Mr. Speaker, the department absolutely supports the government's mandate to take action on the crisis of family and community violence. This includes the commitment made to continue the support for a healing program for men who use violence in intimate relationships such as the A New Day program.
There is no question that this program is needed and has helped individuals. We think that this program holds tremendous potential to help address the crisis of family violence in our territory. That is why the government has piloted the program since 2012 and why we are investing in an independent evaluation of the pilot project. We need to learn what has worked and what might work better in order to have the most effective program we can.
Since 2012 the GNWT has provided $978,905 for the delivery of A New Day. Thirty-one clients have entered the program, and 16 have completed the full sessions. There are important lessons to take from the experience of this pilot project. The evaluation will help tell us what is working and if any changes are needed to improve outcomes, including increasing the number of men participating.
The evaluation report on the New Day program pilot is being finalized by an independent contractor now, and the department will work as quickly as it can to respond to the evaluation. The current intake of clients in the New Day program will complete their sessions prior to the end of the current contract on December 31st, so we expect any changes to the program will not impact these clients. I know that there is a strong support for the program and keen interest in seeing its delivery continued. Not only is the existing contractor interested in continuing the program, other potential partners have expressed interest as well.
All Members of the Legislative Assembly want the best tools possible to eradicate family violence in the North. We agree with you and are working to achieve this goal. As a government we are committed to providing programming for men and we will continue to do so, but we need to make sure we are delivering it in a way that is effective and as accessible as it can be. Until we have seen the final evaluation report, however, it is premature to make a final decision on the best way to support men who want to make a change in their relationships.
As this is a recommendation to government, Cabinet will be abstaining from this motion. I have committed to share with Members the evaluation of the pilot project and will be pleased to make evidence-based decisions on how to best deliver the New Day program with the advice of the Standing Committee on Social Development.
The funding for A New Day program will remain part of the department's budget and decisions on how to best utilize those resources to deliver the New Day program will be made with the benefit of the lessons learned from the pilot project. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.