Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Again, it goes back to the point I made earlier, that our understanding of the wilderness camps is that it is voluntarily applied for.

I also understand from discussions with some of my colleagues in Justice that it is intended for those who are at low risk or may be prepared to re-enter into the community society. I do not have any statistics that tells my colleagues or me the number of those who may have applied or will apply.

The point here is the open custody camp facilities are available to those people. Again, I am not sure how they are assessed, but the point is, Mr. Chairman, it is available to those who voluntarily apply to go. We certainly encourage it, from our own perspective.

May I ask the Chair to allow Mr. Cooper to speak more specifically to the process?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In the area of community justice and corrections, this is an issue I had contacted the Minister on. I wanted to get it on the record here. In the area of the facilities that are maintained right now and those new ones that would be coming on line, issues were raised in my constituency around the programming that would be offered to inmates and the choice of programming, mainly in the area of church services and spiritual counselling.

As well, concerns were raised in the Delta. I received calls not only from my own constituents but also from the surrounding communities. They felt that family members who were in those facilities, however unfortunate that is, would not be allowed to practice their faith or the family faith that they have grown accustomed to. Those doors would be closed. Then, on top of that, concerns of if that is the case and they do not take that programming, or disagree to take it, they would be deemed as uncooperative or not wanting to take counselling and it would affect how they were dealt with.

I did communicate with the Minister on that issue. I wanted to raise it here again as an area of concern, just to ensure that as we are looking at newer ways of dealing with inmates, yes, some would be deemed appropriate. I think it is still a matter of individuals having the right to choose which services they could acquire in the area of spiritual counselling. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, we give the individual the freedom of religion. Therefore, we are certainly not going to force the individual to practice other than what they believe. I do not see this as a reason for them to be penalized in any such way because they do have their own personal religion and convictions. I believe we shall respect that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have a couple of questions about counselling for young offenders, specifically when it comes to addictions counselling. I wonder if the Minister can talk a bit about what our corrections division locally here in Yellowknife does. What kind of counselling is offered to young offenders with addictions problems?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. With your permission, I would like to go out beyond the borders of Yellowknife and perhaps talk about my own personal experiences as a group home operator. Once the young offenders have experienced problems in terms of drug and alcohol addictions, we work with the individual to encourage them to take some formal counselling. We also have advocated in the past to talk to professionals. In this case, they would be utilizing the psychology services provided through Health and Social Services, the Inuvik Regional Health Board. If the Member needs further clarification, we are prepared to answer that. Thank you.

I guess I am looking for the Minister to discuss the programs that are available here locally. I have had some constituents contact me sometimes with children who are young offenders, wondering if in fact we have adequate counselling services for those who I guess (a), would be incarcerated, and then (b), others who are not. For youth who are not, sometimes it seemed to be a matter of having to get them into a facility in the south.

We are building a new facility here in the city and maybe the Minister could indicate if in fact counselling for addiction problems, if that programming will be offered in the new facility. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We do not have specific details about programs but certainly our intention, and we will advocate the need to continue our support service in a number of areas, such as psychological counselling, alcohol and drug addictions counselling, joint family parental type of services. There is a wide range of them. Specifically, we do not have any information to the degree of the services provided at this time. We will take this and have it incorporated into the new facilities and the management of those new facilities. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am wondering if the Minister can give me some indication how the department currently feels it is addressing this problem. I wonder if the Minister could possibly speak to whether or not they feel they have been successful in dealing with young offenders' addictions problems at this point.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. If I can draw on my own personal experience and talk in the generalities of the young offenders program and the rehabilitation process, yes, I believe the success rate is fairly high. I do not have any specific numbers.

From my own personal knowledge, they respond quite well. The problem is when they leave the facility and they turn into the adult age, then some of those problems reoccur.

In general, while they are in the system, there is a high level of success in addressing and re-addressing some of those problem areas. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, those are difficult questions to answer at the moment, but we will endeavour to provide that as soon as we can. Thank you.