Marci cho, Mr. Speaker. [Translation] Last week, Mr. Speaker, CBC Radio -- Health and Social Services had wanted to work with the children and the children who are taken away from their home the way they had first starting working on there when they first came up here to work with the people and the kids that were taken away from their home and taken to the residential schools the way -- up to 2014 the federal government had a look at it and made a report. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. [Translation ends]

CBC Radio reported that the Department of Health and Social Services will start requiring NWT Child and Family Services workers to take mandatory training on colonization and the impacts of residential schools.

This change is something we've been waiting for for a long time. It is one of the changes in business practices that is finally coming out of the Auditor General's 2014 Audit of Child and Family Services.

Less than 3 per cent of children in the Child and Family Services system come from backgrounds other than First Nations, Inuit, or Metis. First Nations children make up a full 71 per cent.

It is our reality, Mr. Speaker, this training is vital. In fact, it is well overdue. We've been waiting for a long time.

When the social development committee pressed the department for details on its response to the Auditor General, Members struggled to get good answers and indications of practical progress.

In its last annual report, Child and Family Services went as far as to call the Auditor General's findings into question, and told Members about data collection problems and "broken" audit tools. I understand that foster home "home studies" is one area where we're still failing.

The introduction of these new training requirements and long-needed updates to foster parent screening go a short way to easing my mind, Mr. Speaker. Meaningful decolonization and awareness training is definitely a step in the right direction.

Still, this is a problem area, and it impacts our most vulnerable residents.

In 2015-16, the need for financial assistance made up 8 per cent of all Child and Family Services referrals. This means that the reason those children's files ended up on a social worker's desk didn't fall under the other categories we track: abuse, family violence, alcohol, and drugs. It was a lack of income. It was money. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted.