Masi. Members' statements. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to publicly state my support for Bill 16: An Act to Amend the Education Act.

First off, as a parent, I feel very privileged that my son is enrolled in a first-class school here in the Northwest Territories where his unique learning needs and education challenges are met by very skilled educators whose standard of teaching and professionalism is second to none in Canada and the world.

That being said, I have asked some tough questions of the department along with my colleagues who are full-time members of the Standing Committee of Social Development. Not everything that we are hearing from the department makes sense at this point. However, the principles that the bill stands for, which are enabling more flexible hours for students and also allowing junior kindergarten to roll out, these are good policy objectives. How we roll out the policy that is up for later debate and questioning.

Just for example, Mr. Speaker, quality education, not quantity, is really the issue.

More and more, we are seeing education systems adapt to different system that use less time. For example, Mr. Speaker, in Finland, one of our sister circumpolar nations, formal schooling starts at the age of seven, followed by only nine years of compulsory school. Students there typically start school between 9:00 and 9:45, and the school day usual ends at 2:00 or 2:45. Most importantly, an average Finnish teacher teaches only 600 hours annually, or about four or fewer lessons daily. The result, Mr. Speaker, looks like this: 93 per cent of Finns graduate from academic or vocational high schools and 66 per cent go on to higher education, the highest rate in the European Union. Yet Finland spends only about 30 per cent less per student than the U.S.

By contrast, in the NWT, only 67 per cent of students graduate from high school. The comparison between the regional centres and smaller communities is drastic.

Mr. Speaker, I do support the objectives and intentions of this bill. The teachers have been very clear in their advocacy to me on a personal level and also through their representatives at the NWTTA and their work on the bill with the government. I think it is the right thing to do but we need to make sure that it is done right which is why we have a very strong standing committee. My honourable friend, the Member from Yellowknife Centre, spoke of her concerns. I do think we need to resolve these before moving forth. Thank you, Mr. speaker.

Masi. Members' statements. Member for Mackenzie Delta.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, last August, the community of Aklavik lost one of our Inuvialuit elders to a stroke. This elder's access to proper and timely medical care was delayed.

A "critical incident review" was started soon after, led by Cree doctor Marlyn Cook.

That was almost seven months ago, Mr. Speaker.

Last week, the Minister of Health and Social Services updated this House on that critical incident review. It made 16 recommendations to the government. These recommendations ranged from making sure staff review and understand current rules to proposing a specialized stroke centre at the Stanton Hospital here in Yellowknife.

I want to talk about one of the recommendations in particular. Recommendation 12 suggests "that the GNWT implements a process to respond to patient and family concerns related to the care that they receive within the healthcare system."

I suspect that the Minister may say that we have a complaints system in place already, though maybe we could work on improving it.

During my constituency meeting in Aklavik, a constituent brought a different idea to the table: a patient advocate.

Small community residents often feel that they can't express how they really feel to healthcare workers.

A patient advocate, working out of a local health centre, could help bridge those gaps between those workers and residents. That could mean someone to tackle language or culture gaps, help coordinate medical escorts, help nurses with patients' family history, or even just help workers new to town get to know the community.

This could also tie in with the review's other recommendations, including the incorporation of traditional practices into care when Aboriginal patients ask for them.

This idea for a patient advocate could be piloted in Aklavik, Mr. Speaker. I think we could learn a lot from it and effect some real positive changes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will have questions later today.

Masi. Members' statements. Member for Hay River North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when I was growing up, I would attend the day camp at the Soaring Eagle Friendship Centre every summer. That is where I learned how to make a bed with pine boughs, cook bannock over an open fire, and snare rabbits.

I am happy to say that after all these years, the friendship centre's tradition of educating youth is as strong as ever, but now, it is focused on delivering programs to develop job skills and provide work experience. Just this past Friday, our Member of Parliament was in Hay River where he announced that the friendship centre is receiving a federal grant of nearly $1.3 million to support projects that provide hands-on work experience, job search assistance, and skills upgrading. This money will help train 60 youth over the next three years.

Mr. Speaker, the feds don’t usually just hand you seven figures without proof that you can put it to good use.

