The Foster Family Coalition is a significant stakeholder, and they provide leadership in the recruitment of foster homes across the Northwest Territories through the year. The Foster Family Coalition and the department have developed a foster care recruitment video. You can go online and see it. It is "We Need You." This launched in March 2019, and as a result of this video, the Foster Family Coalition has indicated that they have already started seeing increase in the number of individuals coming forward, expressing an interest to be in foster families. That is good news. This video was launched through social media, and it is being played at theatres in Yellowknife, Hay River.

Just as a note, the Foster Family Coalition has also been displaying posters in various location in NWT communities and have distributed recruitment postcards to every home in the Northwest Territories. The coalition has often used different tables at community trade shows and are hosting information sessions regarding fostering and adopting. That was at the trade show here in Yellowknife just recently.

A significant part of the foster care recruitment involves the establishment of extended foster family homes. This is something your colleague Mr. Beaulieu has raised for years. In that situation social workers make a significant effort to recruit extended family members as foster caregivers to children when they come into care. There are two streams. For the family foster caregivers, often we are dealing directly with families that are identifying the need, and then on the other side, the Foster Family Coalition is doing their recruitment.

That is great to hear, and I am very happy to hear that the department is working with the coalition on this issue. I really appreciate that we are working with families to keep the families together. I have known the Minister was very committed to that, and I appreciate him and the department for doing that. How does the department ensure that the homes are safe and the parents get the necessary training to deal with these youth, especially when we are talking about families and that as the process moves on?

To ensure the safety and security of children and youth who are placed in foster homes, all applicants and adults over the age of 19 must complete a home study, child protection records check, and a criminal records check in order to be approved as a foster home. Foster caregivers and foster children are seen by child protection workers according to the department's contract standards and policies. I will note that this is one of the areas that we did have difficulty and was identified in the audit. Through our quality improvement plan, we have already started to see improvements in this area. Also, these homes are also reviewed annually to ensure the safety and well-being of children and youth and to ensure foster homes continue to conform with the standards established within our regulations.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the answers that the Minister has provided us here today. Mr. Speaker, one of my concerns I hear is sometimes we don't have enough foster homes. We can't get children into emergency homes. What happens if we, as the department, do not have places for them to go? Where do we place these individuals? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The department works to always find a place for a young person in need of our services. This could be through placements at foster homes as the Member has identified, group homes, specialized treatment which may be outside of the Northwest Territories. As I have already indicated, we try really hard to keep our children with extended family if that is possible. In some situations, we will approach friends and make sure that we can keep them in community, in families.

If we can't find somebody through the many avenues that we have, we can do really short placements with the CFS workers themselves. They can actually stay with them. Whether that is in a hotel or some other means, we will do that, but they will stay with those children until we find a suitable location for them. If, for instance, we do have to look at using a rental accommodation like a hotel, we will verify. We will make sure that all the steps are taken to ensure that that is a safe location and that they have adequate supervision while being in those situations. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, the lead for the Yellowknife shelter and sobering centre. I know the Minister is familiar with the social-licence approach of the Good Neighbour Agreement. I related some of the feedback I have received on creating a similar agreement for our centre's operations yesterday. Can the Minister tell us if there are plans to introduce such an agreement here and, if so, outline the status of that work? Mahsi.

Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A number of months ago, the mayor of Yellowknife actually approached me with information on these Good Neighbour Agreements. At that time, I did direct the department to do the research into the Good Neighbour Agreements and approach the neighbours to see if there was any interest in actually pursuing those agreements here in Yellowknife with the neighbours around the day shelter sobering centre. There appears to be some interest.

