Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise again in support of the A New Day program. It's not the first time that I've had the opportunity to support this very important program and to speak about the issue of the crisis of family and spousal violence in the Northwest Territories. I'm very proud also to stand with so many honourable Members who have spoken today in support of this program and who have taken a keen interest in the work that the staff of A New Day have done since their program started, to try to turn the corner on this.
We've heard a lot about the evaluation holding up this process, and although it is important to use measurements such as evaluations, this program deals with a very systemic problem, and a problem linked to generations of abuse and violence, and that trauma is hard to treat; it's hard to measure. Recidivism rates in the Northwest Territories are notoriously hard to measure, so we have to be careful about how we use our resources and one of the things this motion calls for is to ensure there are no gaps in programming. As we know, this is the only program for men who use violence in the Northwest Territories, that's why it's so important the recommendations of this motion is heard by government. If there is a gap until we figure out what to do next, we're not going to have anything, and that's a situation that, quite frankly, is unacceptable.
I'm sure every citizen of the Northwest Territories has an intimate experience with family violence and that is also unacceptable, and this is a priority for this government, a priority for all governments. The Premier in the last Assembly spoke about this as well and spoke about the initiatives that they were taking; it's not a new problem. Finally we have a program that's sensitive to the needs of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission; it's sensitive to the needs around Indigenous identity and it needs to stay and it needs to be supported, and we need to find a way to better support it and better understand the numbers.
We've also heard very different numbers coming from the department. We heard it earlier today and we heard it just recently from the Minister. The numbers we're hearing from the Minister are 39 and the numbers we're hearing from the New Day program providers are 348. The 348 is a very helpful number, and I worry about the evaluation criteria if we're using 39 instead of a number of several hundred clients. So we'll have to see what happens with that evaluation, but in the meantime this motion takes us exactly where we need to be. It holds course on a program that is proven to be effective for clients and where staff is seeing a direct result.
As they told us last night at the open house, if you build it they will come, and they have come and they continue to come back. Once those doors close there is nowhere for these clients to go except back into dangerous situations without the supports that they've come to use to make positive, healthy choices for themselves and their families.
I hope that the "such as" in the mandate commitment, such as programs like the A New Day, does not hinge on the future of this program. The reason A New Day is mentioned in the mandate is because Members see the potential in it and continue to support it, and the future of this program should not hinge on two words: such as.
So, Mr. Speaker, I will conclude by saying I stand in support of this motion and I appreciate that we will all continue to work on this, use the evaluation data to make an even stronger program, and keep the same experts who have been building strong client relationships on the ground helping families heal where they belong. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.