Mr. Speaker, yesterday evening I had the pleasure of meeting Annette King, Yukon's child and youth advocate, alongside several of my MLA colleagues, to discuss the vital work she and her peers champion for the rights of children across Canada. Ms. King's accomplishments, confronting and navigating challenges similar to those our communities here in the Northwest Territories face, are particularly impressive.
It was shocking, but sadly not surprising, to learn that 30 percent of the Yukon's child and youth advocates' work is dedicated to files from outside of their territory, many of which involve children here in the Northwest Territories. This means that parents, guardians, First Nations people, teachers, and even children themselves, are reaching out to outside of the Northwest Territories desperately searching for support because the service simply does not exist here.
The Minister can claim she can support these children with current policies, yet there is no solution for whose welfare could be compromised by the very service meant to protect them, especially when child and family services is their legal guardian. Many families are not notified of decisions CFS makes for their children. Foster families often fear heavy-handed reprisals and adoptions being ground to a halt, leaving children in legal limbo, transitioning from home to home until they turn 18.
Without accountability or transparency, there may be no publicly available data but as MLAs, we see how dire the situation has become. Parents and guardians only have two avenues to seek resolution for these heartbreaking cases - the courts or their elected representatives. But as MLAs, our hands are tied by a government whose policies leave children unrepresented and families, both biological and foster, feeling irrelevant in the process.
The Minister can't have it both ways. She can't oppose independent oversight at every turn and then dismiss MLAs when we try to help. It's time to build on the work that has spanned multiple Members and multiple Assemblies, efforts some of these very Ministers today supported when they sat on this side of the House. That's why today I will be giving notice of a motion calling on this government to finally establish an independent Office of the Child and Youth Advocate here in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.