Good afternoon, colleagues. Before we begin the business of the day, I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge a special day for some of our Members. It happens to be the birthday of the Member for Range Lake, Sandy Lee.

---Applause

We also have another birthday in the House, the Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. Robert McLeod.

---Applause

Orders of the day. Item 2, Ministers' statements. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Villeneuve.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to try to raise a little more awareness in this House about this government's human resource activity and the direction it's heading.

Mr. Speaker, the 4,000 plus public servants that the GNWT employs are good people who are committed to serving the public and we must be grateful for all the good work they perform every day. Yet, because less than one out of every three of our government employees is aboriginal, we are not coming close to achieving the goal of this government's affirmative action policy which clearly states that this policy reflects the GNWT's commitment to a competent public service that is representative of the population it serves.

In one report in a local newspaper, Mr. Speaker, it was stated that for adult aboriginal persons in the NWT, the total employment rate is only 53 percent; whereas, for all others, the rate of employment is 83 percent. This is a concern for me, Mr. Speaker.

The population of the NWT is 50 percent aboriginal, yet, according to the most current report of our affirmative action policy, only 31 percent of our territorial government employees are aboriginal and only 13 percent of all GNWT employees in Yellowknife are aboriginal. So basically one in three of our employees is aboriginal where one in two of our people in the NWT are aboriginal.

To retain the current levels, if we are content with the situation, for every three new hires, one would have to be aboriginal just to keep in pace, Mr. Speaker. However, according to an affirmative action report, only one out of every four persons hired or transferred are affirmative action candidates. Mr. Speaker, we already have less than the representative number of aboriginals on our GNWT workforce and having as a percentage many more non-aboriginals being hired each year, within 16 years the GNWT would have a totally non-aboriginal workforce.

Now we can and should take this perspective with a grain of salt because, as Mr. Twain said, "There are lies, damn lies, and then there are statistics."

---Laughter

Regardless of how we view this, surely we can all agree that this situation cannot continue.

Mr. Speaker, prior to 1995, this government had a Department of Personnel. That department was responsible for the affirmative action policy. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

The Member is seeking unanimous consent to conclude his statement. Are there any nays? There are no nays, Mr. Villeneuve. You may conclude.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues. Mr. Speaker, prior to 1995, this government had a Department of Personnel. That department was responsible for the affirmative action policy. Since then, each department has been responsible for its own recruitment. I have no doubt that each department is working to the best of its ability to hire a representative workforce, but clearly this is not enough and a more concerted effort must be made. We must not let the situation continue whereby our workforce is less and less representative of our population every year. There is no mention in the budget about this situation and it is getting worse. We need to address this trend and find ways to turn this situation around before it spirals out of control. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my Member's statement today is about crime in the Northwest Territories. According to an RCMP report that came out in 2001, the Northwest Territories was 27 positions short of having enough staff to address its policing needs.

The Minister of Finance recently announced in his budget address that the government would be allocating an additional $1.4 million for 10 new RCMP positions to address the shortfall. To meet the target outlined in the

2001 report, the department will provide additional financing for more positions again next year. But, Mr. Speaker, six years have passed since the report was written. Even if we meet the targets set in 2001, crime has continued to rise and it's only getting worse. We would be na‹ve to think there won't be an increase associated with the potential pipeline development, and here in the city, endemic use of crack cocaine has had an exponential impact on the incidence of crime. Resources, Mr. Speaker, are just not keeping up.

Mr. Speaker, from 2001 to 2003, the last year for which crime statistics are available, incidents of crime have increased territory-wide by almost 25 percent. In Yellowknife, for the same period, crime increased by 21 percent. The headlines from the Yellowknife's biweekly crime report indicate there has been no slowdown. From December 27th to January 9th, 624 complaints to police, 18 break-and-enters, 40 incidents of common assault and another three assaults with a weapon. January 10th to 23rd, 427 calls to police, 16 break-and-enters, 42 assaults and one assault with a weapon. January 25th to February 7th, 366 calls, 27 assaults, three assaults with weapons. February 8th to 21st, 406 calls, five break-and-enters, 20 common assaults and five assaults with weapons.

