Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The motion is in order. To the principle of the bill.

Question has been called. Bill 28 has had second reading.

---Carried

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Item 20, consideration in Committee of the Whole of bills and other matters, with Mr. Dolynny in the chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We would like to consider Committee Report 6-17(5), Report on the Review of the 2014 Report of the Auditor General of Canada on Northwest Territories Child and Family Services. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Does committee agree?

Thank you, committee. We’ll commence after a short break. Thank you.

---SHORT RECESS

Committee, I’d like to call everyone back to order here. Before we went on the break it was decided that we would do Committee Report 6-17, Report on the Review of the 2014 Report of the Auditor General of Canada on the Northwest Territories Child and Family Services Act. With that, I’m going to go to the chair of the committee who brought us the report for opening comments. Mr. Nadli.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Standing Committee on Government Operations has presented its report on the review of the 2014 Report or the Auditor General of Canada to the Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly. The committee’s report, which was read into the record, includes 30 recommendations. For the benefit of the public, members would like to explain how and why the committee conducted the review as well as what’s in the report.

The Auditor General of Canada is an important source of independent, professional advice for this Legislative Assembly. The Auditor General usually conducts one performance audit each year on

specific programs and services of the Government of the Northwest Territories. The Assembly can make suggestions, but the choice of which programs to audit is up to the Auditor General of Canada. Each year’s audit report is provided to the Legislative Assembly and tabled in the House. Under the rules of the Legislative Assembly, the Standing Committee on Government Operations has the mandate to review the Auditor General’s reports. The committee holds preparatory meetings with the Auditor General’s staff. The committee then holds a public review and questions witnesses from the department or agency responsible. The committee issues its own report based on what was learned during the public review. In this case, the committee added 19 recommendations to the 11 made by the Auditor General.

It is the Legislative Assembly’s job to scrutinize government spending and performance, to ask questions and to hold the government publicly accountable for its actions. That’s why the Standing Committee on Government Operations conducts a public review, reads its report into the public record and moves the report’s recommendations for adoption for the Assembly in Committee of the Whole. The government is obliged to account to the House by responding to the recommendations on the record within a specific time frame. The committee, the Assembly and the public expects answers.

The Standing Committee on Government Operations thanks the Auditor General of Canada and his staff for the work on the 2014 audit of child and family services delivered by the Department of Health and Social Services and the regional health authorities.

Each year child and family services costs the government approximately $21 million. More than 1,000 children receive services annually.

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 compliant with key requirements under the act?

• 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 were identified in almost every area examined. The committee was also dismayed to learn about the department’s lacklustre responses to previous reviews of child and family services.

In its report, the Standing Committee considered general issues as well as specific findings of the audit. The committee concurs with the Auditor General’s recommendation with respect to improving accountability, support for delivery of services and front-line service delivery. The committee makes additional recommendations on such issues as strengthening prevention efforts and incorporating a performance component in contribution agreements with regional authorities to ensure that funding is contingent on compliance with the act.

The committee is encouraged that the Minister has accepted the Auditor General’s recommendations and that the department plans to implement them. Members are nevertheless convinced that child and family services will improve only if the department’s senior management devotes swift and sustained attention to carrying out the promised reforms. This Assembly, too, must devote sustained attention to ensure the reforms take place.

Thank you, Mr. Nadli, for those opening comments. As we normally do, we are going to open up the floor to general comments. Seeing that there is none, we will return to Mr. Nadli.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Within the process of reviewing the report of the Auditor General, we had an opportunity to come up with several recommendations. I had this opportunity myself, and committee members will be reading into the records, so I have motions one to six that I would like to read.

Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Go ahead with your first motion.

I move that the Department of Health and Social Services produce a comprehensive action plan by June 30, 2014, and table it in the Legislative Assembly at the earliest opportunity.

Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Committee, the motion has been distributed. To the motion. Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I want to speak to this motion because it goes to the heart of the issues that we found with this report and with the inaction and the deficiencies that exist in the department.

We have had action plans before and little has been accomplished, so I guess I wish to impress upon the Minister and the department that committee feels very strongly that (a) we get an action plan, (b) that it be made public, and (c) that they actually act on the action plans. Committee is referring the follow-up of this report to the Standing Committee on Social Programs and I know that Social Programs will be looking for progress on the action plan from the Minister and from the department. With that, I’m done.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. To the motion. I have Mr. Nadli.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. On the motion here, it’s asking the department to come up with a comprehensive action plan by June 30, 2014. Hopefully, we learned from experience, and first from the experiences are several efforts that were made to try and reform the children and family services in terms of its deliverance and the program and services itself, so this basically says that things should be done in a timely manner and that the department needs to move forward, and we look forward to at least a semblance of an action plan that will address the very fundamental concerns that the Auditor General has raised.

Thank you, Mr. Nadli. To the motion. We will go to Minister Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We’re actually on track to finalize an action plan, and the action plan will include outstanding items from the department’s response to the 16th Legislative Assembly Standing Committee on Social Programs report commitments made in response to the March 2014 Auditor General’s report and longer term actions designed to bring about fundamental change in how we support families. We had committed to finalizing an action plan in June, and we are reviewing the recommendations in this Standing Committee on Government Operations’ report and we want to ensure that all recommendations are addressed in that action plan. If this does cause us to require more time, we will be coming to committee to seek that time.

Thank you, Minister Abernethy. To the motion. I have Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the update. I think we did try and address this in the 16th Assembly and I think we did

it late, but we didn’t really pursue it to the point of actually getting something done in the 16th . I think,

although time may be short, that is apparently what has to happen. We need to take this on and actually demonstrate some real progress in this Assembly. Albeit, time is short and I appreciate the Minister’s steps and I’ll be certainly working with my colleagues to make sure that this comes to some

real realization for people and families on the ground.

So, I will be supporting this. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. To the motion.