One of the neighbours has actually submitted a draft for consideration, recognizing that this is about getting an agreement from all the partners, all the proponents, including City of Yellowknife, RCMP, Health and Social Services, the day shelter staff, sobering centre staff and operators, as well as those who have businesses or their homes immediately adjacent. I have now directed the department to work with the neighbours to see if they are interested in actually doing a facilitated process where we can come together with a facilitator and find a way to come to a mutually agreeable Good Neighbour Agreement. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I appreciate the Minister's response that he is prepared to enter into a facilitated process. One of the features that is common to these types of agreements is a liaison mechanism such as a committee where all the stakeholders the Minister listed can gather and consult on how responsibilities are being met and where solutions are considered. As usual, of course, there are some resources, primarily administrative, to run the committee like this. Will the Minister commit to providing the necessary support to run a Good Neighbour committee?

In the absence of a Good Neighbour Agreement, we have already made a commitment to working with our partners in bringing them together on a regular basis to receive their input and feedback on how things are going. I do appreciate the Member's description of an organization or committee that might be struck. I am prepared to have that discussion, but I would hate to presuppose what a facilitated Good Neighbour Agreement is going to look like. I think we need to leave it in the hands of the individuals, those who are going to be the signatories, to come up with a plan that meets their needs as opposed to us presupposing what that agreement will look like.

I'd be very surprised to know that the neighbours don't want to have a regular mechanism of input into the agreement should they reach one. Just as the day shelter and the sobering centre is a 24-hour operation, neighbours have suggested the need for an around-the-clock phone line that can be used to report problems and incidents. Is that something that the Minister would consider introducing through the operator of the day shelter and sobering centre?

I wasn't suggesting it wouldn't be part of the agreement. I just suggested it's too early to presuppose what that agreement is going to look like, so I appreciate the Member suggesting that I said or suggested something else. With respect to a phone line, we're totally open to that. It actually does make some sense. We've tried to set up a situation to give those neighbours an opportunity to call somebody within the system already. If it needs to be clearer, if we need to set it up in a more structured way, we're happy to do that. I think it's important that we work with our neighbours. This is an incredibly important program, the service being delivered here in Yellowknife, and our neighbours are essential to its success. I will certainly pursue that.

Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate that strong endorsement of neighbourliness from the Minister. My final point is about timing. There will be a request for proposals for a new operator coming out sometime in the near future. It seems to me that a Good Neighbour Agreement might be an essential part of that RFP. Can the Minister say whether this Good Neighbour Agreement is intended to be part of that RFP? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'm certainly not waiting for the RFP to be issued before we actually make progress on a Good Neighbour Agreement. I think we need to have a Good Neighbour Agreement now. I've given the department the direction to work with a facilitator to see if our neighbours are interested in working with a facilitator to come to an agreement on a Good Neighbour Agreement.

Having said that, yes, we will be issuing a new RFP. I have asked the department to reach out to the current proponent, other interested proponents, the public, and others on types of things we need to do to strengthen those services, to enhance those, and include new ideas which may be things like security and other things into the new RFP. I will certainly encourage them to find a way to make sure that the Good Neighbour Agreement is built into that, but I'm not going to wait for that to happen before we move on this Good Neighbour Agreement. If we end up with the same proponents, the Good Neighbour Agreement will stand. If we end up with different proponents, we may need to do a little bit of negotiation again to get a new Good Neighbour Agreement, but I do believe it needs to be part of this operation, this service, and this community. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In follow-up to my member's statement, I have a few questions for the Minister of Infrastructure. As I mentioned, there are a lot of positive things happening with the Marine Training Centre. I'd like to ask the Minister: since the opening of the Marine Training Centre, how many people have completed their training? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Infrastructure.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As of May 7^th, we've had 98 people attend the training centre.

That's a pretty good turnout. Out of the people who completed the training, how many have been hired by either MTS or ferry operations or the Coast Guard?

I don't know the exact number, but what I can tell happened this year: MTS has identified six people for our operations, one for each tug, and I think two for Kakisa operating out of the harbour. Canadian Coast Guard has made six job offers to people who have graduated out of their class, and I think four have accepted to date.

Is there a guarantee for employment once completed at the Marine Training Centre?