Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I want to talk about the Government of the Northwest Territories' role in supporting by-law enforcement and crime prevention in the communities.

Mr. Speaker, it is one of the stated roles of the Department of Justice to increase the capacity, role, scope and impact of communities in addressing their own justice issues. This is a very worthy goal, Mr. Speaker. However, Mr. Speaker, the community constable program has seen its funding decreased to zero this year, according to the main estimates of the Department of Justice.

This decrease to zero is presumably the result of the community constable pilot project coming to an end. This program was jointly funded by the federal government and according to the RCMP web page on the InterNorth site, the program has been a success in the North. The web page goes on to state that we are a role model for the south in this area. Mr. Speaker, this program was a success and I would like to know if the Department of Justice has taken steps to set up this program permanently.

Mr. Speaker, as the honourable Members are aware, the main funding for by-law officers for communities traditionally comes from the Department of MACA under community block funding agreements. Block funding arrangements tend to lead to situations where communities are forced to make difficult decisions with ever decreasing amounts of funding.

Mr. Speaker, at the present time, communities are forced to make decisions as to whether to hire by-law officers or recreation workers. They know that they cannot afford both. Yet there are ever increasing incidents of vandalism and crime in our communities, Mr. Speaker, and without specific focus on crime prevention at the community level, these crime levels will continue to escalate. It is very important, Mr. Speaker, that the Department of Justice and MACA work closely together to ensure there is a coordinated effort on crime prevention and enforcement in our communities. There is little point in the Department of Justice devoting so much in the way of resources -- community justice circles $733,000 in the current fiscal year -- if the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs does not give the communities sufficient resources to hire local enforcement officers. The community justice circles are in danger of sitting around in circles with nothing to do.

My understanding is that the RCMP is willing to help with training and facilities, Mr. Speaker, yet the communities struggle to find the funding for wages.