Mr. Speaker, in 2003, again the last year for which stats are available, the situation in the Northwest Territories for all incidents of crime is well over four times the national average. Incidents of impaired driving are five times the national average. Incidents of sexual assault are six times the national average. Incidents of crimes of violence, as a whole, are well over seven times the national average. I find these statistics absolutely shocking, Mr. Speaker, and I hope that Members sitting on the other side of this House are paying close attention.

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

The Member is seeking unanimous consent to conclude his statement. Are there any nays? There are no nays, Mr. Ramsay. You may conclude.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. An increase to policing is one way to get a handle on crime. Another way is to ensure there are hefty penalties to act as deterrents. Unfortunately, I do not see either. I was appalled at the two-year conditional sentence recently handed down to the Yellowknife man convicted of sexually abusing his young daughter for nearly a decade. What does a sentence like this say, Mr. Speaker? We are sending the wrong message to criminals. Mr. Speaker, I implore this government to make crime prevention a top priority. We must do more to get a handle on the crime around us. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, what would it take to wake up the RCMP at headquarters here in Yellowknife or the Department of Justice to get full-time officers in small communities in the North? Do we need to revive the Community Constable Program, Mr. Speaker? I read in the Yellowknifer newspaper yesterday, Wednesday, March 2, 2005, Police go Back to Schoolyard, and heard on the CBC special report at 7:15 a.m. this morning about the same subject and noted it with interest.

Mr. Speaker, any type of violent incidents and the protection of the safety of the public is a real concern, especially when children are involved. Mr. Speaker, I thank God that no one was physically hurt. Mr. Speaker, what do we have to do to have the added push to have full-time officers or the some type of police presence in those communities where there is none? We have 11 communities, Mr. Speaker, in the Northwest Territories without full-time RCMP officers. However, we have a full-time officer dedicated to 11 schools in Yellowknife. Mr. Speaker, in the newspaper, it was noted that a personnel increase in the Yellowknife detachment of the RCMP would like to have two full-time members in the schools in Yellowknife.

Mr. Speaker, in our small communities we have incidents that require full-time officers in our communities. However, we are told the cost of stationing them in our communities is high, and a recent voting from Labour Canada is RCMP are no longer allowed to have single-member detachments. In our smaller communities, we have RCMP officers cover from time to time in these places without RCMP members. Mr. Speaker, we are talking about entire communities -- entire communities -- that deal with alcohol abuse, violence and other criminal activities. Mr. Speaker, when will this government put full-time officers in small communities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Pokiak.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I listened with interest to CBC Radio this morning to the announcement that the RCMP in Yellowknife had appointed an officer to do nothing but work with schools in Yellowknife. Obviously with the community of Sachs Harbour having no regular RCMP presence, I have a fundamental problem with the logic that lead the RCMP to appoint a school liaison officer. Mr. Speaker, there are many communities in the Northwest Territories without an RCMP presence. The residents of these communities should be entitled to the same level of protection that most residents of Canada enjoy.

---Applause

I realize that it will cost money, but I believe it is a necessary expense for this government to bear. A community like Sachs Harbour that is isolated and only accessible by air should have an RCMP presence. By the time the RCMP organize a response team, charter an airplane and fly to Sachs Harbour, the question becomes whether or not they will be there in time to be of assistance in an emergency situation.

Now I know, Mr. Speaker, that the Minister of Justice will stand in this Assembly and tell us that they cannot afford to put RCMP in every community in the Northwest Territories. I know he will tell us that the recent Labour

Canada ruling directed the RCMP to have, as a minimum, a two-person detachment. What I do not know, Mr. Speaker, is what the Minister of Justice will tell the residents of Sachs Harbour when someone is hurt or killed because of a lack of RCMP presence. I will ask questions at the appropriate time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Braden.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to follow my colleagues and talk about issues related to our justice system and the delivery of justice in the NWT. Mr. Speaker, one of the things that I think is fundamental to a healthy society is the ability at the community level, at levels closest to the people, to be able to deal with offenders and victims and consequences of actions by people when they do the wrong thing.

