Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Since we are reviewing the budget for the Department of Justice in Committee of the Whole today, I thought it would be appropriate to once again raise the issue of communities without an RCMP presence. I will speak particularly to the community of Sachs Harbour.
Yesterday on CBC Radio, the Honourable Brendan Bell, Minister of Justice, spoke about what the department is doing to address the needs of communities without RCMP officers, and that the issue was more than just putting an officer into a community. Also there needs to be fiscal infrastructure in place.
Mr. Speaker, I would like just to clarify, for the record, that the necessary infrastructure is in place in the community of Sachs Harbour to post an RCMP officer there sooner, rather than later. There is already dedicated accommodations available for the RCMP when and if they visit, and there's an operational detachment complete with a jail, garage and a vehicle. So you see, Mr. Speaker, there is the infrastructure already in place for a full-time officer in Sachs Harbour. The question is now, when will the department and the RCMP come to agreement that will allow for the posting of an RCMP officer?
In my last Member's statement on the issue, I spoke of the community having problems recently involving the dangerous use of a firearm. The RCMP were able to respond within three hours, upon receiving the complaint. But the weather will and can dictate the response time.
Mr. Speaker, will it require a person to die before the GNWT and the RCMP can manage to put an officer into Sachs? I would certainly hope not. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
---Applause