2023 Reports of the Auditor General of Canada to the Legislative Assembly of NunavutAuditor General of Canada’s Opening Statement to the news conference—30 May 2023

Good afternoon everyone. I’m Karen Hogan, the Auditor General of Canada. I’m pleased to be here in Iqaluit to discuss 2 performance audit reports that my office delivered to the Nunavut Legislative Assembly today. I will deliver my statement in English, with Inuktitut and French versions available for your convenience. Par ailleurs, n’hésitez pas à me poser vos questions en français.

Our first audit focused on the rollout of COVID‑19 vaccines and the second, on child and family services. The COVID‑19 pandemic triggered an emergency response in Nunavut, as it did in the rest of the world. It was dealt with swiftly, by mobilizing resources, time, and money to deliver a fast and far‑reaching response. The longstanding crisis facing vulnerable children and youth and their families in Nunavut is just as acute, yet it has failed to trigger a similar all‑hands‑on‑deck response.

Let me turn first to our report on COVID‑19 vaccines. In this audit, we examined whether the Department of Health, the Department of Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs, and the Department of Community and Government Services protected the health and well‑being of the people of Nunavut by managing the vaccine rollout in an effective and equitable way.

We found that the 3 departments worked together to overcome significant logistical and staffing challenges to quickly deliver vaccinations across the territory, including people in remote communities. The departments actively engaged with Inuit organizations and community groups, which contributed to the successful rollout of vaccines.

The Government of Nunavut’s approach to timely vaccinations involved flying vaccines and nurses to various communities so that eligible people could be vaccinated quickly. On average, from the time doses arrived in Nunavut, it took two weeks to deliver vaccines to 25 communities dispersed across almost 1.9 million square kilometres—an area that is roughly one‑fifth the whole of Canada.

However, we found that vaccination efforts were hampered by the lack of a pandemic plan and information systems to track, monitor, and report on vaccine inventory. As a result, the Department of Health may have wasted up to 31% of the doses it received.

To strengthen its response to future pandemics and mass vaccination efforts, the Government of Nunavut needs to set up proper information systems, including an inventory management system. This would also improve the delivery of health care services to the territory’s population and reduce the burden on an overstretched workforce.

While the findings of the COVID‑19 vaccine report tell the story of an effective and equitable response, those of our audit of child and family services paint a very different picture—one where the response has persistently fallen short in the face of an enduring crisis.

In conducting this audit, we recognized that the COVID‑19 pandemic had a significant impact on Nunavut. However, the severe systemic problems affecting the delivery of child and family services in Nunavut pre-date the pandemic. We know this from the earlier audits we conducted in 2011 and 2014.

Our most recent audit shows that the situation today is even worse. The Department of Family Services is failing to protect vulnerable children and youth and to support families, front-line workers, and communities. The Department of Health and the Department of Human Resources have not provided needed support and resources in critical areas such as training, staffing, and staff housing.

Our early findings in this audit were so alarming that we did not wait to complete our work to bring our concerns to the attention of the Department of Family Services. In letters, we raised the inadequate response to reported cases of child maltreatment, the insufficient supervision of children and youth in care, and the department’s unmet obligations for the health and safety of its own employees.

We found failures in all the areas we examined. From the moment someone reported that a child was in a situation of potential harm, the Department of Family Services did not respond as required to assess the child’s risk and circumstances in 20 of 92 referrals we examined. Of 60 referrals it screened in for investigation, it completed only half. The failure to carry out required screenings and investigations means that vulnerable children and youth may remain at risk.

For children and youth placed in foster care in the territory, we found that the department did not have evidence that essential screenings and check-ins were done. In addition, we found that the department did not thoroughly screen new foster homes or carry out required reviews of existing homes. For example, of the 12 new foster homes in our sample, required criminal record checks of adults living in the homes had been conducted for only 2.

In the case of 23 children and youth who were placed in care outside the territory, we did not see evidence that community social services workers checked in monthly with these youngsters as required. Check‑ins are meant to ensure that children and youth are housed in appropriate conditions and receiving the psychological, emotional, and cultural support they need. Though the children and youth may have had contact with Inuit client liaison officers or family members during the period we reviewed, this remains an example of the Department of Family Services failing to take required actions.

We found that the Department’s failure to meet its responsibilities to at‑risk children and youth in Nunavut is linked to a number of persistent root causes. They include funding, the inability to hire and retain permanent staff, and a lack of housing, office space and timely training for front line workers.

These challenges are compounded by poor information management practices. During the period of our audit, the Department of Family Services did not have reliable data to answer the basic question of how many children and youth it was responsible for. We found that different communities had different approaches to managing their case files, including storing information in paper files, on individual computers or on universal serial busUSB keys. When staff turnover is high, access to reliable, accurate, and up‑to‑date information is essential for the continuity of knowledge about the status of vulnerable children, youth, and families.

This report is more than statistics, trends, and a compilation of facts—it is an urgent call to action. Over the last 12 years, we have painted the picture of a failing system—one that is failing the people, and most importantly the children, it is meant to protect. The departments agreed with the recommendations in our previous 2 reports, but we have yet to see vulnerable children receive the protection they deserve. For this reason, I made the decision to not issue more recommendations in this report.

To protect the territory’s vulnerable children and youth and overcome the challenges in serving Nunavut’s 25 communities, solutions lie not in recommendations addressed to individual departments, but rather in a whole-of-government approach. I am asking the Government of Nunavut to compel the three departments—of Family Services, Health, and Human Resources—to collaboratively take urgent and necessary concrete actions to help safeguard Nunavut’s children and support the territory’s families and communities.

Thank you. I am now ready to answer your questions.