This is page numbers 43 - 80 of the Hansard for the 19th Assembly, 1st Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was going.

Topics

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

I want to thank the Premier for that. I don't think she really answered my question, though, which was really about whether the priorities that we have provide clear direction to all of her Ministers. Now, I don't want to get into the specifics of the process that we are engaged in in terms of developing a mandate, but I think it is pretty clear that those priorities don't provide sufficient direction to all of the Ministers. I am just wondering: can the Premier tell us how the initial direction will be set for each Minister to cover matters outside of the priorities?

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

I will try to do a better job of addressing both issues. For clear direction, I may be wrong, but my understanding is that the priorities that are developed by every Legislature are not to encompass every single task that every department will do. It is meant to define what the major issues are that we want to tackle. It does not give clear direction for every single department, nor is it meant to, in my understanding. I am only one Member of the Legislative Assembly, though, so I am open to feedback on that.

For how we deal with other departments, business still goes on. The departments do not just stop working because they don't have a mandate that is specific to them. They still have business that goes on on a daily basis, and Members do have feedback into that. They have feedback through our main estimates. They have feedback into our business plans. They have feedback into our capital plans. There is business that still continues to go forward, and Members do have a chance to have input into the business and the day-to-day operations of departments.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Once again, I want to thank the Premier for that. I guess I expected to hear about things like the transition reports, briefing notes that have been left from the previous Ministers, and that kind of thing. Can the Premier tell us what the mechanisms will be for setting the overall direction for each Minister or department, and what role in the process does the Premier see for the Regular MLAs?

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

This is kind of a recap of the question that was asked of me yesterday, so I will kind of recap the answer. Twenty-two priorities were developed by all Members of this House. We are in the process of working with Regular Members on how to identify the mandates to get us to reach the actions to be reached, the priorities that we have identified as our priorities, not every single issue. Again, like I said, I am open to feedback. If Members want to send me their input, walk in my door, I am available. I am in Yellowknife. My phone number is available. Give me a call. Talk to me about what you want to see.

My biggest priority for myself, and I have said that over and over, will be to make sure that we are transparent, that we are working as closely as possible with all stakeholders, including all MLAs. Like I said yesterday, MLAs also have a chance to give feedback into the individual departments themselves through our main estimates, through our business planning process, and through our capital budgets. There is lots of time within the four years to give input into how the departments work.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Premier. Member for Frame Lake.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Merci, Monsieur le President. Once again, I want to thank the Premier for that. I guess what I am most worried about is where the initial direction is going to come from for each of the Ministers and the departments. Yesterday, the Premier suggested to the Member for Yellowknife Centre that people could go and walk into her office and talk to her about priorities. That's not a very efficient or effective way of doing this. It doesn't recognize the role that standing committees should play in terms of consensus government, so I have suggested privately and publicly that the Premier be prepared to share the draft mandate letters with each of the standing committees. Is that something that the Premier is prepared to do in the spirit of open, transparent, and consensus-style government?

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

We are trying to be more open and transparent. I think that was a direction that we were given by the general public. It is a direction that I have given my Ministers. However, I have also heard from MLAs across the table in different areas, "Let's get to work. Let's get it done." My Ministers are also waiting. They have been waiting months to get their mandate letters. We're still in the process. Everybody is just anxious to get them, so I want to get these off. I want to get to work.

I will not commit to going through the process, because from delivering the draft mandate right now, we started that about a month ago, when I was first elected, when the priorities were first made. We are going into our second draft on the 14th. We won't be finished the process until February. I am afraid that it will take too long, so I will take some flak. I have to make hard decisions. That, I know.

What I am willing to do is, once those mandate letters are done, we will post them publicly. We will share them with all standing committees, and as I said before, Regular MLAs have many chances to have input into the business of departments, through question and answer, through business plans, main estimates, and through capital budgets. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Premier. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Steve Norn

Steve Norn Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. My questions are in line with my Member's statement earlier. I just wanted to make a quick comment. The Member for Deh Cho already addressed one of those questions, also. I want to say mahsi cho.

Anyways, my question for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment is: what initiatives do the Minister and his department have in place to address low school attendance rates in the small communities? Mahsi cho.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to thank my colleague for his earlier statement, as well as the other colleague from the Deh Cho. I appreciate these conversations coming to light. We need to talk about them if we want to make changes.

The Member is right. Small communities have lower graduation rates. They have lower attendance rates. One of the priorities of this Assembly is to increase student education outcomes to the rest of Canada. In some regional centres and in Yellowknife, the student outcomes are nearly the same as the rest of Canada, so it really is the small communities, in a lot of ways, that we are talking about.

