This is page numbers 4449 - 4496 of the Hansard for the 19th Assembly, 2nd 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 know.

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Ronald Bonnetrouge

Ronald Bonnetrouge Deh Cho

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker, and mahsi to the Minister for what not answering my original question. But I appreciate her review of it and the fact that it's more on prevention.

Mr. Speaker, an act as such can lead to criminal charges to a family member depending on the seriousness of child discipline. This act has far reaching implications and presence including in the schools, which parents aren't aware of.

My question to the Minister is when are the communities going to be made aware of this act that will and can affect their families? Mahsi.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned, this act has been in force for 25 years. And so child protection workers, social workers, have been using this legislation for 25 years. So it's not new.

In the time that I've been Minister and we've started this review of the Child and Family Services Act, I've been in frequent contact with Indigenous governments to ask for their feedback on what they would want to change in this act since we have an opportunity to make changes in this Assembly.

So I'm not sure what the Member has in mind by "making parents aware." If he has a specific case he would like me to look into, then I would encourage him to contact me privately about that. Thank you.

Ronald Bonnetrouge

Ronald Bonnetrouge Deh Cho

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I think what I've been alluding to in my first two questions here is whether communities are even aware of this act. Because I come from a small community. We never hear of the Child and Family Services Act in our communities, let alone the First Nations organizations who are accountable to their members and also all the regional First Nations organizations that I speak to, and they said they never hear of the act or anybody ever approaching their assemblies or meetings to make them aware that there is such an act in place.

And as the Minister alluded, I guess the act has been in existence for some time now. The Department of Health and Social Services has staff on the ground in the communities enforcing this act, but they're not going to our community leadership or the meetings or attending any of our functions.

Can the Minister advise if there are staff in many or all of the communities in the North? Mahsi.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member was not a Member in 2018 when the OAG reviewed the provision of child and family services. But that was a very distressing report, showing significant gaps in the provision of child and family services. The result was an investment of 57 new positions in child and family services across the NWT since 2018.

So I can say that there are, for example, two social workers in Fort Providence. Most communities have resident social workers. Some of the smaller communities are served from regional offices.

The other big thing that's happened is that the federal government passed Bill C92 which enables Indigenous governments to create their own child and family services law. We've had a number of inquiries about this act from Indigenous groups in the NWT. And the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation has already written its law and we are now in negotiations with them on a coordination agreement where we will provide services according to their law.

So I'm a little puzzled by the Member's insistence that nobody knows about this act. But I want to assure him that this is a topic of conversation in bilaterals and at Indigenous government tables often and that there is an opportunity now for Indigenous governments to take control in this area. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Deh Cho.

Ronald Bonnetrouge

Ronald Bonnetrouge Deh Cho

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker, and mahsi to the Minister for her answer. When I asked questions of lots of my leadership, you know, they'd never heard of the CFS act. The only ones that know about it are the affected families who have been approached and their kids been taken away and then given back to them.

Mr. Speaker, I've been made aware that the CFS staff in Fort Providence will be moved out of the local health centre. I'm aware that they currently have two offices in the building. I see from the supplementary estimates that they will be moved into new leased space within the community.

Can the Minister advise why they need to move the two staff into another leased space when they have adequate office space in the current building? Mahsi.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is a situation where the health centre simply isn't big enough to hold all the staff. I said two social workers. There's actually three social workers, a social work supervisor, and two and a half healthy family workers as well as one family preservation worker. So that's a total of 6.5 full-time equivalent positions providing social services in Fort Providence, and there simply isn't enough room in the health centre. And so they are going to move that staff group into another location. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

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

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. The Minister said the only thing holding us back from renaming the territorial museum is ourselves. I'd like -- would like to establish what the position of Cabinet is on this issue and what, if any, priority it may have.

Can the Minister tell us whether this government supports and takes responsibility for giving the territorial museum a more regionally and culturally appropriate name within a reasonable timeframe; say, perhaps my lifetime. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

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

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can't bind future governments but I'm confident that we will see a name change in the Member's lifetime. I wish the Member a very long life. But the plan has been to -- as the Member knows, we are working to address some of the infrastructure issues at the museum, some type of retrofit, perhaps a new governance model, and tied in with that would be a name change. Instead of just slapping a new name on an old building, we want to package it all together so it is a new -- there's a sense of renewal associated with it so it's not just we're doing it for the sake of doing it. We're doing it as well in conjunction with significant other changes. Thank you.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that, and I hope to be present during the renaming ceremony whenever it takes place.

