Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I was hoping that there would be a bit of an opportunity to just speak in general terms about all of the motions, and I just thought this would be as good a time as any to just speak in general about my own feelings about what happened with child and family services and the auditor's report.
I strongly feel that to follow the auditor's report to the T is not going to solve the issue. Unfortunately, the department has tried almost everything according to the act to try to resolve child and family services, but it can't be resolved until we deal with the root problems that are facing child and family services.
Maybe this seems to be out of place, but I just feel that I have to speak up at this point. It is in the Auditor's report, a clear indication in the Auditor's report, that there are 1,000 kids going through child and family services or through care or are in some sort of care, whether it be care at home or care in somebody else's foster home, and 80 percent of those are related to alcohol. I know that the department has an addictions plan, and what I would like to see done is that addictions plan amalgamated into Child and Family Services first off, at the very beginning, to try to resolve the root problems. If we follow the act, which we have a legal obligation to do, it will make it a lot easier if we are dealing with families that are sober. The Auditor General said it, but I didn't know the number. I knew it was high, but I didn't know the number, and right now, we are looking at this number that the Auditor General put out, that 80 percent, or, in other words, 800 out of 1,000 kids who are in care are because of alcohol-related issues. You look at that, and it seems like just about everything stems from that.
I am a firm believer that kids in care are coming from poverty and that poverty is something that we need to address in order for the families to stay together. I think that I have said this in the House, and it is not a comfortable thing to say, but I have said it many times, and it is because it appears as though some of these kids in foster care are in foster because their families are poor. Do poor families and poor parents have the right to have kids? They do, and they should be supported in order to keep their kids. If poverty is the reason, if alcohol is the reason, we should address those root problems. Why are kids poor? Because there is a lack of employment. You take a look at what is happening in our communities; there are low employment rates, and the kids come from those communities, where there are low employment rates.
Just based on the numbers, there could be a lot of kids out of Yellowknife as well. I realize that. For the mainstream people who have work, many double incomes or even one good single income, their kids aren't being taken away for the most part. It happens. It happens to everyone, but for the most part, it is not happening. It would also be good to take a look at the work that is being done by the anti-poverty group and, again, amalgamate that into the Child and Family Services action plan that is directed by the Auditor General.
Maybe the Auditor General doesn't have all of the answers. Maybe we have the answers, as well, and some of the people in the communities, maybe they have the answers, as well. I agree with a lot of what the Auditor General is saying, and a lot of what the Auditor General wants to do are good things under normal circumstances, but when you have a lot of alcohol involved and you have a lot of poverty involved, then those things won't apply. This is assuming that people, you know, were rich enough to be able to care for their kids, and it is all neglect, that they are losing their kids because of other reasons other than alcohol and poverty. I feel that that is what it is.
I also think that we need to start looking at the justice system and determine how many of our inmates have come through the foster care system. That is something that is important. I think that we have to look at housing, and we have to take housing and make sure that the kids have proper housing.
I am seeing this as a real opportunity for the government to have a real integrated approach with all of the departments. I know that Education, Culture and Employment is responsible for employing or providing support for individuals, and I think that that support should be sufficient so that individuals do get to keep their children at home.
I guess the last thing that I just want to talk about that was in the Auditor General's report is the training of foster parents. I think that what is important in order to keep the foster children in their home communities is to train the foster parents and find foster parents. Maybe some people don't think that they are capable of being foster parents, and maybe they are. Some are not eligible, I realize that, but many can be eligible. With proper training and proper supports, I think that it is something that will actually resolve the issue.
If we follow a plan that is developed according to what the Auditor General put out, we are going to probably fail. I mean, I am not surprised that the Auditor General indicated that things got worse, because yes, well, if you just follow a plan that is put together from the outside, then it is not going to work. There needs to be an approach by everyone and we have to address the root problems that are facing us and that are causing us to have to take a lot of kids into care.
I just wanted to make those comments for the record, Mr. Chair, because I think that, if we just follow what the Auditor General said, I think the next group will be sitting here facing the same problems the next time the Auditor General does a report on Child and Family Services for our territory. Thank you, Mr. Chair.