Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I -- when we discovered that this -- that the change in the federal exemption hadn't been applied, it wasn't -- again, it was not -- it was something that we were not aware of, that their changes were not a public change. It was a change not communicated to -- to the Department of Finance. So as soon as we became aware of it, the employ -- the affected employees were contacted. I certainly, Mr. Speaker, I don't mind, and I think it's appropriate to say that I would not want to see hardship caused to any employee, any member of the public service, including those seven. I'm sorry that they went through that process. They've been contacted. They will not see any loss. They'll have their -- their compensation, their salaries dealt with appropriately so that they don't have to suffer any financial hardship or consequences. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. I want to pick up where I left off two years ago with my questions on the status of creation of a child and youth advocate in the Northwest Territories.

Can the Minister update us on the jurisdictional scan that was underway in February 2020 and provide a copy to regular MLAs and the public? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wasn't the health minister at that time, and I did not make this commitment. It is my understanding there was a jurisdictional scan done and it has been -- it has been completed, that it is primarily about information sharing, which is a huge issue with respect to our path forward with child and family services and Indigenous governments. So it doesn't speak about the power or the role or the responsibility and so on of a child and youth advocate. That's not what it's about. It's about information sharing.

The focus that we have now is to work with Indigenous governments for them to exercise their lawmaking power under the federal act respecting First Nations, Metis, Inuit children, youth, and families to draw down responsibility for their own administration of child and family services. So we're looking at community or regional or Indigenous government based solutions rather than a broad territorial office of an advocate. We're not looking at a child advocate at this time. Thank you.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. I'll go back and see what kind of commitment was made by the previous Minister on this topic but that was just disappointing to hear the Minister say this.

So, you know, the department has come up with this quality improvement plan in response to the auditor general's findings, and of course the Minister's just raised that there are consultations going on with Indigenous governments. So can the Minister tell us if the creation of a child and youth advocate is a specific topic of these consultations with Indigenous governments or other groups? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Yes, thank you. In the negotiations to date, this hasn't been a topic of discussion. I note it's also not a topic of discussion in the recently tabled Child and Family Services Act Review Report from the standing committee. The point of Indigenous governments creating their own child and family services law is that they -- they won't need an advocate. It's their law. They decide how it's implemented. Thank you.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. Of course, there are other children that may not get covered by these negotiations, but I'll just park that one for now.

The auditor general in that report was not complimentary of how we have been carrying out child and family services. The report of this House or one of the standing committees that supported a child and youth advocate with regard to the auditor general's report, so. When does the Minister actually expect that we could ever establish an Office of Child and Youth Advocate for the Northwest Territories? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the child and family services system has been through a complete overhaul since the second of the OAG reports was tabled in 2018. And we created the quality improvement plan that the Member referenced which is now in its -- in its last days. We are going to create a bridge plan which will move over both the completed and incomplete actions that came out of the quality improvement plan.

We also as -- as the Member knows, we are going to revise the Child and Family Services Act to align our legislation with the federal legislation that came into effect in January of 2020. The basis of that legislation is that we act in the best interests of the child and that the best interests are for the child to maintain their connection with their family, with their community, and with their culture. So that will be the basis of the changes that we -- that we're going to make. As I say, other than the Member bringing this topic to me today, it hasn't been a request that I've heard otherwise. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Frame Lake.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. But I don't know where she's been for the last five years, then, if she says this is the first time she's heard this raised. In fact, I can probably cite where the Minister herself raised this issue in the previous Assembly. But, you know, these offices are found across the country, we're the last jurisdiction without one, and I would like to get a commitment from the Minister that she's actually going to seriously examine this issue of establishing a child and youth advocate for the Northwest Territories. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it's true, as a Regular Member I did advocate for this. But I have to say how much has changed in the child and family services environment.

