A New Day to be extended
Department of Justice review of family violence reduction program complete
Shane Magee
Northern News Services
Friday, November 18, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The Department of Justice plans to extend a program for men who have been abusive in relationships by up to six months, Yellowknifer has learned.
The department would not confirm the extension by press time.
The decision comes after the department received a copy of a review of the program this month. It's not clear yet what the report concluded. A copy of the review report has not been provided to the newspaper.
"The evaluation report will be publicly released next week," stated deputy justice minister Martin Goldney in an e-mail late Thursday afternoon. "Over the next few days we will continue to work with our partners involved with this specific program as plans are developed to move forward. We will be available to speak to these plans once the report is released."
Justice Minister Louis Sebert this month called it "a comprehensive and rather expensive report."
The program, funded by the GNWT, is for men over 18 who have been violent in relationships. It offers individual and group counseling and includes visits to men held in remand at the North Slave Correctional Centre.
It's a program aimed at reducing the toll of violence in the territory. A 2013 report by the Coalition Against Family Violence NWT notes the rate of reported spousal assaults in the NWT is one of the highest in the country, second only to Nunavut.
Its funding was set to end Dec. 31. Figures for the annual cost of the program have ranged between $250,000 and $325,000.
Laura Boileau, co-ordinator of A New Day, went before a committee of MLAs in February seeking funds to continue the program.
Reached Thursday, Boileau said she isn't allowed to speak to media and told Yellowknifer to speak to the Department of Justice.
"If in fact there is a six month extension, that would be awesome," Yellowknife Centre MLA Julie Green said Thursday.
Yellowknife North MLA Cory Vanthuyne echoed that view, noting regular MLAs voted for a motion calling for the program to be extended by a full year.
The motion was introduced by Deh Cho MLA Michael Nadli, who used the program after assaulting his wife.
Sebert has said the government is committed to this type of programming but needed the evaluation before making any decisions.
MLAs were worried the wait for the review would mean the program would end, leaving a gap in service before something else arises.
"Certainly we recognize the concerns expressed about there being a gap, and we will try to address that matter once we have had a full review of the report," Sebert said Nov. 2 when questioned in the legislative assembly.
