Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I actually wanted to deal with a different topic on this particular page, and I have a motion to go with the issue that I wanted to discuss. So if there are other Members who still want to partake in a discussion on this matter, I’ll defer.

Mr. Abernethy.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I want to follow up on my colleague Mr. Bromley’s questions.

I hear what the Minister is saying: that you’re not cutting programs, that you’re cutting positions. But when it comes to the sex offender and the family violence programs, it’s my belief and my understanding that in order for those programs to be delivered, you basically need two people to do it: one male, one female. In cutting these positions, you’re not necessarily going to have those bodies around to deliver those programs, which means, basically, the programs won’t be delivered. I believe that goes against what you’re saying. In fact, if the programs can’t be delivered, we’re not working towards the rehabilitation of the inmates within the facility.

I’m going to try to ask a question that’s clear, that we can actually get an answer to, which would be good, a change, great. Can you tell me exactly how — by eliminating these positions and eliminating the two persons, the male and the female, who can deliver these sex offender and family violence programs — the department intends to ensure that these programs continue to be delivered as effectively as they have been? I’ll stop there. I won't want to muddy it any more.

Mr. Cooper.

Mr. Abernethy.

Thanks, Mr.

Chair. A slightly

different topic but still in the same area: can you tell me exactly how many female young offenders are housed in Arctic Tern?

The Minister of Justice.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. To date we have two inmates at Arctic Tern.

Can you tell me how many female young offenders are currently housed at the North Slave Young Offenders Facility?

Currently we have none at that corrections facility. Mahsi.

Has the department housed female young offenders at the North Slave Young Offenders Facility in the recent past — one, two years?

Deputy Minister Cooper.

Next on the list I have Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I don’t want to cover a lot of the ground. I agree with what my colleagues Mr. Bromley and Mr. Abernethy are saying.

I’ve been here for just over four years, and I’ve seen the North Slave Correctional Centre go into the new building. I’ve had many discussions with the former Minister about the new approach to corrections: how it was going to be holistic, more healing, and how they were going to do some good things there.

I share the concerns of my colleagues that the program delivery officers are being taken out of the sexual offender and family violence programming. That causes me some concern. I listened to the deputy minister’s rationale and how the programs will be delivered, but you just have to question whether the frequency, the reliability, will still be there if the programming gets left to case workers and the psychologists, or whoever is going to be delivering the program.

I think there is going to be an impact on the frequency and reliability of the delivery of those programs. I’m not sure why we would, in our largest correctional facility in the territory, want to go to a

model that’s followed by some of our smaller facilities.

Again, I know the department was up against the wall in terms of reductions. If you look at the reductions, they’re obviously not going to touch the security side of things in corrections. It would be almost impossible to look for reductions there, so programming is the obvious soft spot, I could say, and an area where they could look at reductions. I don’t agree with the reductions on the program delivery officers. I think it’s a step backwards.

I’d like to find out a little bit more about the program Ms. Schofield talked about — the federal funding — and where it looks like we’ve applied for federal funding for the YO facility. I’m wondering if we’ve applied for federal funding under that same program for the adult facility.

The Minister of Justice, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr.

Chair. My

understanding is that the federal funding is only provided to the young offenders, not the adults.

Mr.

Chairman, I

guess the other

thing I wanted to talk about was the reduction in the nursing position at North Slave Correctional Centre. There is not going to be any coverage on the weekends, I’m to understand, because of this reduction.

I’m wondering if the department has done any work on trying to figure out what it’s going to cost. We’ve all been to the emergency room at Stanton. It can take six to eight hours to get in to see a doctor there. If that’s going to take a corrections guard out of that facility with an inmate to go to the hospital on the weekends to see a doctor, a nurse practitioner or whoever’s there, that’s just not good enough use of his time. They should be staying in the facility and not having to transport inmates over to the hospital on the weekends.

I’m wondering if the Minister has any idea of the impact that would cause to the operations at the facility on the weekends if guards are going to have to take inmates over to the hospital on a regular basis.

Ms. Schofield.

Does that mean there will be full coverage at that facility over the weekend?