I have to confess to the Minister, I like to hang out at the museum in the archives. He probably knows that.

When I first arrived in Yellowknife in 1985 and visited the museum, there was a full-time toponymist with a dedicated office and workspace. That's somebody who studies place names. It's not clear to me that we have the same resources dedicated to this important function.

Given UNDRIP article 13 and our government's commitment to implementation, can the Minister tell us how we can fulfill our place naming obligations? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And there is still a full-time toponymist which is now known as a cultural places officer, and that was renamed about ten years ago, so still 30 years after the Member first arrived here. And then that position does all of the naming work that the Member is talking about. And it is a busy office.

There have been hundreds of name changes and new names made official in the last number of years, and currently there are 424 new and replacement names that have been submitted by the Lutselk'e Dene First Nation, and 13 Indigenous place names in the Naats'ihch'oh National Park Reserve, and we are working to make those name changes happen. So I would say we're one of the leaders when it comes to indigenizing names in the territory, rather making sure their actual names are official names. Thank you.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. Yes, and I too fully recognize the work that's being done by Indigenous governments and organizations, like the Gwich'in Social and Cultural Institute. They've done a lot of work on place names.

But I think that we need a concerted effort and a program to fully recognize and change colonial and racist place names here in the Northwest Territories. It's not clear, you know, whether we actually have such a program ourselves. So I want to ask the Minister whether he intends to fully implement UNDRIP article 13 and whether any additional resources are needed. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No additional resources are needed. We are making our way through hundreds of names, as I mentioned. And we are fully staffed. I know that the Government of Nunavut has had some staffing issues with that toponymist position, but luckily we've been able to maintain staff and are making our way through that.

We do have a geographical and community names policy of the Executive Council, and that guides how communities and geographical features are renamed. And I don't think that there's any sort of, you know, policy adjustments required, any sort of additional resources required. What we need is community engagement and communities to bring forward these needs. It's not up to the GNWT to say what a particular place should be named. It's up to the communities, and the communities have been bringing forward those names by the dozen. And we have been making those changes as they're brought forward. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

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

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. Lastly, I just wanted to follow up on how our territorial museum can better support important cultural practices like the lighting of an Inuit qulliq.

Can the Minister explain whether lighted qulliqs have been allowed in the museum before, what the current policy is, and the basis for that policy for practice. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Yes, Mr. Speaker. Qulliqs have been lit in the museum before, in the auditorium area. There could be arrangements made to have them lit in other areas but a bit of a head's up is needed to ensure that, you know, sprinkler systems are turned off so that we don't damage any of our artifacts and that smoke detectors perhaps are temporarily removed. And that's the situation we found ourselves in, where there just wasn't enough lead time given to make a change like that to allow for one to be lit. And it's an unfortunate incident, and I think there's -- we would have done things differently if we had known earlier. But I'll leave it at that. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Thebacha.

Frieda Martselos

Frieda Martselos Thebacha

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Justice.

Can the Minister of Justice tell us how many RCMP misconduct cases have been reported and investigated within the NWT? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Thebacha. Minister responsible for Justice.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When people bring forward complaints, they can bring them forward to the RCMP or to a civilian oversight group, the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission.

In 2017-2018, there were 33 complaints. In 2018-2019, there were 32 complaints. In 2019-2020, 32 complaints. In 2021, there were 18 complaints. And in 2021-2022, there were ten complaints. As of May 13th in this fiscal year, there have been three. Thank you.

Frieda Martselos

Frieda Martselos Thebacha

Mr. Speaker, can the Minister tell us if the RCMP investigates their own misconduct cases. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So as I mentioned, citizens can bring their complaints directly to the RCMP in which case, depending on the nature of the complaint, it might be investigated internally by G-division. If it is a more serious complaint, an outside agency would be brought in to do the investigation. And if it's brought to the civilian review and complaints commission, they would be the ones undertaking that. Thank you.

Frieda Martselos

Frieda Martselos Thebacha

Mr. Speaker, the standard length of time that an RCMP officer stays in the community is usually about two to three years.

Can the Minister tell us how long a commanding officer of G-division remains in their position, and what is the criteria for hiring a commanding officer? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.