Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On many occasions I have stood up in this House and spoke on the crisis of mental health and addictions in the Northwest Territories. However, today I will speak to one that tends to get overlooked on far too many times and that’s dealing with prescription drug use, specifically pain killers.

Pain killers are very effective in treating acute pain and chronic pain and pain near the end of life. However, these pain killers can be highly addictive and easily misused and can be fatal at high doses or when combined with alcohol or other sedating drugs. This really affects not only the individual, it affects our health care system and also affects the families who are trying to help their relations who are dealing with these addictions.

In the NWT and also jurisdictions across Canada, we do have a fragmented, unsystematic and insufficient data and monitoring of prescription drug use, misuse and the death that’s caused by overdose from prescription drugs.

Across Canada there has been an increase in the demand for addictions treatment programs for people who are addicted to prescription drugs, and we need to do more to regulate the pills themselves and users that they are approved for. We need to take this into the hospitals and to the health centres to make more information readily available to physicians, to families, to the patients and, as I said, to the physicians about their prescribing practices and also talk about the intervention to their patients who might be experiencing some of these addictions.

In 2013 the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse released a report, entitled “First They Do No Harm: Responding to Canada’s Prescription Drug Crises.” In that report there are many recommendations, some of them alluding to a standardized pan-Canadian surveillance system, a Canada-wide prescription monitoring program, strengthening regulations and a review of legislation related to the safety of these drugs. We also need to do more education and empower the public about prescription drug misuse.

Now is the time for action, and time is very critical. As we continue to talk about it, there are people that are continuing battles with these addictions, and I think the time is now to take action on this. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Moses. Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Over the past year I’ve been very vocal about my concerns with aspects of the Education Renewal and Innovation Project as proposed by ECE. I’ve questioned the Minister with varying degrees of success. In some cases I conducted my own research and then questioned the Minister. It has been a frustrating experience for both me and my constituents because good information has been hard to come by.

Today I will give voice to the words of numerous constituents who have contacted me and other MLAs, expressing their concerns about reduced funding to the Yellowknife school boards. These are constituents who have taken the time to review all the material that Education, Culture and Employment is using to justify the implementation of junior kindergarten. These are highly educated parents who care deeply about the quality of education for all children in the NWT.

Here’s a portion of one letter: “One of the goals of the Department of Education, Culture and Employment and the school boards in the NWT is to invest in the education of children. While junior kindergarten is an excellent program for the children of the NWT, the funds cut from school boards to fund junior kindergarten will be at the expense of students from kindergarten to Grade 12. I believe the long-term effects of this funding cut will be a reduction in student achievement in the NWT.”

From another letter: “In my experience with the Saskatchewan government renewal process carried out over 10 years, I heard from the then-Premiers that any new program had to be funded with new money. This would mean that to add junior kindergarten, another grade would have to be deleted or the government come up with new money. Both Premiers also believed that downloading responsibility for funding cuts to lower levels of government was the ultimate in political cowardliness.”

A third quote, Mr. Speaker: “I am totally disgusted with the incompetent way that the introduction of junior kindergarten has been introduced in the NWT. I’ve never seen anything as destructive done by a government in my life.”

One constituent has asked questions that I would like to see answered as well: “How do you add more students, lower the budget and keep the same pupil-teacher ratio? Could you explain to me how the same level of education can be maintained with the addition of junior kindergarten and the slashing of $698,000 of the Yellowknife Catholic Schools’ budget?”

Yellowknifers feel that they are being penalized twice over. Not only are their children’s programs being affected but their tax dollars are being used elsewhere.

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted

One last quote: “To take away the surplus, which, by the way, comes from my tax dollars, is nothing more than blatant theft of the monies that pay for my children’s education and special needs children who have to be accommodated by the school districts by order of Education, Culture and Employment. So not only am I displeased but also very disappointed that our elected officials would attempt to ram this scheme down taxpayers’ throats, most of whom are in the major centres and are the ones being robbed.”

