Auditor general 'disappointed' by Nunavut's lack of progress to protect children and youth

Liny Lamberink · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 05, 2025 7:50 PM EST | Last Updated: March 6

Canada's lawman auditor wide says he's "disappointed" the Department of Family Services successful Nunavut hasn't made much advancement fixing the attraction it provides to susceptible children and youth. 

A caller study from Auditor General of Canada Karen Hogan, tabled astatine the territory's legislature connected Wednesday, is simply a follow-up to one released successful 2023, which recovered that the section was failing to support susceptible children and younker and to supply enactment to families, front-line workers and communities.

"The bottommost enactment is that portion archetypal actions and steps person been taken, they person yet to nutrient appreciable changes to outcomes for susceptible children and youth," said lawman auditor wide Andrew Hayes astatine a media league successful Iqaluit connected Wednesday. 

"This means that children and younker successful Nunavut inactive stay astatine hazard of not receiving the protections and services that they necessitate and that they merit nether the law." 

The caller study finds that the section has taken steps to amended staffing, grooming and supervision of its workforce. Most of the work, however, is successful its aboriginal stages and "substantial work" inactive needs to beryllium done. 

The household services section has besides developed a wide-ranging strategical program with 80 items to amended its services, but the study recovered that the program "lacked targets and baselines needed to measurement progress, circumstantial timelines and wide accountabilities." 

Ongoing issues

One of the ongoing issues, said Hayes, is however the section responds to reports that children mightiness beryllium astatine hazard of harm and investigations that it should beryllium carrying out. 

Hayes said 1 of the astir concerning findings of the 2023 study was that the territory didn't cognize however galore younker and children it had successful care. Now, astir 2 years later, helium said it has a "picture" of those numbers — but it required a batch of manual enactment to fig out. 

The Department of Family Services said determination are 444 children wrong the territory receiving services, and 89 extracurricular the territory.

Of those in the territory, 246 are successful the foster attraction system. The remaining 198 are successful alternate placements, which includes things similar radical homes and aesculapian care.

The study recovered that the information besides contained inaccuracies and inconsistencies astir things similar wherever the kids were and what their birthdays were, due to the fact that a new accusation absorption strategy introduced successful November 2023 isn't being utilized by each assemblage societal services workers.

Some of the actions the territory has taken see giving societal work workers caller grooming connected however to grip kid abuse, harm and neglect, carrying retired in-person information checks connected children and youth, and moving connected inter-jurisdictional agreements for kids placed extracurricular of Nunavut. 

Family Services Minister Margaret Nakashuk said she thinks the section has done a batch to amended its services, but determination is simply a batch much near to do.

"I deliberation it's precise bully follow-up feedback," she said of the report.

"I deliberation erstwhile we're talking astir the lives of the children and supports for the families, we bash person a batch of capableness issues, we person unit changeover, we don't person unit housing, we don't person capable offices."

She said the section is expecting much resources successful the 2025-26 fund that volition assistance adjacent immoderate of those gaps.

Nakashuk said the section is grooming its unit to usage the caller accusation absorption system, is moving to amended enactment kids successful attraction extracurricular the territory, and is besides wanting to enactment unit successful tiny communities.

"We privation to guarantee that we proceed to person the unit that we request successful the communities, due to the fact that that's precise important nary substance what the positions are," she said. "Most importantly ... we request steadfast staff, we request bully supports successful that area."

Staffing

The study said the section had besides received $3.1 cardinal successful the 2024-25 fund to make 31 caller positions, including 21 assemblage societal services workers. 

The study recovered that arsenic of the extremity of past October, Naujaat, Whale Cove and Kugaaruk didn't person a imperishable oregon casual societal work idiosyncratic — which was chalked up to a deficiency of unit housing. 

"There aren't galore areas that we've identified wherever nary enactment had been taken, truthful that is simply a affirmative enactment close disconnected the bat," said Hayes, erstwhile asked however superior helium felt the authorities had been taking the auditor general's concerns. 

"[It] shows a willingness to effort and act," helium said. 

However, helium urged the section to prioritize steps that would person the astir interaction for kids and their families.  

Wednesday's study is the 4th the Office of the Auditor General has done connected the section since 2011. It released 1 successful 2011, 1 successful 2014 and different successful 2023. 

The bureau said the findings of its 2023 study were the effect of insufficient funding, staffing, lodging and bureau abstraction arsenic good arsenic grooming for unit and mediocre accusation management. It besides decided not to marque much recommendations for the section astatine that time, due to the fact that its earlier recommendations inactive needed to beryllium carried out. 

Hayes said his bureau had committed to pursuing up connected the issue, and hoped to spot "better outcomes" erstwhile it returned to Nunavut successful the adjacent 18 to 24 months.