We have the opportunity here and, indeed, for a number of years we've been exercising it through community justice committees, Mr. Speaker. This kind of innovation is really not all that original. I think it's practiced in many countries around the world and it is certainly something that goes along with the principles of attaining self-government and growing the responsibility that communities and individuals need to take on with this kind of situation. We have so many repeat offenders in the Northwest Territories. Mr. Speaker. I wonder if this is a consequence of the failure in some respects of the British style of justice that we have where once offences are dealt with, the offender is taken out of the society and the places where he or she has responsibilities, put away for a little while and then returned. Then everything is deemed to be okay. Well, you know it's not. If we really are to pursue the idea of rehabilitation and restoration, the offender has to be able to take responsibility and be put into a situation where that can happen. I believe that the more effort and the more resources and the more significance we put on community justice committees and bringing the delivery and the appearance of delivering good justice at the community level, our communities will be healthier places. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to recognize the official opening of the Kamba Carnival hosted by the Katlodeeche First Nations on the Hay River Reserve. From its modest beginning 22 years ago, the carnival has become a tremendously popular and successful event, attracting visitors from across the North from as far as away as places like Manitoba and other parts of Canada. One of the objectives of the Kamba Carnival is to foster a spirit of cross-cultural awareness. People of all ages are encouraged to test their northern skills in a variety of events for the whole family, including snowshoe races, tea boiling, axe throwing, log sawing, dog races, hand games, drum dances and talent shows. Speaking from personal experience, the Kamba Carnival is a guaranteed good time for all. I am very regretful that I am unable to be there today to help kick off the festivities. However, I would like to extend an invitation to the Members here and to northerners everywhere to come to Hay River this weekend.

Mr. Speaker, in recognizing this popular event, it's important to recognize the hard work and dedication of its organizations, the carnival committee, who work year-round to make the Kamba Carnival a success, and not only the carnival committee, but many volunteers, sponsors and supporters who help make it possible. I want to wish them another successful year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Item 3, the honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am so pleased that we are having a justice theme day today. I have youth on the mind. It is so timely and relevant in light of issues that I have been dealing with in Hay River. When you consider our statistics related to justice and corrections in the North, it must be a topic of very high priority to us as a government. Mr. Speaker, I feel that we were on a course that was cutting edge and progressive with justice, but during the past few years, the system as it relates to community involvement, the Justice of the Peace program, community justice committees, elder and youth sentencing panels, traditional incarceration alternatives, we have significantly regressed. There are some things such as the Criminal Code and the Youth Criminal Justice Act, in which it may appear we have very little jurisdiction to influence. The truth, Mr. Speaker, is that these pieces of legislation do provide us with many opportunities and significant latitude to bring a made-in-the-north philosophy to bear.

We have unique realities in the North related to culture, language, tradition, values and the age of our population. We cannot build monuments to justice in which to merely warehouse our citizens who find themselves on the wrong side of the law. If we do, we had better be prepared to build bigger and more jails. We need to recognize and quantify the amount of our crime related to other problems, such as alcoholism and preventable and treatable things such as FASD. How many of our offenders incarcerated today are, in fact, victims? Mr. Speaker, we can invest on the front end in treatment, counselling, education and prevention, or we can keep dealing with the broken, devastated lives of our people. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for North Slave, Mr. Zoe.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I want to speak about the violent impact of crack cocaine. My colleague from Kam Lake raised this issue yesterday. Today I want to join him to urge this government to do everything within its power to prevent this dangerous drug from taking hold on our communities.

Mr. Speaker, crack cocaine does not discriminate. It is as much a threat to small communities as it is to larger centres, perhaps more so. Many of the small communities in the Northwest Territories already have widespread problems associated with abuse of other substances, often starting as young as 12 or 13 years old.