The implementation of junior kindergarten at the expense of the other school grades, kindergarten to Grade 12, needs to be reviewed and reconsidered. I will have questions for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment later on. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, before we begin today, I too support early childhood education opportunities in every single one of our communities. I also support the immediate need of those 10 communities that desperately need this opportunity. However, we have an Education Minister who would rather wield divisional politics amongst urban versus rural communities. This Minister should be building bridges, not finding ways to burn them down.

I demand the Minister to immediately show this Assembly any degree of opposition of support against any small community when they need their early childhood education needs met. I also demand this Minister to put any single statement before the House that shows that any Yellowknife MLA has ever obstructed any opportunity for these communities, because we too believe their children need good support. I further demand that he recognizes that all Yellowknife MLAs support the principles of early childhood education. It’s time he starts recognizing that and telling the world that this is happening. We’re not against these opportunities; we support them. We want to be part of the solution.

So I ask the Minister to stop discombobulating the issue. He’s the one causing the problem. If the Education Minister became aware of this, maybe now is the appropriate time. He’s Minister of

Education of the whole NWT, not just which communities he feels like it.

All children in Yellowknife matter, their families matter. All NWT children matter, their families matter. Let’s start seeing it from this particular Minister, but no, he’d rather pit school board against school board, child against child. Yellowknife MLAs want to be part of the solution, as I said earlier, but no, instead of holding up the promise of standards of education amongst all the children of the Northwest Territories, he has found a way, as I said earlier, to pit board against board, people against people, students against students.

We need some real hard discussions right now. While Yellowknife school boards are under financial attack, they see what’s coming. The question now starts to arise, maybe we should be discussing we should turn back our school boards under the administration of this Education Minister, because frankly, Yellowknife citizens are already paying territorial taxes and we’re paying local school taxes. He has gagged the superintendents, and maybe our teachers will finally be paid fairly, just like every other NWT teacher. I’ll have questions later today. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to seek unanimous consent to go to recognition of visitors in the gallery, item 6 on the Order Paper, please.

---Unanimous consent granted

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is a pleasure again this year to have the Grade 6 students from Hay River take a bus up from Hay River to come to visit us here in the Legislature. I’d like to, with the House’s indulgence, name each one of them, and when you hear your name called, if you wave, the camera might pick you up and your mom might see you on TV tonight. You have to be quick, though, because I have to do this quickly.

Anyway, Jaidyn Bourdages, Deanna DeRosa, Nicole Griffiths – and, Nicole, you can tell your mom we were talking today in the House about what a great job she does as a physician recruitment person in Hay River – Danielle Havioyak, Hanna Lafferty, Layne Leonard, Raven Magrum, Kiana Masuzumi, Ginger Milne, Hope Norn, Tenielle Patterson – and, Tenielle, you tell your mom, who is my constituency assistant in Hay River who is recovering from major surgery, that we missed her here today, okay? - Julie Squires-Rowe, Natalia Tambour-Lau-a, Zoey Walsh, Pranay Annavarapu, and chaperones here today – sorry if I’ve pronounced it wrong – Jordan Robinson, Jun Lau-

a, Cindy Lau-a, Ravi Annavarapu, Crystal Mackie, and as I mentioned, Orlanda Patterson in Hay River was instrumental in planning this along with my constituency assistant here, Wendy Morgan, and of course, Mr. Bouchard’s assistant, Myrtle Graham, was also very involved in organizing this trip. Thank you to everyone.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Bouchard.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have the other half of the list recognizing Elisha Gill, Nicole Irwin, Shayna Wilford, Ceaira Flaherty-McKay, Roxie Beaulieu, Matt Hayward, Trey Beck, Angus Smith, Max Boomstrand, Bryce Smith, Shade Martel-Beaulieu, Aaron Herbert, Hunter Lafferty, Jared Chocolate, Caleb Brockway and, obviously, our two teachers, Jennifer Tweedie and Ms. Rita Moizis. They’ve been attending for the last couple of years. I’d also like to thank the owner of Frontier Coachlines. Going on 11 years in support, Joe Gagnier, one of my constituents as well as the Elks sponsorship of the bus. I’d also like to thank our constituency assistants. Obviously, Wendy Morgan, Orlanda Patterson, who couldn’t be here today and, my assistant, Myrtle Graham.

Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d also like to welcome all the folks from Hay River. It’s really great to see this bunch, and it’s an annual event and I welcome it. I’d also like to recognize John McFadden, a fellow from the media that many of us have come to know through his work. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rose my hand to do the same thing Mr. Bromley just did, but certainly it’s worth noting once again. I’d like to, as well, recognize Weledeh constituent John McFadden, citizen.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. I’d like to welcome here today, too, the students from Hay River. I really enjoyed my time with you here today when we had lunch together and we got to get you into the House with most of the MLAs and get some photos taken. I hope you guys have a safe trip back home to Hay River. It was really good seeing all of you here, and do good in school.

Also, I’d like to wish a happy birthday today – it’s a belated birthday – to Ms. Wendy Bisaro. Also, I’d like to wish Tom Beaulieu a happy birthday and, one more in the House today, Madam Clerk Collette Langlois. Happy birthday.

I wish all of you guys a happy birthday and have a good rest of your day.

Item 4, reports of standing and special committees. Mr. Nadli.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just wanted to take the opportunity to express in my language the significant nature of this report, so I wanted to take the opportunity to switch to my language here today.

[Translation] …(inaudible)…standing committee and special committees in the last year. The work done in 2014, the Auditor General working on behalf of child and welfare. We have met on it, and the people that work on the special committee, we would like to thank the Auditor General Mr. Ronnie Campbell, principal Mr. Glenn Wheeler, and lead auditor Ms. Erin Jellinek, and also they are part of the committee that worked on the special committee. There are also several people that worked on the special committee: deputy minister, Ms. DeLancey; and operations, Ms. Cullen; and also child welfare personnel. These are several of the people that worked on the special committee and also the Auditor General of Canada. He is also one of the officials that determine how they will be working as the standing committee and special committee, and some of the things that they also will work on as the Auditor General is the money involved and they also work with Nunavut and Yukon as well.

In regards to the money and how the Legislative Assembly oversees the operation and how they work and also how the government is involved in the way they use the money. In regards to how they work, they also monitor how they work and also how best to work as a standing committee. This is how they work together.

Since 2006 the Auditor General has been involved seven times in monitoring how the standing committee works. This is how the report has been done. The Standing Committee on Operations is how the Legislative Assembly appoints them is they also work on how best to work on behalf of the citizens of the Northwest Territories. The Standing Committee on Government Operations also wants the committees to work to the best of their abilities. This is why they monitor the reports and the Auditor General and how they work with the committees to work best for the benefit of the people of the Northwest Territories. This is how the Auditor General works with the standing committee and special committees.

Mr. Yakeleya.

Northwest Territories Child and Family Services Delivered by the Department of Health and Social Services and the Regional Health and Social Services Authorities

Mr. Speaker, the Auditor General’s report was tabled in the Legislative Assembly on March 4, 2014. This year’s performance audit focused on child and family services. The department is responsible for the overall management of the child and family services system, and the director of child and family services has key obligations under the act to protect children from harm, abuse and neglect. The regional authorities are responsible for assisting the director in fulfilling these obligations.

Many lives are touched by the child and family services system. Across our jurisdiction over 1,000 children – roughly one child in every six – receive services of some kind each year. Approximately 250 children are in temporary or permanent custody of the director of child and family services. The Government of the Northwest Territories spends about $21 million annually on these services.

The Northwest Territories has one of the highest rates of child apprehensions in the country. Over 90 percent of child welfare cases involve Aboriginal children.

