Mr. Chairman, there isn't any disagreement about the concerns that the Member raises, as to the safety of the public, the welfare of these young offenders, the concern from the public for the well-being of the staff and the management in these facilities. There will be questions about the structure and the way that these facilities are built and as I have said, there is a fluctuation in the number of young offenders.

Sometimes, the majority of them are secure custody offenders, other times, the majority of them are open custody offenders. We only have a few facilities available to us at this time. Until we are able to get the kind of flexibility we need, by seeing more community/regional-based facilities coming up to meet our needs, the facilities like River Ridge, in Hay River, will have to meet our needs. They meet our needs by the triple designation that we've given them. We've checked with the staff continuously, the managers of these facilities, to ensure that they feel competent enough to run the facilities the way that we've asked them to, as triple designated facilities. We've given them assurance that their concerns, if any, will be addressed as soon as possible, that they should feel free to make recommendations to us in the event they feel triple designation is not possible or is not the way to go. At this time, there is no disagreement with it. The staff and the management feel confident that triple designation is a manageable thing that adequately meets the needs of everyone involved.

It's recognized that facilities like the River Ridge facility, were designed with secure custody in mind. I'm sure in the future, when there are other facilities built in other regions, in Fort Smith, that that facility will revert to what it was originally intended. But, at this time, the needs of this government are that we need flexibility to meet the needs we have. That's where we are.

We've been supporting the management and the staff of these facilities by providing training, by checking regularly with them about the way in which they operate the facilities, about the training needs they identify and ask to be provided to staff. They recognize themselves, that all the training in the world can not prepare you for all incidents.

The nature of facilities, such as correctional facilities, whether they are adult or youth, lends itself to the fact that there will be people who try to run away, walk away, break out, assault people in the process, who will commit serious offences in the process. That's the nature of this business.

I read this morning that, annually, there are at least 11 broken necks in Canada from young people hurting themselves playing hockey. I don't know how that relates to violent incidents in young offenders facilities. We are bound by legislation that says young offenders should be given the least amount of restriction possible. The only way to give the public total assurance is to make these types of facilities disappear, or if they have to stay there, to lock everybody up. That's not the way we do business in this field today. We train staff, we have people that manage these facilities, keeping in mind the needs of the young offenders, that they have special needs. They are not to be treated harshly. They are not to be treated as adult offenders. We have to recognize their youth. They are not fully mature people. Legislation provides for that.

At the same time, the staff that run these facilities are asked to keep an eye on them and be supportive of them, without having to have them handcuffed or overly restricted. I think it lends itself to the fact that sometimes people will run away. Just to keep it in perspective, many of these young offenders are just troubled youths who have committed a crime and gotten into trouble, but who are genuinely good children, good people. We can't banish them. There is probably more violence in the bars of the Northwest Territories on any given night than there is all year round in these facilities. We really have to keep it in perspective.