Thank you, Mr. Chairman. First of all, I would like to commend and thank the Minister, Stephen Kakfwi, for bringing this into the House, and for the documents he provided to us. I would also like to thank Nellie Cournoyea for her comments. I would like to thank our delegates, Ms. Brooks, Ms. Christophers, Mr. Okpik and Ms. Allen.

I am quite familiar with this subject because I guess I was one of the children who witnessed violence against their mothers. I saw that when I was very young. There's a history of this violence that goes back many, many years. It's not something that has just happened. I'm glad, it's about time it's come to a forum like this where we can try to discuss it and try to do something about it, as a body. I know there have been a lot of meetings and recommendations made in the past, right from the community level to the regional level to the national level. Now, we're in the Legislative Assembly. I think this is a good forum to discuss it and try to make some laws here, to try to do something about it.

In the presentations that we've had from our delegation, there are a number of suggestions and directions in the problems that are laid out which are familiar to myself. I'm aware of these problems. One of the areas of violence that I've witnessed in the past is brought on by alcohol. When people are intoxicated and drinking, that's when this problem usually comes about. Statistics are around, now, that most of our jails are full. And, that of people who commit crimes, the majority involve violence. It seems to be suggested that that's the only solution we have.

But there was another solution that was suggested here that deals with community healing, which I totally agree with, a holistic approach. A community in BC which is probably known by everybody here, is Alkali Lake, where they have done community healing. I don't recall at all in any of their healing processes where they sent anybody to jail. They seem to have done it within the community. At this point in time, it seems that the only solution we have here is that if somebody does a violent crime, you send them to jail. I know that in the capital plans of the future, we're going to have two more new jails, one in Inuvik and one in the Baffin. Is it to meet these increased convictions and violence? Is that why we're building new jails? I'm wondering that. I hope not. I hope there are ways of trying to find out how to deal with this problem. We have to deal with it, with a holistic approach.

I know some people who are serving time in jail now, and I'm told that in Yellowknife all they do is sleep, watch TV and eat. That's all they do for months. This one fellow I know, for 22 months that's all he's going to be doing. A jail situation, where it's a tougher more violent environment, is not a place for healing. When you're healing, you're dealing with the emotions and you're dealing with the problems you had in the past and so forth. When you're in jail, that's not the place to do this kind of healing.

The only way we can stop this whole topic of family violence is when people come forward, lay charges, then people go to court and you send them to jail. They do their time in that kind of environment. Once they're done, they come back into the same environment, so it becomes a vicious circle. What can we do about it? Take some suggestions, what we heard here, I think it was Bertha Allen who suggested we take a holistic approach, a community healing approach.

I would like to ask the Minister responsible -- I don't know who it would be, the Department of Justice or the Department of Social Services -- all these different departments have to work together to try to come out with such a plan and try to deal with it. I would like to ask the Minister of Justice if any approach like this has been considered on community healing, rather than shipping the offenders off to jail then coming back to the same environment. It's a question, Mr. Chairman.