The root causes of maltreatment are well known. The Northwest Territories has extremely high rates of poverty, alcohol and drug abuse, mental health issues, domestic violence, homelessness and crime. As well, safe and affordable housing is often unavailable.

Underlying these problems is the legacy of the residential school system. Residential schools caused profound disruption to Aboriginal families, forcibly removing children from their homes and eroding traditional practices that bound Aboriginal families and communities together. The school system lasted four generations. Many children were subjected to physical abuse, sexual abuse, or neglect, or some combination of these types of abuse. While residential schools have been closed for decades, the devastating effects are still being felt today.

Child and family services is a very difficult area in which to work. Child protection workers are routinely exposed to traumatic and stressful situations in which they must make difficult decisions about the well-being of children. They also manage paperwork, prepare legal documents and appear in court. There are many dedicated and committed child protection workers in the Northwest Territories.

Two previous reviews of child and family services have been conducted, the first in 2000 by a national organization known as the Child Welfare League. Among its recommendations were: 1) strengthen

accountability; 2) increase resource allocations for regional authorities; and 3) improve tools and guidance to support service delivery.

The second review was completed in 2010 by the Legislative Assembly’s Standing Committee on Social Programs. Members traveled the territory extensively, hearing from people about how to improve the child and family services system. Eight core recommendations were made, out of which flowed several dozen others. The core recommendations were: 1) focus on prevention and early intervention; 2) take the least intrusive measures possible; 3) set up child and family services committees in every community; 4) provide alcohol and drug treatment options in all communities; 5) address gaps in services for youth; 6) improve administration and procedures; 7) develop a territorial anti-poverty strategy; and 8) develop a strategic plan for implementing recommendations.

The Auditor General’s 2014 Report

The Auditor General’s performance audit covered program delivery between April 2010 and September 2013. Case files for 46 individual children and 36 foster homes were sampled.

Looking to the Child and Family Services Act and the Child and Family Services Standards and Procedures Manual, the Auditor General tested the department against its own rules. Four main questions were asked. First, is there an adequate accountability framework in place? Second, are there adequate mechanisms in place to support service delivery? Third, are the department and regional authorities complying with key requirements under the act? And fourth, are appropriate prevention and youth programs in place?

The Standing Committee on Government Operations was deeply troubled to learn from the Auditor General’s report that there are serious systemic problems with the delivery of child and family services. The department and regional authorities are not adequately meeting their key responsibilities. Deficiencies exist in almost every area examined.

According to the Auditor General, when the regional authorities initiated investigations, they did so within the required 24 hours, in most cases. However, 13 percent of these investigations did not include the required steps to assess the child’s immediate safety. Moreover, not one of the investigations included a longer-term assessment of the potential for abuse or neglect to reoccur. Even more alarming was that in nearly a third of the files, child protection concerns had been reported but never investigated by the regional authorities.

The Auditor General also found that regional authorities did not conduct the necessary checks on

foster homes. In 69 percent of the files examined, children were placed in foster homes which had not been properly screened.

In addition, neither the department nor the regional authorities have developed programming to support vulnerable youth who are not entitled to protection under the act.

Mr. Speaker, now I will turn this over to Ms. Bisaro to finish reading the report.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Ms. Bisaro.

Observations and Recommendations

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Auditor General’s observations can be summarized as follows: • The department and regional authorities are not

adequately meeting their key responsibilities for the protection of children, youth and families.

• The department has not established an

adequate accountability framework.

• The department has not assessed the financial

and human resources required to carry out its obligations under the Family and Child Services Act.

• Regional authorities do not always complete

required steps to keep children safe.

o

In 28 percent of files, child protection

concerns were not investigated.

o

18 percent of investigations were not

completed within 30 days as required.

o

In 27 percent of investigations, required

interviews were not conducted.

o

In 13 percent of investigations the child’s

immediate safety was not assessed.

o

Longer-term risk assessments were not

conducted in any of the investigations.

o

14 percent of plan of care agreements had

not been signed by the parties.

o

In 54 percent of plan of care agreements,

compliance with conditions was not properly monitored.

