Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We know that the Northwest Territories has a significant incidence of domestic and/or family violence. Domestic violence in the Northwest Territories is a complex issue with no single solution. One of the main goals of the 17th Legislative Assembly is to support development of sustainable, vibrant and safe communities. In order to achieve this goal, we need to reduce the levels of family violence across our territory.
The Department of Health and Social Services focuses on prevention and intervention of family violence including providing recovery as well as support programs. Recently the department launched the What Will it Take? campaign to change attitudes towards family violence.
The department also funds a network of family violence shelters providing safe environments for women and children fleeing violence. On February 27th the Premier chaired the National Round Table
on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. Addressing the issues of missing and murdered indigenous women is complex, and while it goes beyond family violence, we have to recognize that violence against women, children and elders is a charged topic that cannot be ignored.
The proposed review committee is one more tool we consider in dealing with the issues of domestic violence. A very brief review of these death review committees in other jurisdictions shows that studying trends and risk factors to prevent future tragedies is their purpose. We will need to investigate how such a committee would work before we can actually take steps to establish a committee in the Northwest Territories.
We understand that in Manitoba, Ontario, British Columbia and New Brunswick these committees have been established under the authority of the chief coroner. As these committees usually report to the chief coroner, we are happy to partner with the Department of Justice to work on a feasibly study for the domestic violence death review committee here in the Northwest Territories, and we will report back within 120 days. However, as this is
a recommendation to government, Cabinet will be abstaining from the vote.