There are things that are being done by the school boards. It is the school boards that have the mandate to deliver education. There are things like Healthy Food for Learning so that there is food in the schools, so that children, once they get there, they can actually eat, and they can learn. Some schools have programs where homes are called when students are missing. They go out looking for the children. Some schools offer incentives or prizes for attendance. However, there is more than that that needs to be done. I think we need buy-in from communities, we need buy-in from parents, and we need to start caring more about education as a society. That is one of the things that I really want to do, is get the word out there and get people involved in their own education.

There are a number of things that we are doing through the education renewal, as well. Like I mentioned before, there are a lot of these old small programs that we are trying to tailor, but more needs to be done. The Member is absolutely right; more needs to be done. If you look at graduation rates, they are declining across the board, and so we have to do more. I am committed to working with the Member and hearing from all of the Members, especially from small communities, about how we can do that.

Steve Norn

Steve Norn Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh

I would like to thank the Minister for his response. I think it is important, too, that visibility for your department is important in my riding. There are four schools in my riding. The one in Ndilo and one in Detah, those are easy places to do a tour. That would be really good. I would like to see that, but, if I could get a commitment from the Minister to see if he could visit our schools in Lutselk'e and Deninu Kue, I think it is important. It helps boost morale for the teachers and the kids, and I think it is important that they see the head of our education department.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

I am going to try to make it to as many schools as I can. I believe we have 49. I'm going to see what I can do this Assembly. Fort Resolution is right near Hay River, so that will be an easy one. My new deputy minister, who I am lucky to have, is a former principal. One of the first things she did is told me about what a big impression it makes on students when the Minister comes to their school and engages them, and it got me excited about it. I look forward to it. I look forward to getting to some of the places where I don't normally get to go, places like Lutselk'e. I can't make any commitments about timelines, but I am going to do my best to visit as many schools as I can.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.

Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am a strong advocate for restorative justice programming, as I believe that every time we can keep an offender from re-offending, it not only saves us money, but it prevents a victim from being traumatized once again. My questions today are for the Minister of Justice in regard to one specific program, the A New Day Program, which is for men who use domestic violence. My question to the Minister is: how many men are currently using this program?

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member. Minister of Justice.

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Perhaps, to be more specific, I can't answer the Member's number in terms of right now at this moment. I can say that, since this program started in 2013, there have been 13 groups in total. Of those, 135 individuals were registered; 28 have completed. The last group just completed back in November of this year, Mr. Speaker.

Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

As we go into mandate creation, I will be advocating for a number of restorative justice programs to be included. However, this ultimately comes down to cost. Can the Minister provide the current costs in running a program, the A New Day program?

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Mr. Speaker, the total budget for this program is $292,000. The current expenditures forecasted for 2019 and 2020 are $240,000, so that is where it stands at present.

Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

This program for men who use domestic violence. Is there a tracking mechanism for measuring the success of the program?

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Mr. Speaker, back in February of 2018, there was a framework developed to evaluate the program. That was more, I think, in terms of evaluating the success of the program as a whole as opposed to the individual success. I am sure the Member will appreciate, and, as he has already alluded to in his opening, the individual successes on a program like this will depend a lot on how exactly one measures not only recidivism but obviously the reducing of severity of violence and the frequency of violence, so it is a very complex thing to measure, and the success of one individual may differ from the success of another.

I don't currently have a copy, or, to my understanding, the actual evaluation hasn't taken place yet. That is a four-year program, an evaluation that is currently underway, and so it won't be due back until 2021, but we continue to monitor that framework evaluation as it unfolds. I look forward to having the total framework reported back to, as I said, in 2020-2021.

Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

Yes, I am well aware of the difficulties, as is the Minister of Justice, having worked a number of years, including together, in the criminal justice sphere.

My question to the Minister is: is similar programming directed at men who use violence available in communities other than Yellowknife?

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Minister, if you could please slow down for the interpreters. Thank you.

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do actually have a note that says "slow" right on my desk, but I do apologize to the translators.

Mr. Speaker, I can see the A New Day programming is predominantly focused currently here in Yellowknife. For what it is worth to the Member, one of the newest places where that program is being offered is at the North Slave Correctional facility, and it does therefore target individuals who come from across communities all across the Northwest Territories. That said, obviously, it is quite different from being offered within the communities themselves.

I can say also that the justice department, through Community Justice, is providing community-led and community-originated programs, both in Tsiigehtchic and in Fort Good Hope, and there continue to be opportunities to engage with community justice programs in order to help develop those programs in those communities. I look forward to having discussions in order to expand that, where possible. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.