• Regional authorities are not meeting

requirements for screening and reviewing foster care homes.

o

69 percent of foster care homes were not

properly screened.

o

Annual reviews were not performed in 81

percent of the files.

I. General

Considerations

1. Develop and implement a comprehensive action

plan

The committee is alarmed by the number of deficiencies identified by the Auditor General and the degree of inaction displayed by the department following the 2010 report. During the public review, departmental witnesses were unable to explain to the committee’s satisfaction why so little has changed. Instead, witnesses tended to deflect responsibility and blame the system.

In light of this grave situation, the committee expects to see a comprehensive action plan for addressing deficiencies. The action plan should differentiate between short-term and long-term priorities, and identify specific goals, timelines and indicators for measuring progress. Such an action plan will be critical to successfully implementing recommendations contained in this report.

The Auditor General has sounded a warning in this area. The 2012 status report examined progress made by GNWT departments in implementing recommendations of previous performance audits and identified the absence of strong action plans as a significant impediment to effective management.

In addition, the department has already failed to deliver on a number of promises. For example, in response to the Auditor General’s report in 2011, the department re-committed to revising the funding methodology for the regional authorities by the end of 2012-13 having made the original commitment in 2006, but it did not follow through. Given this poor track record, the department’s next steps will be closely monitored. The committee may request that the Auditor General conduct a follow-up audit if progress is unsatisfactory.

Recommendation 1

The Standing Committee on Government Operations recommends that the Department of Health and Social Services produce its action plan by June 30, 2014, and table it in the Legislative Assembly at the earliest opportunity.

2. Focus on prevention, early intervention and

family preservation strategies

The Auditor General’s report underscores a fact established in the 2010 report: the legacy of residential schools reverberates throughout the child and family services system. Over 90 percent of child welfare cases involve Aboriginal children.

The effects of this inter-generational trauma show themselves in struggles with poverty, substance abuse, and domestic violence, which figured prominently in the case files reviewed by the Auditor General. In 83 percent of them, alcohol or drugs were identified as putting a child at risk. Alcoholism and other addictions ravage families and communities, yet regional authority officials regularly told the Auditor General there are not enough practical avenues for treatment or prevention services to assist families.

Neither the department nor the regional authorities have developed comprehensive guidelines to assist child protection workers in accessing prevention services.

The committee recommends swift and vigorous action in the area of prevention, early intervention and family preservation strategies. Specifically, prevention services should be expanded in three areas:

A.

Alcohol and drug treatment options - Community-based options must be expanded to ensure that parents requiring alcohol or drug treatment or rehabilitation are able to complete the terms of the plan of care agreement within a reasonable time frame. Without such treatment options, the plan of care process for these families is doomed to failure.

B. Healthy Family Program - This program is

aimed at providing in-home support to parents of young children and educating them about nutrition, oral health, play-based learning and risk factors associated with developmental delays. The program is especially beneficial for survivors of the residential school system. In that system, children were forcibly taken from their families, placed in institutional settings and often unable to form loving attachments with their parents. Thus, many parents, even those a generation or two removed from the residential school experience, do not have the necessary life skills or emotional capacity to form strong, loving bonds with their children. The program is currently operating in all regions but not in every community. It should be expanded into all 33 communities with the goal of reaching every at-risk family in the territory.

C. Family preservation workers -

Another promising avenue is to employ family preservation workers across the territory. According to the Auditor General’s report, at least one such position exists. The purpose is to provide in-home, individualized intervention services, with the aim of preventing the out-of-home placement of children whenever possible. The family preservation worker may provide assistance in the development of effective parenting skills such as: instructions in family budgeting; guidance in managing daily household tasks; information about nutrition and health; and identification of services that might help at-risk families.

