Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I would like to speak briefly to the issue of adult offender bush camps. This is a program initiative that has significant support I know in this House and is very, very well received in the communities and regions. However, Mr. Speaker, I have a significant concern because the Department of Justice has promised to review the formula for financing and funding these camps. It is many, many months overdue. I understand after my visit home this weekend, that one of the camps in the South Slave has shut its doors and that the one in my constituency, at Kozo Lake, is on the verge of doing so as well because there is not adequate funding and they have been running deficits, expended all their own savings and insurance money trying to keep the camp open.is on the
Mr. Speaker, the initial concept was to have inmates go and move in with a trapper, put another bed in the cabin and they would sort of exist out there and do part of their sentence on the land and learn some skills. However, Mr. Speaker, that concept quickly evaporated and what came in its place is a much more formal kind of camp where there has been an incremental increase in demand for health standards, for safety standards, for security standards, for program standards, all of which have a cost that has not been quantified by the Department of Justice. I know, and I have heard, the Minister himself speak very strongly about the benefit of these camps. Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, the Department of Justice does not seem to be doing the required job to maintain this very valuable and rehabilitative service for adult offenders.
Mr. Speaker, if both camps close in the South Slave, there will be a significant gap in the service that is provided to adult offenders. It will be a tremendous loss of years of work. I have been to Kozo Lake. The amount of work that those folks have put into that camp is major. They have made a tremendous personal investment and I would hope that the Department of Justice would see its way clear.
I see this as an emergency situation. Funding has to be looked at and I know that those two camps are not alone. This issue has been on the table for the last two or three years, when we do the business plans for Justice. Later today I will be asking the Minister responsible for Justice questions on how he can deal with this very pressing issue so that we do not lose these valuable resources that have been years in the making by very dedicated individuals. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
-- Applause