Mr. Speaker, I am frightened to think what will happen if crack cocaine becomes readily available in smaller communities. It is cheap and highly addictive from the very first start. As my colleague pointed out yesterday, drug traffickers, often users themselves, have no scruples. They do not hesitate to sell, even target youth. If the thought of this makes you shudder, Mr. Speaker, it should.

Cocaine is already present in outlying communities. This morning on the CBC regional news, we learned that last week a man in Rae was arrested and charged for an unprovoked attack on a police officer causing bodily harm. He was found to be in possession of crack cocaine and marijuana. If we fail to take action, it is only a matter of time until crack cocaine devastates small communities across the Northwest Territories.

The RCMP have recently appointed a liaison officer to work in Yellowknife schools on the Drug Abuse Resistance Education Program, called the DARE program. This is a good step, but does not address the problem of drugs in the smaller communities. Drug education in schools in small communities is absolutely essential, Mr. Speaker. I urge the government to make drug education in schools a priority. Prevention, Mr. Speaker, is the only chance we have against crack cocaine.

The strategic plan of this government sets out the goal of "Healthy, educated people living in safe communities, who are able to contribute and take advantage of life's opportunities." If the government hopes to achieve this, I suggest quick action to provide more resources.

Mr. Zoe, your time for your Member's statement has expired.

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

The honourable Member is seeking unanimous consent. Are there any nays? There are no nays. You may conclude your statement, Mr. Zoe.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker and colleagues. If the government hopes to achieve this, I suggest quick action to provide more resources for drug abuse prevention education in schools in all communities. We need to get a grip on this problem before it gets a grip on us. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Zoe. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I want to speak about a group of people who often get forgotten in the whole justice picture. I am talking about the victims of crimes.

It is very frustrating to hear so much emphasis placed on the offenders and their needs. We seem to spend a lot of time talking about what we can do for them, how we can help them and how we can accommodate them by keeping them close to their families and their culture. Mr. Speaker, if they cared so much about their families and really wanted to honour their culture, they would be taking responsibility for their actions and staying out of trouble. Granted, Mr. Speaker, some may try to take advantage of any programs offered and hopefully change their ways.

The people that seem to get lost in the justice picture are the victims of the crimes. We just leave them to fix and replace their property and mend their broken bones. Long after the physical damage is repaired, many victims are still living with the humiliation and fear caused by the offence. I am talking about people afraid to go to sleep at night because they don't know what they will wake up to or if they will wake up. People are afraid to go outside because they don't know if they will be attacked or if their home will be broken into while they are away. People are left to grieve for loved ones whose lives are cut short by brutal crimes. These people have to put their lives back together and what are we doing to help them?

Mr. Speaker, we expect transition houses for spousal abuse victims and their children to operate on shoestring budgets, while we put millions of dollars and all kinds of thought and planning into new jails, complete with recreational facilities, warm beds and three square meals a day.

Mr. Speaker, when was the last time anyone offered a program for victims to go out on the land, all expenses paid, to rebuild their confidence, their self-esteem and their connection to the culture?

Mr. Speaker, I would encourage this government to make the victims their priority instead of putting criminals first. I know this is a tough message to send, but I also know it is pretty tough being a victim of crime. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Mr. Speaker...(English not provided)

I rise today to speak about community policing, as well. We expect a lot from our policemen and women. Of course, we want them to solve crimes and get criminals off our streets, all the while following a list of complicated procedures to the letter and avoiding the use of undue force. We want them to break up domestic and street fights; we want them to be running checkstops to get drunk drivers off the road; we want them to escort prisoners on remand back and forth between different communities; we want them testifying in the courts; we want them to do patrols to smaller communities within their own detachment; we want them to be in the schools educating our children about safety, the law and the dangers of drugs and alcohol; we want them to be consulting with leaders and working with community groups; we want them to be coming up with plans to deal with emerging issues like crack cocaine and crystal meth, which are making their way into the smaller communities. That is a long list, Mr. Speaker, especially when we don't provide the resources to make it happen.

