Once again, the Department of Health and Social Services isn't alone in working to address family violence. We are one of the partner departments that come up with solutions and programs that will help us reduce the incidence of family violence. However, having said that, the Department of Health and Social Services is doing a number of things. One of the things that we do is we fund the, What Will it Take? campaign. In that vein, we are working on some new videos to help address family violence and create awareness. One of them is going to be on consent, and that work is currently being done. There is a video for adults being done, as well as a video for youth, and there is also another video on elder abuse, and the filming is currently being done in early December. That work is being done in Fort Good Hope. There is an advisory group of elders supporting this video, so we are reaching out to people outside of Yellowknife to create more product and more campaigns to help us address this.

Mr. Speaker, we are also working on a shelter awareness campaign. This is an NWT-wide campaign to raise awareness about shelter services and how people can access them. The department does have a contribution agreement with the Hay River Family Support Centre in partnership with the "Y" here in Yellowknife, so once again, we're not just relying on input from those in Yellowknife, but input from those across the Northwest Territories who are on the front lines of addressing family violence.

We are doing the work, Mr. Speaker. We are doing the work. Obviously, more needs to be done. We hear you, and we are planning to make some improvements starting the next fiscal year when we make the proposal to increase funding for shelters.

Throughout my thoughts, my statement, and the questions that I have, I wanted to come to a common understanding, and I wanted to hear some good news. Get a status in terms of whether indeed we are addressing our mandate, and look and to see if there's ways from this side of the House we could help the leadership in terms of the Minister leading the charge against addressing family violence in the North. I think we have to get beyond the whole stage of denial and admit that we have a problem, and that's a big challenge that I see. Has the Minister, in his eyes, ensured that this is crisis levels that warrants a crisis response? Is the Minister confident that we have done all that we can to address family violence?

There are societal issues around this, and that we need to do more, and we need to continue to work together to destroy the stigma that exists around family violence. We have heard positive statements about the work we're doing with What Will it Take?, but we acknowledge that we need to continue to evolve and develop more programs and more awareness around family violence, which is why we are moving forward with these new videos that talk about consent. One is being done for adults; one is being done for youth. We're also talking about elder abuse, as it falls under family violence, and we are working with partners. We are trying to bring more. This is what we are proposing for this particular budget cycle, but there will be more. We have to continue to evolve, we have to continue to get the message out there, and we have to continue to work together.

Mr. Speaker, we have a number of videos out already, and I would strongly encourage the Member and all Members to re-distribute these videos through your social media campaigns, through your social media means. We need to work together to get the message out there and continue to destroy the stigma, break it down and have people talk about it. The more people are fighting against it, the better the results will be. It's going take all of us, Mr. Speaker. What Will it Take?

Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.

Masi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my final question is more likely to be two questions. The first question would be: does the Minister feel we have done all we can to address our priority in the 18^th Assembly by addressing family violence? Or does he also feel that this whole challenge would probably flow into the 19^th Assembly? Masi.

The Member is asking for an opinion regarding a Minister's feelings. I will allow the Minister to respond if he wishes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, domestic violence and family violence in the Northwest Territories is a long-standing problem, and we, as an Assembly, we as a group of 19 Members, have made it a mandate item. To that end, we have done work to develop a formula, and we've also improved and increased the amount of information we have out there to help break down the stigma.

Mr. Speaker, in the life of this Assembly, we are intending to and we will increase the funding that we provide to shelters. Is it, alone, enough to solve the problem of family violence here, in the Northwest Territories? Absolutely not, but it is an important part of the puzzle, as is creating additional awareness. One of the Members earlier today talked about forming another committee.

Mr. Speaker, we have relationships with important organizations that are doing important things to curb family violence here, in the Northwest Territories. The Department of Justice is doing a number of things as well. Do I think we've solved the problem of domestic violence in this Assembly? Absolutely not. Do I think we've taken important steps to help address it? Absolutely. Can more be done, and will more be done? Absolutely.

This is going to continue into the next Assembly because we're not going to find that magical light switch that turns off domestic violence. It's going to take all of us championing together, working together, getting the message out there, and opposing all those that are committing domestic violence, and telling them that it's wrong and that they need to take account for their actions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.

Masi. Minister of Infrastructure.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My understanding is there are still some outstanding issues with the Willow River Bridge; there is still some engineering work that needs to be completed, environmental approvals and permits that need to be put into place. What I can tell the House is, when the Premier and I were in Inuvik a couple of weeks ago, we took the time to meet with the Mayor and the regional director that we have for the northern region, to sit down and have a conversation about the challenges with getting this bridge completed. We've committed the regional director to sit down with all the proponents in Aklavik to have these discussions to see how we can move this project forward.

Mr. Speaker, like I mentioned in my opening comments, the engineering and planning has been completed and the permits are in place, so will the Minister commit to completing the Willow River Bridge by the end of the winter?

I will gladly sit down with the Member and make sure that the engineering work and the environmental approvals and permits are in place, but it's not Infrastructure's place to fund the completion of this bridge. We're going to have to figure out where we are going to get this money. I know from our bilaterals that we signed that there's a possibility that we can actually use something out of the bilateral around community funding with the Minister of MACA. We might have to have a look at that and what is going forward. We will continue to help support this initiative moving forward. If this work that the Member is stating is completed, it must have just been done here lately. We're certainly going to have to sit down and figure out a way as to how we're going to be able to fund this thing.

