Thank you, Mr. Chair. My questions are about the elimination of the Sex Offender Relapse Prevention Program and the Family Violence Prevention Program at the North Slave Correctional Centre, programs delivered to men who have been convicted of these offences.
I think it’s common knowledge to most of us that the incidence of sex offences in the Northwest Territories is extremely high, second only to Nunavut. Our rate is averaging well over five times the rate in Canada. In fact, we had 156 offences in 2006, which on a rate per 1,000 people is extremely, extremely high.
This program is a vital component to safer communities, which is supposed to be one of this government’s priorities. The decision was made, really, without any research or consultation on behalf of those that deliver the programs or their supervisors. Now, that sounds fairly astounding to me.
I understand that there is an independent review of the Justice program that’s going on. What if that report comes back and says, “Yeah, this program is essential”? I realize we need to make some cuts, but again, what is this department and what is this Minister going to do if the report of this review comes back and says this is essential programming? I’m already asking the question, given our priorities of prevention and so on: how can this be done?