Just looking at Fort Simpson where we recently lost an RCMP position, the need is already there for at least two more officers. The word is out that there are jobs in the Deh Cho and we are already seeing an influx of transients. Pipeline construction is set to begin as early as 2007 and we need to get a handle on this to protect our residents and keep our communities safe.

Mr. Speaker, I would urge the government to work with the RCMP, to take a good look at our policing resources and come up with a plan for what we are going to need to have in place to deal with the pipeline and other resource developments. We are running out of preparation time and I would hope to see a budget for more officers in Fort Simpson and maybe other communities as well, no later that the next set of draft business plans. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, crime occurs 24/7, 365 days a year. The North has significantly elevated levels of crime in all categories compared to the South, including break-and-enters, assaults and theft from vehicles, not to mention all of the drugs and related crimes.

We, as a community, cannot leave everything for the police to solve. We, as a community, must do our part to make our streets, homes and families safer. We can do just that through programs like COPS. This is the mantra on which the Yellowknife Coalition for Community Wellness stood on to start a program known as the COPS program.

Mr. Speaker, I have attended and observed the birth and growth of this program from the beginning over the last three years. This group is made up of people who just got tired of listening to stats that were read in the House, like the ones we are talking about, who just got tired of waiting for the government and someone else to take care of the program. This is a group made up of women who had to watch their 12-year-old daughters getting lured by drug dealers and get hooked on cocaine, who they lost every weekend because they had to go out and get hooked up into drugs. These mothers would nurse them into health, put them back to school, and they were back into drugs again because these drugs were so strong. One of these mothers is supporting her daughter down south, because she has to keep the daughter away from the drug dealers and the triggers that keeps bringing her back to that addiction.

Instead of sitting around and crying over these things, all these people got together and set up what is called COPS, and this is a patrolling service, Mr. Speaker. It started back in February 2004. Just between May and November, there were 84 patrols done. They travelled 6,000 kilometres, and they reported 51 incidents. They don't replace the RCMP. They work with the RCMP. They are trying to do something about it. They operate on their volunteer hours with two donated vehicles and $5,000 of fuel subsidy from the RCMP. They are doing all they can to make a difference. They have applied to this government for funding and they were turned down.

The government talks all the time about how individuals have to take...Mr. Speaker, may I ask consent to finish my statement? Thank you.

The Member is seeking unanimous consent to conclude her statement. Are there any nays? There are no nays. You may conclude your statement, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, honourable colleagues. Mr. Speaker, I just want to conclude by saying we speak all the time here about the fact that government can't do it alone and that it is the people who have to take responsibility to make a difference. I am telling you that this COPS program of Yellowknife's Coalition of Community Wellness has done that. There are dozens and dozens of people who spent the last three years meeting every month to work this out. They are literally patrolling the streets. I run into them on the weekends. They pick up girls who are walking alone at night. They drive them home. They report to the police when they see incidents. They are making a difference. The city government could only afford $5,000. I could tell you that this government, with a billion-dollar budget and all that it has, surely can do better. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I rise to speak about an issue that has been raised to me by my constituents. It is with regard to the discipline of lawyers and the regulating organization that they have which is complaint-driven.

Mr. Speaker, the legal profession is a self-regulating industry, not unlike many other professions out there. This means that the lawyers have the ability to govern their own admission requirements. It also means they can govern their membership requirements, as well as decide their own discipline on alleged allegations of misconduct.

Mr. Speaker, the public truly has no role to play at all. The discipline proceedings are done entirely by lawyers. The only role that the public truly has is to lay a complaint. They can be a witness to proceedings, but they have no true involvement. The capacity to govern itself is not truly in question there. But it is the ability of honouring that privilege and trust. Mr. Speaker, it is not a right. The privilege and trust must be safeguarded by a fair process that does take the public interest into hand.

Mr. Speaker, in a discipline proceeding, lawyers must be ever mindful of being careful not to look after their own. Mr. Speaker, the onus on them regulating their own process is to ensure the safeguards of the public are there.

