SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Three straight Social Issues Committee meetings have taken place with no participation from the Department of Health and Social Services, and city councillor David Wind is questioning the department's commitment.

"If you have the meeting and the people who can solve these problems are not there, you have to wonder whether or not there is a commitment to this committee," he said.

He said the committee focuses on social issues and the department has the primary responsibility for programs dedicated to them.

Coun. Amanda Mallon, chair of the committee, said the committee meets every three months and is relatively new, having started in April 2010. She said although the department has not attended the past three meetings - in June, September and January - there has been a member from the Yellowknife Health and Social Services Board present.

Mallon said there has always been someone missing meetings from some department or organization. She said in the terms of reference for the committee, no member may appoint an alternative to represent that member and act on their behalf during absences.

"That would mean if the individual didn't come, they can't have a substitute. We might have to look at that if we are constantly finding that we are lacking representatives from one specific area.

"These are really busy people. We're looking at deputy minister level," she said.

She said the reason for having senior administrative representatives on the committee is to avoid waiting for issues to go through the bureaucratic channels.

"You can short-track things when you have higher management at the table," Mallon said. "You actually have somebody at the table who can give you permission right then and there."

Dana Heide, deputy minister of the Department of Health and Social Services and the health department's representative on the committee, said he missed two meetings while on duty travel and one when he was on vacation.

"It's just a coincidence. It just happened for conflicting schedules," he told Yellowknifer.

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