SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
One of the final duties of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission this summer was to publish a document of 94 recommendations that it believes will help the federal, provincial and territorial governments reconcile in the wake of the residential school system.

In response, the territorial government gave itself marks on how it is addressing - and plans to address - each of the 94 points. Martin Goldney, deputy minister for the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations, told reporters gathered for a media briefing on the topic last month that the territorial government is already supporting many of the recommendations.

The report, which spells out the GNWT's responses to each recommendation, was tabled in the legislative assembly Oct 5.

It recommends, among other things, the inclusion of residential school material on school curriculums and training for teachers and members of government. The Department of Education, Culture and Employment already offers comprehensive course material on residential schools and teachers across the territory have been offered awareness training on the topic since February. Training for public servants is underway as well. GNWT employees take cultural awareness training and a public awareness document, Understanding Aboriginal and Treaty Rights in the NWT, was released in June 2013.

Goldney admitted there are a few recommendations that the GNWT needs to work on, but did not offer any examples. One recommendation that can be found in the Truth and Reconciliation report that the GNWT has not fulfilled is the creation of a registry and maps to burial sites for students who died or went missing while in the care of the residential school system. The GNWT states it supports the recommendation and "is willing to work with aboriginal partners, and the federal government to create a registry and maps."

Goldney said the report will offered to the 18th assembly, which will ultimately decide how to move forward on all the recommendations that are not already being fulfilled.

Outgoing Sahtu MLA Norman Yakeleya said the GNWT should have done more than give itself a report card since June.

"I think they could have sat down with a special task force. That would look at some things that they can do right away," he said. "Rather than them to say, 'We're doing this, we're doing that.'"

He said he hasn't read the GNWT's report, and so he can't really point out areas where the GNWT needs to work on either.

He did point out one area where the GNWT has been a leader for reconciliation. The GNWT was the first to settle a residential school case - when a Grollier Hall lawsuit was settled out of court in the late 1990s.

"Because of that, the (former) Governor General Adrienne Clarkson made a special request to meet with the Grollier Hall survivors in Yellowknife," he said. "It was unheard of. Because we finished the agreement our model was used as a framework for the new settlements in Canada."

He said one of the recommendations he recalls on which the territory could be developing strategies centres around finding ways to reduce the number of aboriginal children in foster care.

"We need to go back to the basics of the foundation of the family, and work with our families in our communities," he said. "That requires the government to encourage and support communities through oneness in the families."

The GNWT's response to the report regarding the number of indigenous children in foster care states the government is already working to reduce these numbers through its Child and Family Services Act and a Building Stronger Families action plan, authored by the Department of Health and Social Services to transform the territory's Child and Family Services in August 2014.

The Building Stronger families plan was written in response to a scathing auditor general report released in March 2014 that found numerous deficiencies in the way foster care is administered in the territory.

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.