mr. Chairman, it is our budget and the Member knows how the money flows. You can’t get blood from a stone unless we take it out of somewhere. I mean, it’s not responsible math just to say add something more on and not look at the whole picture. Thank you.

It’s easy to be confused when somebody tells you one thing and you believe it and you expect it to appear in the main estimates and then it doesn’t appear in the main estimates. We are all in support of that initiative to have five in the communities, we all expected to see it and I don’t see it. It’s easy to be confused, Mr. Chairman.

I also must point out to the Minister this is her third term and she knows how main estimates coming into an election work and business planning. It’s my understanding that as a Member of this 16

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Assembly we’re not really going to have an opportunity as Regular Members to sit in front of the business plans for the 2012-13 fiscal year and discuss them. It just doesn’t happen. Once again, I’m confused why she thinks that’s the process that’s going to be in front of us, because we’re not going to have an opportunity to look at them. I remain concerned. I remain confused. It was explained to us that it was going to be done and now we’re hearing, no, we don’t have the money. We said yes, but we don’t have the money so we’ve changed our mind.

This is something the Minister committed to and I think the Minister should live up to that commitment. I’d like to understand how the Minister went from being supportive of this thing and all of us expecting it to happen to being off the agenda, off the radar, not happening. The Minister’s staff went to the communities. They heard clearly. I’m disappointed. I’m radically disappointed in this Minister’s rejection of these committees for the 2011-12 fiscal year.

Mr. Chairman, I don’t have anything to add to that. Thank you.

Next I have Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to ask what the Minister is planning to do to enhance prevention and early intervention aspects of child and family services as a result of our review and how this is reflected in the budget as presented here.

Minister Lee.

Mr. Chairman, prevention and early intervention, we do that in many of our program areas, but in specifically for healthy families, the Member knows that we are proposing to expand the programming to Inuvik and Fort Simpson. That is part of this main estimate. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, I do indeed know that. What we had asked the Minister was to do more in terms of prevention and early intervention. I am happy to see that the Minister is going to be recommending further expansion on healthy programs in 2012-13. That sounds like good work. These are expensive programs, although I have to

say I would like to debate any budgets provided to us on that, certainly not what we were told when we looked in the healthy families.

I would just like to say, Mr. Chairman, looking at our report, prevention programs are starved for resources and lack capacity to take on more clients. The unfortunate reality is that crisis cases eat up the lion’s share of child welfare resources. This crisis response mode is not sustainable. The Minister is right; this is our budget, we are together on this. We have done a lot of work on it and listened to the people. What we are hearing is much more is needed on the prevention side. We raised this. We are refusing to accept this budget until we get more in that area, which means the Minister, or we will have to make judgment decisions on where the money will come from and we are hoping the Minister will take that on. But we have tried to say this is clearly the responsibility. We need more on prevention and intervention services. Now there are a million ways that the Minister could provide to deliver prevention and early intervention services. We go on to suggest, Members heard how many parents, especially young parents, would benefit from counselling and support groups. We need to vastly improve pre and post-natal care and parenting skills, offer respite services and child care plus in-home supports and home visitation programs. Investing in these prevention programs early will reduce the demand for protection services in the near future. These are investments. That is how we see them.

I am asking the Minister again. I am informing the Minister that we need to see action for us to make progress here. We are waiting. I welcome any comments from the Minister.

Mr. Chairman, as the Member knows, there are a number of prevention programs that are being delivered within the health and social services system and the authorities. I do agree with the Member that prevention is important and that it has to be part of our work. I do agree with him that, like any other health and social services system across the country, our systems often respond to post event rather than pre-event. It is for that reason that we have worked to expand prevention and early intervention into additional communities in this budget. I do not have any more money than what I had before this Assembly in this main estimate.

The Child and Family Services Act review report did come out and we have accepted 63 out of 73 recommendations. There are some that we are saying we will need to get additional funding to be able to do that properly. We are making a commitment to the Member, that I will be putting forward as a new initiative or a continuing initiative, prevention and early intervention money for the next business plan cycle.

This budget is a government budget. This is the Cabinet budget that we are putting forward to the Members. That is the commitment I can make. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, that is not good enough, obviously, or we wouldn’t be here. We have stated in our report that there are, in fact, some prevention programs, but as I said, we found that the programs are starving for resources and lack capacity. The Minister agrees with us that prevention is a key part of the approach, but the Minister doesn’t realize that we are saying it needs to be a much larger part and that we will gain savings from that. That will contribute to our health delivery programs. It is the Minister’s responsibility now or ours to find those dollars.

Mr. Chairman, I don’t want to read too much into it, but is the Member suggesting something that we could move around within the budget? If so, I would like to hear what he would like to take out in order to pay for what he thinks is important.

Mr. Chairman, no. I have been asking the Minister where her priorities are able to shift. If not, the next step would be that we would sit down and determine that, I would imagine.

Mr. Chairman, the letter that I sent to the standing committee on February 25

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is

the analysis we have done. It is the government’s position on this issue. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, just to confirm, the Minister sees no other work that the department can do in the area of prevention and early intervention other than a couple of healthy family programs for 2012-13. Thank you.