The colonial approach of "father knows best" with some kind of office that takes care of the whole NWT is no longer considered best practice. The best practice now is for Indigenous governments to write and implement their own child and family services law and be accountable to themselves and their Indigenous Members for the provision of child and family services. That's what we're working on. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I recognize that -- that the Member is duly concerned about children being removed from their homes where poverty rather than parental neglect is the primary issue. That is something that we're aware of. And we do have voluntary service agreements and brief service agreements which will assist families with their -- with their needs for shelter, food, and so on so that the children are not removed because of poverty.

This is obviously a systemic issue. It's a question of an inequity within the system. Some children have much more than others and that shouldn't be -- that shouldn't be a matter for child and family services except to support all families equally to ensure that children thrive. So there is a whole-of-government committee looking at integrated service delivery which would address all these areas. It would take into account housing, income assistance, health and social services, all the social envelope departments, to create an integrated service delivery model for families where neglect -- because of poverty is the issue and to find a whole-of-government remedies to that. Thank you.

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I appreciate that. My concern is that with the service agreements they are relying on, you know, additional other GNWT resources to be provided, and we all know that there is a strain on those resources. And so what I think needs to happen here is either the child and family services workers have their own resources or there's some sort of prioritizing. We all in this House want to have integrated service delivery. But the reality is, is that there's just not enough houses for them to house all the homeless people presently. And I think we need to prioritize that anyone facing an apprehension can immediately get access to that. So I'm wondering if the Minister will look into some sort of prioritization for those voluntary agreements that CFS workers can, you know, essentially jump the line, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the Member's point but I don't think that priority or access to their own resources is the issue here. The primary issue that is discussed every day in this House is housing. So, you know, the family may live in conditions that are overcrowded, the housing is inadequate and potentially unaffordable. So those are the kinds of issues that need to be addressed on a -- across departmental basis. It's not a matter of money. It's a matter of finding a place for -- a suitable place for families to live, and that's why I think that work on this integrated service delivery addressing poverty for families shows a lot of promise to come up with a holistic solution for families where their socio-economic circumstances are the primary reason that their -- their children aren't thriving. Thank you.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate that and, you know, I have had constituents and I know people who've -- they worked with integrated case management and they are moving towards an integrated service delivery model. I guess my question, though, is, you know, in times of emergency, I believe those CFS workers need their own resources. They need to -- their access to their own funding that is separate outside of waiting for, you know, our -- a shared vision of GNWT having all of its services delivered.

I'm wondering if the Minister could speak to whether there is potential to provide specific funding that is unique to how child and family services wants to spend it in the case of an apprehension or a plan of care agreement. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to say that apprehension is always the last resort. And so at this point, we do have these service agreements available that family preservation workers, social workers can sign with families to ensure that their basic needs are being met. I don't know if it would be useful for these workers to have a -- another way of accessing money, whether that would improve the service delivery, the timing of it, and so on. To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure what the process is of getting money now and how onerous that is to meet a specific deadline. So I will make a commitment to the Member to look into that question and determine whether, in fact, having family preservation workers and social workers with their own pot of money would, in fact, facilitate getting the money into the hands of families. Thank you.

Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, and they're in regards to the action plan to improve student outcomes.

Yesterday I did a Member's statement in regards to support services. And looking at the action items or the action plan to improve student outcomes, I've noticed that a lot of the action items relating to literacy and support services have been delayed or put on hold and so I have a couple of questions for the Minister.

And the first one is the action item, develop a junior kindergarten to grade 4 literacy and numeracy strategy in collaboration with education bodies is currently on hold, and I'm wondering why. Thank you.

Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Generally when we release strategies/action plans, they're quite high level, relatively big, but I said, no, we're going to get down into the weeds with this one and so we have timelines; we have dollar amounts; we have very discrete actions. And what comes with that is the fact that things don't always work out the way you would like. Sometimes you don't have the money. Sometimes other things get in the way. And sometimes positive things happen that can even set you back. So in this instance, with this particular item, the development of a literacy and numeracy strategy is -- is intimately tied to the curriculum, and we are now changing our curriculum from the Alberta curriculum to BC's curriculum. And once that's implemented, we begin implementing that in the 2023-2024 school year, then we can start developing and rolling out that strategy. Thank you.