In order for us to ensure maximum public confidence, Mr. Speaker, this process must be under an automatic review when a lawyer is convicted of an offence. Mr. Speaker, there should be a requirement put into the act, not talked about as a willy-nilly policy. It would help this profession to enable self-regulating which wouldn't change if we made sure that lawyers convicted of all crimes go under a review process.

Mr. Speaker, this small step in legislation is not a big requirement to change the system to ensure public confidence. Mr. Speaker, at the appropriate time, I will have questions for the appropriate Minister, and I will have some solid suggestions for him to address this public confidence question. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Item 3, Members' statements. Item 4, reports of standing and special committees. Item 5, returns to oral questions. Item 6, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to recognize Ms. Judy Hewitt. I see she has two colleagues with her. I am not sure of their names, but welcome to the Assembly. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Item 6, recognition of visitors in the gallery.

Before I go into the next item on the order paper, I would just like to take a moment to remind Members on both sides of the House of a little talk that I gave before with regard to oral questions on February 17th. That was to do with the length of preambles to oral questions and also the length of answers from Ministers. I just want to remind Members of your own rules. I know that, after that speech, you did very well. It is starting to slip a little bit. So just in order to help me get the most out of your question period, I just ask for your indulgence in obeying your own rules. Thank you, Members.

---Applause

Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Braden.

Mr. Speaker, the effectiveness of bringing justice down from the courtrooms of few and larger communities to the street level in the community halls of our smallest communities is something that, I think, we should have been placing a great deal of value on. I wanted to ask the Minister of Justice, Mr. Dent, this afternoon, are community justice committees well-established in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. The honourable Minister of Justice, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are 30 community justice committees active in the Northwest Territories. Given the number of communities, yes, we have a good number of communities that are served by community justice committees.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Mr. Speaker, how do we measure their success? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have a number of committees that are active. How we measure their success is that they are, in almost every community where they are active, successfully diverting cases from the courts and involving offenders and victims in the community in sentence circles or in other diversionary processes so that the courts aren't used as the means to address the offender. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Is it a very complicated process to get a community justice committee established? To what extent are we providing resources and support for these organizations? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We provide funding for the operation of justice committees in every community. The operation amount is provided on a per capita basis, but every community is also qualified for a $20,000 grant to hire a part-time coordinator to assist the committee in its operation. We have had the regional justice people who have helped set these committees up across the Northwest Territories. Now that they are in operation across the Territories, this budget proposes to eliminate those positions. But not all of the savings will be kept by the department or turned back to the government coffers. In fact, 50 percent or $247,000, I believe, is being kept as available to community justice committees. So those committees that are active and being successful in diversion will be able to apply for extra funds as they need them to increase their activities. So we are going to use this as an opportunity to encourage the committees to become even more active in taking on cases and diverting.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Final supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Mr. Speaker, thank you. I realize that community justice committees are not going to take over or solve all of the justice requirements of our country and our laws. So I wanted to see to what extent are the police, the judges and the Crown prosecutors -- people already involved in administering justice in the Northwest Territories -- engaged or connected with the work of community justice committees. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is crucial that the RCMP be actively engaged with the justice committees because they have to be prepared to work to move an offender into working with the community justice committee instead of prosecution. So we need to have the Crown and the RCMP, and all the players have to be supportive. We are finding that, across the Territories, the RCMP is very heavily-invested in the program. The local members all understand the value. We would rather see young people, in particular, dealt with by people in the community rather than being sentenced to terms outside the community.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I stated in the Member's statement, there are a lot of people in the city and across the Territories, I am sure, who are very concerned about the increasing rates of crimes. When concerned people got together and called a meeting, there were enough people to fill the Northern United Place. I can tell you that there was not an empty seat. All of these community people came to say that they wanted to make a difference. They didn't want to just complain about the stats or waiting for the government to do it, or the RCMP to do it.

