Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to speak again about the low morale at the North Slave Correctional Centre. Mr. Speaker, a veteran of 20 plus years at the correctional services contacted me over the weekend to tell me what so many others have told me already. That is that, in all this time at the North Slave Correction Centre, he can honestly say that he has never seen anything so bad in terms of low morale, sick leave abuse, forced overtime, problematic hiring practices, lack of support, inmate-staff confrontations, and assaults and micromanaging. Mr. Speaker, it also appears that the vacancy rate of seven to 10 positions that the Minister gave in this House does not really tell the whole story. It is not just about the positions on paper, but actual bodies that are required in the facility.
Mr. Speaker, I understand that there are approximately 35 casual employees who are now filling in for vacancies of various capacities. All the case management teams are acting; therefore, they are covered off with casuals. There are many positions still not filled, including the four unit supervisors, one shift supervisor, cooks, nurses, and many correctional officers.
Approximately 20 to 30 staff have resigned in the last 10 months and, ironically, none of them have been asked to give exit interviews. This is one of the concerns to me as well, Mr. Speaker, because, in our briefing about the internal review that is going on, there seems to be very little emphasis on talking to those who are either let go or who resigned.
Mr. Speaker, it is also my information that the new facility requires 14 officers on a shift as opposed to only nine or 10 that were required in the old facility, but there have been no new increase in the staffing complement. Mr. Speaker, it is my understanding that even though the building is new, it actually requires more labour. It is much more labour-intensive. The Minister should consider revisiting the staffing complement to make sure that there are enough people to do the job. Also, another problem is that even though the vacancy might not show as being high, a lot of positions on paper, the bodies are not there because they have been seconded or they are acting in other positions. They are on some kind of leave, they are on special leave, transfer assignments. So the Minister needs to really listen. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.