Mr. Speaker, the Minister is a professional at finding funds for projects like this. Mr. Speaker, as the Minister knows, we have a short window to do this construction up near Aklavik because we don't have an all-season road there at this moment but our work needs to be done within the winter months. So we have a short window of about three to four months. Mr. Speaker, it's very important that we have this money to complete this bridge. We're at the final stages, like I mentioned, so, now more than ever, we need this funding to complete this work. I'm glad the Minister is willing to sit down with the community, and I'm sure, once we do our tour there, we'll be able to sit down. However, would the Minister be willing to meet within the next couple of days? I know he's travelling tomorrow, but we have this evening to meet with our community leader who is actually in the community, in the city, at the moment, so will he commit to a meeting this evening?

I think the Member offered to buy me supper, so I'm coming. I can make time to meet with the MLA and the community leader after session today. Well, we have a meeting after session, but this evening. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier, like many other Members, I spoke about the crisis of family violence and the need for the GNWT to mobilize like it's actually addressing the crisis. I heard that the government is undertaking cross-jurisdictional analyses of best practices, but I'm afraid that's not the silver bullet that is going to address this problem. So, in the meantime, we need to support the organizations that are on the front line, supporting the victims of family violence. One of those organizations is the Family Support Centre in Hay River. They provide a safe space for people fleeing family violence. They've had to demolish their old site, and they're right now working out of a temporary site. However, there is this Federal National Housing Strategy money, the Co-Investment Fund, that seems tailor-made for organizations like this. One of the necessary partners in this is the GNWT, and that's flowing through the Housing Corporation. I brought this to the Minister's attention, and they've reached out to the Family Support Centre, and the Housing Corporation has been working with the Family Support Centre. I'd like an update from the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation on what work has been done to date. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister responsible for NWT Housing Corporation.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I agree with the Member that some of our partners, our stakeholders, non-governmental organizations, that are on the front line doing the work for people, as we heard today, there were a lot of statements on victim services, and I appreciate the work that the Hay River Family Support Centre has been doing. I do know that the Member has brought this up before, especially when the federal government made the announcement on the Co-Investment Fund. He was on top of that and wanted to see what we can do in terms of partnering with the Hay River Family Support Centre.

I am committed, and I have gotten my staff to go and have a meeting with the Hay River Family Support Centre, as well as having chats with the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, to ensure that all the application guidelines and requirements are met. We are going to be having a meeting in the coming weeks to make sure that the application is done properly and that those types of funds that the Family Support Centre is looking for has been done properly so that they can have an opportunity to secure those funds.

I know it has taken a little bit of a long time, but as I mentioned, I am committed to working with the Member, working with the Hay River Family Support Centre, and making sure my staff is in contact with them to get their building up and running again so that they can provide the services for their community members. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I appreciate that answer. I know the Minister stated that it is taking a long time, and with this federal money, there is a lot of information that they need. I appreciate that the department is helping the Family Support Centre get that information, but I think everyone would like to see this move a little quicker.

On the first day back of the sitting, I said I am here to light a fire under Cabinet, so that is what I am trying to do. Can we get things moving a little quicker? What kind of timeline can we expect before we actually see money start rolling out and we can see shovels in the ground?

I answered some questions last week in terms of how we had gotten shortchanged on the Northern Housing Fund. We are continuing to work with the federal government to ensure that we secure funding from them so that we can have strong partnerships.

I have always said that one of the strong points of the Housing Corporation is developing those partnerships. I have made two statements in the House about working with the Tlicho government, as well as working with the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation. This is another partnership that I want to get on, and we are just waiting to get some of these details, sign our bilaterals with the federal government, so we get that money flowing, so it goes to the communities, so it goes to initiatives such as the Family Support Centre, homelessness initiatives, housing initiatives, and we are continuing to put that pressure on the federal government.

I am committed to making sure that we get that funding so that our residents have a roof over their heads, our NGOs have a roof over their heads, so that they can provide these good programs. I just want to let the Member know that I don't have a timeline in place. We are still working with the federal government to ensure that we get that funding flowing to our government and then to the communities, as well as the Indigenous organizations and working with our NGOs.

I appreciate that answer. The Minister mentioned a lot of things there, homelessness, poverty, and often what accompanies family violence are situations like homelessness and poverty. It is not just the Family Support Centre in Hay River that provides support; there are also places like the soup kitchen, and they are also in need of a new building. This co-investment fund could be used for them as well. I have spoken with them a bit about it.

Would the Minister be willing to get his department to reach out to the soup kitchen in Hay River to see if he can also work with them to get an application in for a new building with this co-investment fund?

The NWT Housing Corporation has a lot of programs that we initiate to assist places like the soup kitchen. One of the ones that comes to mind is the Small Community Homelessness Fund, in terms of providing O and M for such organizations like that. I know we have other departments that provide O and M costs, whether it's for a soup kitchen or the Family Support Centre.

However, if we are looking at infrastructure investments, it is on an application base. We are working with CMHC, as well as our other stakeholders to look at investing in certain infrastructure projects like that. I would encourage the staff, the board, and the Member to maybe sit down with myself, and we can see what we can do moving forward, but we are committed to working with our stakeholders, our NGOs, Indigenous governments, to address some of these issues.

Like I mentioned, we are going to continue to put pressure on the federal government so that we get dollars that can actually go out into the communities to provide homes and provide infrastructure and projects for our residents of the Northwest Territories.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.