There were so many people with willingness, energy and commitment to do something about it. They have worked everything out. It took a long time. They are on the ground now. All they are asking is recognition on the part of the government that they are doing good work and need a little bit of partnership. They are asking for no more than maybe $15,000 to $20,000 a year. There are 80 to 90 people. They took their private time out to be trained. They drive around in their vehicles with their walkie-talkies. There are some who spend every weekend patrolling Yellowknife streets. So far, they've gotten help from the RCMP. The RCMP supplied $5,000 in grant for fuel. They were able to get...

Do you have a question, Ms. Lee?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am sorry. I am breaching the rule, but I am telling you, surely this is a great opportunity for government to say we recognize your good work and we are going to do something about it. I would like to ask the Minister of Justice if he could make the commitment to look into whatever he could find in his Justice budget, to see if he could lend out $5,000. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Minister of Justice, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can't disagree with the Member that the community wellness coalition and particularly the programs that they have brought in, like the COPS program, are extremely valuable programs and have brought members of the community into helping to deal with the issues that we face in our community. The RCMP and everybody involved in crime prevention will tell you that that is what it takes. It takes people from the community getting involved. The RCMP and this government supported the work of an RCMP officer to work with the wellness coalition to get things established. We have now agreed to support the work of an officer in the Sahtu region to work full time to help communities in the Sahtu develop the same sort of approach. So do we support this kind of initiative? Absolutely. Will I look for a way to support them within our budget? Yes, I will, and I won't look at it as a loan.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Short supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I think it goes without saying and Members have stated that all governments spend way too much money looking after people after they have committed crime; to house them and such. But surely $5,000 or $10,000 is not a lot of money. So I will take the Minister's answer as something very positive. Could I ask the Minister to make a commitment to report back to Members, or to myself separately via letter, informing me as to what he has been able to do to support this program financially? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Dent.

Mr. Speaker, yes.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister of Justice a few questions. The first one is, I am wondering what reasons can the Minister of Justice give us for the fact that the crime rate here has risen 25 percent in the last two years in the Northwest Territories, that we have a crime rate four times the national average, impaired driving incidence five times the national average, incidence of sexual assault six times the national average, and crimes of violence seven times the national average. I am wondering what reasons the Minister can give us for that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister of Justice, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. These are not new numbers. These rates have been higher than the national averages in the Northwest Territories going back 10 or 15 years. So there hasn't been anybody who has been able to assess why we have such a high incidence of crimes. There are a number of different theories. They range from poverty to lack of opportunity and lack of jobs. But there is no question that there is a significant social problem that is demonstrated through the crime statistics in the Northwest Territories.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister of Justice what specifically the Minister and the government are doing to address the dismal statistics that are out there in terms of our crime rates. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As was noted by the Member for Hay River South, this is an issue that requires us to deal with problems that we face in our society, up front. We can't deal with them all after the fact. So I am working with my colleagues in the social programs envelope to look for opportunities to deal with the social problems that we face in the Northwest Territories and to try and find ways to deal with them before we see the criminal statistics. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister specifically, in terms of crime prevention strategies, what has this government got to offer in terms of crime-prevention strategies for its residents? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one of the best crime-prevention strategies is a good education and a healthy community. Those are certainly things that this government has put as high priorities and that we are working on. Those areas are seen as crucial for reducing crime. Programs like the ones where the RCMP work with young people in schools to try and reduce the amount of violence that we are seeing in schools and help kids understand better ways to deal with their problems. Those are certainly areas in which we are supportive. It is not just in Yellowknife that you see RCMP in the schools. Every community that I have gone into that has RCMP...I talked to the officers, and they all tell me that they try and spend as much time as possible in the schools because they see that as being a very positive way to reduce crime in the long run.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is to the Minister of Justice. Mr. Speaker, of the small communities, 11 of them I counted are without full-time RCMP members in the communities. I guess I do not understand the system. As soon as you get an incident in Yellowknife, there is an RCMP right away into the schools and into the communities. I want to ask the Minister of Justice why our 11 small communities in the Northwest Territories are without full-time RCMP members or some type of law enforcement in the communities. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister of Justice, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The situation has arisen because, over the years, the RCMP has provided services in the Northwest Territories. Historically, they started in some communities and expanded into other communities across the Northwest Territories. As the government has had funding to put into the RCMP contract, that has expanded to the point where it is right now. The level of investment that it would take to add police to those 11 communities, if it were to be done all at once, has been a challenge, particularly since the federal cuts in the mid-1990s. This government, after being presented with the resource request in 2001, has gone a long way to provide the RCMP with the resources they need just to deliver the service in the communities in which they are right now. As our financial situation improves, I have no doubt that we'll be able to take a look at other situations. I am constantly talking to Chief Superintendent Summerfield about this issue. It is one that every time we meet, it comes up for discussion about how we can better serve the small communities. A number of initiatives have been undertaken in the past year to try and improve the service to small communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would ask if the Minister would consider again implementing some alternative law enforcement programs if the cost is too high with the RCMP in terms of placing full-time members in those small communities. There are 11 communities in the Northwest Territories who do not have law enforcement. I want to ask if he would consider a program to have some type of law enforcement presence in those communities.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said, every time I discuss RCMP activities in the Northwest Territories with the chief superintendent, this is an issue that I raise. I have a meeting scheduled with the chief superintendent for, I believe, it's two weeks today and I will again raise that issue with the chief superintendent and I'd be happy to report back to the Members.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to see in those discussions if the Minister would commit to a time frame within which we can go back to our communities, especially some of the communities that are going to be impacted directly by the pipeline such as Wrigley, Tsiigehtchic, Colville Lake, who have a lot of activity going on there and other communities I might have missed, that they would see RCMP presence or some type of law enforcement presence in their community. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That is an issue we would have to address, Mr. Speaker, through the business planning process because it would require a significant investment by this government. But it is certainly something that I can talk to the chief superintendent about and we can report back to the Members on what sort of investment it would take. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Final supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, would the Minister of Justice consider going into those communities that do not have an RCMP and talking to the small communities...

Unescorted. To talk to the communities on what type of programs they can assist with in terms of having some community police services for them. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I'd be happy to go to communities with Members from their constituency to talk to the communities about policing services.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I rise today with questions for the Minister of Justice. I just want to say that I did, on January 26th, go to Hay River and I did have an opportunity to tour the remand centre there. I do have some questions that perhaps the Minister can answer for me. Of course the House and the public are well aware of the operations ceasing there, but is the intent really to cease operations as of April 1st or is there going to be some kind of transition? The Minister did talk about attrition of the staff members there. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister of Justice, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The proposal in the budget is that the operation would cease as of April 1st. It has to cease at a certain date because it is now staffed 24/7 and if we're going to start the reductions that we're proposing, they have to start as of a certain date. So the operation is proposed, right now, to end as of April 1st for that facility. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. My next question is if we're going to do the reductions by attrition, are we as of April 1st going to scuttle the facilities whereby we won't be using it? Would we not still be using it as a transfer point from the southern communities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just because we're stopping the use of the remand unit in the South Mackenzie Correctional Centre doesn't mean there won't still be remand prisoners in the South Mackenzie Correctional Centre. Those cells in that area will still be used, but they won't be used for the same classification of person. What's going to happen is, and the warden has confirmed, that based on what he's seen in the past few years, 40 to 50 percent of the inmates on remand in that facility could be kept in general population. So that means they would be mixed in with the regular population in SMCC. They could even be housed in those cells. But it means the post itself won't be staffed 24/7, so we wouldn't keep the inmates there who are judged to be a serious risk. So people who are more at risk will be transferred to the North Slave Correctional Centre and that part of the facility will be used for isolation or for other prisoners who don't require us to have 24/7 staffing on that one post.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Perhaps if I can switch gears. Since they're not really going to scuttle the facilities, there must be some long-term plans for use of that area, that section of the SMCC in Hay River, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.