WHEREAS Canada ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities in 2010;

AND WHEREAS persons with disabilities have the right to be treated equally, with dignity and respect;

AND WHEREAS almost 15 percent of the population of the NWT lives with a disability, which translates to a conservative 6,000 people, with challenges in every community;

AND WHEREAS an additional one in nine people in the NWT are impacted by a disability as family members and caregivers;

AND WHEREAS people with disabilities are at higher risk for neglect, abuse, poverty, isolation, depression and mental health and wellness issues;

AND WHEREAS in 2001 the Premier of the Northwest Territories set up a steering partnership tasked to develop a framework for effective programs and services for persons living with disabilities in the Northwest Territories;

AND WHEREAS a 2008 GNWT Action Plan for Persons with Disabilities was adopted to meet the needs and improve the lives of people living with disabilities in the North;

AND WHEREAS there continues to be considerable and long-standing barriers to full participation and citizenship in society for people with disabilities in the areas of what the NWT Action Plan for Persons with Disabilities identified as the five building blocks: housing, education, employment, income and disability supports;

AND WHEREAS transportation, mobility and community funding issues are of primary and common concern for persons with disabilities across the NWT;

AND WHEREAS when the NWT Disabilities Council met with various stakeholder departments, some of the departments were unaware of the action plan;

AND WHEREAS the NWT Disabilities Council has done an evaluation of the implementation of the action plan and concluded that the effort has been woefully inadequate;

AND WHEREAS between 2008 and 2015 there was little progress, few accomplishments and no formal evaluation of the status of the actions called for in the plan;

NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Deh Cho, that the government work with the Northwest Territories Disabilities Council and community councils to assess the reasons for the failure to implement the action plan formulated in 2008;

AND FURTHER, that the government work with the Disabilities Council to propose the best way to actively move forward with a Disabilities Action Plan;

AND FURTHERMORE, that the government produce a response for consideration by the House by June of 2016.