The goal of prevention and early intervention strategies is to reduce the overall need for child apprehensions. In conjunction with vigorous prevention-based strategies, the department should therefore establish targets, such as a 20 percent reduction in the number of child apprehensions over a given period.

As a word of caution, reductions in the number of child apprehensions must never be achieved by cutting back on child protection services but rather only by improving the well-being of children and families.

Recommendation 2

The Standing Committee on Government Operations recommends that the Department of Health and Social Services focus on prevention, early intervention and family preservation strategies with the goal of reducing the need for child apprehensions. Measurable targets should be specified for the upcoming five- and 10-year periods.

Recommendation 3

The Standing Committee on Government Operations recommends that the Department of Health and Social Services investigate the feasibility of territory-wide expansion of family preservation workers. These workers provide in-home, individualized intervention services in order to promote the well-being of children and families.

Recommendation 4

The Standing Committee on Government Operations concurs with the Auditor General of Canada and recommends that the health and social services authorities, in consultation with the Department of Health and Social Services, assist child protection workers in identifying and accessing the prevention programs available to children and families. They should also ensure that prevention programs such as the Healthy Family Program are offered to families in need.

3. Build linkages in earnest with Aboriginal

governments

As a continuation of the previous set of recommendations, stronger linkages must be forged between the child and family services system and Aboriginal governments. This should be accomplished through enhanced community engagement.

Band administrators should be encouraged to participate and advocate at all stages of the child protection process. They should also be included in training activities and workshops and given regular opportunities to develop and participate in training programs for child and family services committees.

Recommendation 5

The Standing Committee on Government Operations recommends that the Department of Health and Social Services build stronger linkages with Aboriginal governments pertaining to child and family services.

4. Monitor future progress through updates to

Exhibits 3, 4, 5 and 6 of the Auditor General’s report

The committee concurs with the Auditor General that ongoing progress will be best monitored through updates to performance indicators associated with Exhibits 3, 4, 5 and 6 of the Auditor General’s report.

Updates should be provided on a quarterly basis to the Standing Committee on Social Programs, which will monitor progress on the department’s action plan.

Recommendation 6

The Standing Committee on Government Operations recommends that the Department of Health and Social Services provide quarterly updates to the Standing Committee on Social Programs on improvements to child and family services. These updates should replicate indicators associated with Exhibits 3, 4, 5 and 6 of the Auditor General’s report. These exhibits pertain to the following areas respectively: conducting investigations; addressing confirmed child protection needs; attending to children in care of the director; and screening and reviewing foster care homes.

5. Address deficiencies without delay

During the public review, the committee heard departmental witnesses blame a broken child and family services system for ineffective management. The deputy minister alluded to the need for amendments to the Hospital Insurance and Health and Social Services Administration Act as this legislation contributes to the convoluted accountability framework. The deputy minister also alluded to impending changes to the broader structure of health care governance.

The committee is gravely concerned that efforts to correct deficiencies in child and family services may be delayed or postponed until governance reforms take place. Members agree with the Auditor General that deficiencies can and must be addressed within the existing legislative framework, even as improvements are made to the governance system.

Recommendation 7

The Standing Committee on Government Operations recommends that the Department of Health and Social Services begin immediately and in earnest to correct deficiencies in child and family services. Improvements must not be delayed until governance reforms have taken place as reforms may take until the end of the 17th Assembly or longer to complete.

6. Develop a communication plan

Finally, given the long-standing and serious nature of the deficiencies identified by the Auditor General,

key stakeholders and the public have a right to be informed about the department’s progress in addressing them.

Recommendation 8

The Standing Committee on Government Operations recommends that the Department of Health and Social Services develop a communication plan pertaining specifically to child and family services so that stakeholders and the public are informed about completed actions, upcoming changes and anticipated timelines.

Mr. Speaker, I’d like to pass the reading of the report to my colleague MLA Dolynny.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. To the report, Mr. Dolynny.