I would like to thank the Member for his comments. The view he takes to focusing whatever additional resources we may get in the future and to priorizing those for work with the young offenders, the young people who get into difficulties with the law, is something that I agree with. I think it is critical that we try to do something at the early stages. Again, it may mean that we try to get the courts to recognize that incarcerating a person for a one-time mishap with the law is not in the interests of society and that there are many non-violent people who, because of a moment of poor judgment, end up before the courts and end up being taken away from their residences, their families and communities and from being a productive member of their community, simply because the court has deemed they should be punished through incarceration.
There is a school of thought that says that with limited dollars we are not, in fact, dispensing justice. We are running a wheel that is depriving certain members of what justice can provide because of the way we dispense justice in other areas. So I agree that we have to do something.
There is a real need, I think, for us to get the communities to accept responsibility for their own citizens and for the mishaps that their citizens heap on themselves and their neighbours. There is a need for communities to decide how to dispense and deal with justice with regard to those people who commit crimes, who disturb the peace and harmony of communities and who inflict damage on other members of the community.
It is that single approach, I think, to try to get an idea of what we can do to make justice more relevant and more realistic, that I think will come. That is what is going to bring the changes we want.
In the meantime, we do find that we are still looking at ways to stretch our dollars as much as we can, just keeping the existing system going. But, as the Member says, it is true. We cannot continue the way we are. We simply can't afford it, and the more we encourage communities to take responsibility for their own troubled youth, for their young people who get into trouble and for the adults who have to go to courts, I think the sooner some of the solutions to the problems that we have, at least, in terms of cost, will be more properly addressed.
It is my view, as well, that the cost of policing is better addressed by getting communities involved in feeling responsible for their own policing requirements. They can perhaps do a better job of policing themselves and also of using existing police resources to meet their needs. Some of the pilot projects we have will hopefully give us some ideas on how to do a better job. Again, because as Members know, the public does not feel there are enough RCMP officers out in the communities or in Yellowknife. There's a growing demand for more and more. These are all almost external to the communities right now. The RCMP and ourselves are working with communities and groups to try and address that. In the end, perhaps we will find that the high cost of policing may be better addressed through our trying to work directly with communities.
On the business of courts again, I think it would addressed through the community justice initiatives. I think the cumbersome process that the present court system brings and provides to the north can largely be addressed and avoided if communities take more responsibility for their people who have to go before the courts. The more interventions there are, the more communities owning up and taking responsibility for young offenders, for adult offenders, and for providing remedies to these cases, the cumbersome, escalating court costs that we have of judges, lawyers, court workers, court costs, and charters will be addressed through that approach. Thank you.