When it was time to tear down the arena in Hay River, the friendship centre recognized an opportunity and partnered with industry to train 23 youth in asbestos abatement. Twenty-two of those youth received their certification, and 80 per cent of them went on to work on the arena project.

Recognizing the growing manufacturing sector in Hay River, the Friendship Centre has again partnered with industry and will soon begin running a carpentry program that will develop essential essential industry skills, and provide work experience.

They are also adapting a youth and elder catering program that has been proven effective in other regions of the territory.

Just yesterday there was an article on CBC North about the commercial fishing training program the centre is running. In the fall, the centre will offer a much more robust version of the program in association with the NWT Fishermen’s Federation and the British Columbia Institute of Technology. It will include intensive hands-on training and Transport Canada marine industry accreditation. This will prepare youth to work in the fishery as well as the shipping industry and the Coast Guard.

The centre also runs an entrepreneurial training program for youth who have multiple barriers to employment, and four youth are now employed as a direct result of this program.

All of these programs are in addition to the numerous community services, the youth centre they run, putting on seniors programs, and hosting a number of community events.

Mr. Speaker, I was going to talk about how friendship centres in the NWT are underfunded and have to piece together monies to provide programming while deferred maintenance costs add up; this is despite the fact that for every dollar invested in the Friendship Centre they can use that to leverage seven additional dollars from other sources.

Mr. Speaker, I wanted to focus instead on the good work being done, and to personally thank the Soaring Eagle Friendship Centre for what it does for our youth, our community, and the NWT. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Members' statements. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Range Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to begin by recognizing the students who are in the House today and stating that you are our future, and one day we hope to see you sitting here. Then I want to move to talk about some of the NHL alumni who are visiting our gallery today. We have Shaun Van Allen, who has played with the Edmonton Oilers, Anaheim Ducks, Ottawa Senators, Dallas Stars and the Montreal Canadiens. We have John Chabot, who played with the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Montreal Canadiens, the Detroit Red Wings. We have Dan Frawley, who played with the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Chicago Black Hawks. Tyler Kennedy, who played with the Pittsburgh Penguins, the New York Islanders, the San Jose Sharks and the New Jersey Devils. Ally Charlette, the daughter of John Chabot, who provided support for the tour. Also accompanying the alumni is the band Algonquin Avenue from Ottawa, who provided the entertainment. We want to welcome you to the Legislative Assembly in the Northwest Territories. It's wonderful that you could attend the event in Deline and we hope to see you again in the future.

---Applause

I would also like to say welcome to our proceedings. It's always great to have special guests as part of our proceedings and witnessing our actions. Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Nunakput.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd to welcome two pages from Inualthuyak School in Sachs Harbour: Rosanne Lennie and Agnes Amos, as well as their chaperone, Margaret Noksana. Welcome to the Legislative Assembly, and I look forward to working with you all this week and hope you can put up with us.

Also, Mr. Speaker, the Senior Cager basketball tournament was held here in Yellowknife over the weekend, and we have a team from Helen Kalvak School, the under 15 boys' team, who are in the gallery, and their teacher. I'm going to give you their names: Kolten Inuktalik, Mitchell Inuktalik, Kyran Alikamik, Teegan Taptuna, Christopher Hoagak, Alexandria Banksland, Lucy Ann Okheena and their teacher/coach Nicolas Kopot. They were the only team that had two girls participate in a boys' tournament, and they also won the sportsmanship banner this weekend for the Cager Tournament.

Mr. Speaker, I just wanted to say that the pages as well as the students have travelled from the furthest north to come and be here with us. I appreciate you making the time to come and sit down and listen to us for a bit. After I'm done, you can go now, but welcome. The sportsmanship shows that the little schools sometimes don't come to compete, but they also come in the spirit of team play. You're sitting across from some very good people in this room, so thank you all, and welcome everybody into the gallery. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Again, just welcoming those individuals who travelled from afar to participate in our tournament this weekend. Thanks for coming. Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Sahtu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to echo my colleague, the Minister, on recognizing the Algonquin band members from Quebec; I hope you had an enjoyable weekend in Deline. Also I'd like to recognize the three members from the alumni NHL who also participated in the celebrations in Deline; Dan Frawley, Shaun Van Allen, and John Chabot. Thank you very much for coming to see our proceedings.

Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Item 6, acknowledgements. Item 7, oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Marci cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member's statement I talked about child and family services training. I'd like to ask the Minister a few questions on that. Can the Minister expand on the curriculum and its requirements such as duration of the training completion requirements, like pass and fail, what would happen, and if there are any plans for refresher requirements? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the culture awareness training that the Member is speaking about is for Child and Family Services statutory appointed child protection workers and adoption workers. It includes a mix of infield community Indigenous engagement orientation followed up by in-person classroom-based core training with elders and educators, and then follow-up and an after-engagement infield engagement which is usually or is intended to be evaluated by the regional supervisor and supported by the department's practice specialist.

Mr. Speaker, there is some upfront work that we require our staff to do; a number of reading modules that they are expected to complete before they go to the in-class orientation and training session, and then there's also some after training which is 30 to 60 days. There are a number of follow-ups every year, training sessions, three to four training sessions held in the Northwest Territories every year that individuals can attend for refreshers if needed. Thanks, Mr. Speaker.

If we know the commonalities between the families with children in care we can act on addressing them. I'd like to ask the Minister: what information, such as household income, does Health and Social Services collect on the families of children in care?

Income is assessed on a case-by-case basis and it is not something that is currently collected within the Child and Family Services information system. A Child and Family Services file may contain information on a family's financial situation only if that information is shared by the family for the purpose of care planning and assessment of the family needs.

For example, Mr. Speaker, if a family identifies that they are an income assistance recipient, then this information can be documented and may help in planning. There are situations, Mr. Speaker, where the incumbent would formally collect information on the family's income, and that would be in a case where a family is coming in for a voluntary services agreement and it's identified that one of the challenges they're facing is income or inability to pay some of their bills.

I indicated in my Member's statement that 8 per cent of the families with children in care were actually income issues, but I would guess that it would be a lot higher; but there are other reasons for the child apprehension or child protection laws. I was wondering if the Minister could commit to always getting the income of the household where there is a Child and Family Services case too.

The Member references the fact that 8 per cent of children in fire/police referrals are for financial assistance; that number is actually taken from the director's report that was issued to the Members a number of months ago. Of a total of 2,309 referrals in 2015-16, 184 were for financial reasons. We've reviewed those, and typically what those referrals are when they occur is that the family is not eligible for, or rather, has already spent this month's financial assistance and they need assistance with food, clothing, or rent, which is something under the new system we can actually do. When it comes to collecting financial information, Mr. Speaker, as I already said, it is based on a case-by-case basis. The Child and Family Services Information doesn't have an entry port for financial information.

To the Member's point, we do know that poverty is an issue in the Northwest Territories and it can be part of the reason somebody might be engaging the Child and Family Information System. In fact, national research does establish a link between poverty and the need for Child and Family Services.

To be clear, Mr. Speaker, poverty is not the strongest link, according to much of the research out there. Research has shown that stronger links are being a victim of domestic violence, alcohol abuse, having few social supports, and a parent having been maltreated as a child. These, Mr. Speaker, are the strongest links leading to families coming into contact with Child and Family Services. These are the issues that we are working to address at a territorial level.

While poverty is an important consideration for the government as a whole, there are other and more important factors that the department has to attend to, such as reducing domestic violence, reducing addictions, and helping families build stronger support networks. Mr. Speaker, this is the premise and the foundation of Building Stronger Families.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank the Minister for that answer. It would be good if the department could look into more income. To another question, foster parent and foster home screening was flagged by the Auditor General in the 2014 report. I understand that internal reviews show that the issues continue to challenge Family Services. What changes to a foster parents screening can we expect this spring? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when we brought in Building Stronger Families, it was a five-year implementation plan and, in a fundamental way, a new way of providing child and family services in the Northwest Territories. The Foster Family Coalition has been an important partner moving forward. They provide significant training within their own organization of families who want to be foster families, to help them prepare. One of the recommendations that came out of the review, the Child and Family Services Review, was to expedite the process for family members who want to foster family members to go through that process. We have already made changes to expedite those referral processes.

We are always working with the Foster Family Coalition to enhance the training that they provide to the foster families. We are going to continue to do those types of things as new ways of doing business, new ideas, new concepts come forward.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.