Thank you, Mr. Chair. I want to thank certainly the committee and the Minister and his staff for pulling this legislation together late in our term, but it’s getting done. I guess my first comment would be that there have been some really unconscionable delays in this work. This is the result of, finally, the third or a combination of three reports over the years. I was involved in the second report and it made a strong impression on me, touring across the Northwest Territories, as I know it did the Minister who was with us at the time as a Regular Member. So, it’s very good to see this finally happening to the degree that it is.

It is an important recognition of the need to act and hopefully it is the beginning. I know the Minister has been working on putting things in place. There is so much to be done and so much effort that he has attempted that has not been done yet. A simple example of that is the software. We had child and family service workers screaming for help with the software program which simply did not recognize the structure of families in the Northwest Territories and was so slow, and I assume it’s that way today. This is years and years ago. So, you know, severe issues in terms of our ability to deliver what we want to deliver, and seemingly simple solutions that are proving insurmountable, at least in a timely way.

Of course, there’s a very long-standing complete injustice to the 17 to 19-year-olds, and sometimes older. These children are coming from very challenged backgrounds, and not surprisingly, they need support. I have a lot of relatives and, my gosh, they certainly wouldn’t turn away from the support they received right up through their early and mid-twenties, and neither would I. So, how could we have possibly thought for so long that we could dump these people out of the support system onto the street at the age of 17?

So, again, that simple act alone is huge for me, and I really appreciate that getting done. And I hope that it’s not just on paper now. So, lots of kudos there.

I think the committee has done a sterling job at recognizing a complete rewrite is required. Again, that’s consistent with some of the earlier work that was done. What stands out for me is the need to embed or imbue the legislation with the mediation alternative dispute resolution approach. I think it is best exemplified by BC, although I am not on top of the legislation now for other jurisdictions.

Also, a recognition that we need to really improve how we extend support to those extended family members who are called upon or willing to play a role in supporting children in need when the event occurs. I know we have done some work on that, and I appreciate that, but there still seems to be, as the committee has stressed here, a need and an opportunity to do some more work in that area.

I want to leave it at that. This is a very, very serious issue. We have hundreds of people and hundreds of children in care, and by a very large margin, Aboriginal children. Where there is need is clear and I think the issues are clear, and it is now up to us to respond to that clarity with similar efforts on both the legislative and the delivery end of things. This is the legislative end of things. I am very pleased to see this start and I hope this is profiled in our transition to the 18th Assembly, as recommended by the committee, and that we could also urge translation of this legislation into actual activity on the ground, similarly effectively. I will leave it at that, Mr. Chair.