I would like to move the following motion.

WHEREAS Bill C-10, Safe Streets and Communities Act, was recently considered by the Parliament of Canada;

AND WHEREAS Bill C-10 will restrict the availability of conditional sentences and impose new mandatory minimum sentences for certain offences;

AND WHEREAS the severity of these measures will lead to fewer guilty pleas and plea bargains, more trials and more appeals, resulting in additional court administration and legal aid costs;

AND WHEREAS these measures will lead to more and longer incarcerations, resulting in additional operational costs to the territorial corrections system and the need for new or expanded correctional facilities;

AND WHEREAS Aboriginal people are already disproportionately represented in our prisons, and mandatory minimums and restrictions on the use of conditional sentences will only worsen this situation;

AND WHEREAS these measures will lead to the incarceration of more youth, who, as a result of being fully immersed in prison culture and isolated from cultural and family support, will be more likely to reoffend;

AND WHEREAS there are well-established links in the Northwest Territories between crime and social issues, including poverty, inadequate housing, addictions, low employment rates, mental health issues and cognitive disabilities such as Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and residential school trauma;

AND WHEREAS the 16

th

Legislative Assembly in

August 2011 passed a motion recommending that the Government of the Northwest Territories begin research to examine options and potential benefits for introduction of a mental health court diversion program as an adjunct to the NWT court system;

AND WHEREAS, given these circumstances, diverting funding from measures aimed at rehabilitation and addressing the root causes of crime to measures aimed at punishing offenders will not ultimately make Northwest Territories streets and communities safer;

AND WHEREAS the Government of the Northwest Territories does not have the fiscal capacity to fund the costs of Bill C-10 without diverting funding from other programming aimed at rehabilitation and addressing the root causes of crime in our territory;

NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Sahtu, that this Legislative Assembly urges the Government of Canada to recognize the special implications that Bill C-10 will have for the Northwest Territories;

AND FURTHER, that this Legislative Assembly urges the Government of Canada to put in place measures to mitigate the costs of Bill C-10 to the Government of the Northwest Territories for additional court time, legal aid services,

incarcerations and corrections infrastructure, and to provide funding for measures to address the root causes of crime;

AND FURTHERMORE, that the Government of the Northwest Territories act promptly to design, fund and implement comprehensive programs integrated across relevant departments to prevent and divert offenders that might enter the justice system in order to avoid many of the justice and other costs government and people must bear resulting from the impacts of Bill C-10.