Following up on my colleague’s question, the first step of the analysis will undoubtedly be assembly of the terms of reference for the review. We want to get off on the right foot, so let’s ensure that any review incorporates the concerns, insights and experience of the clients and stakeholders, that’s past and present clients of the program, the NWT and Nunavut Public Health Association who are on record in support, and even the Dene Cultural Institute to flesh out revival of this traditional practice. Will the Minister commit to including stakeholder groups in the development of the terms of reference for this analysis, and when will that take place? Thank you.

The Member is aware of the response to his petition that the former Minister of Health and Social Services wrote to him, and we will honour the points and the content of that commitment, that written response to his petition. Thank you.

Thanks for that response. Of course, it’s good to hear it in the House, having the record of the past Minister making claims that haven’t come to fruition.

Mr. Speaker, we hear a lot of talk about the money here. The money involved is actually quite modest, even for a backup for this, and we all are aware of the areas in the government that could be tightened up for this sort of thing. When you look at $1.4 billion, this is a priority that’s been stated by our people, so will the Minister immediately reinstate

the Midwifery Program, add the necessary backup at modest cost, and conduct the review while it is in operation just as we do in all other program reviews? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the decision to suspend services was made by the Yellowknife Health and Social Services Authority. Just listening to Member’s statements, many of the small community Members laying out all the things that they require for basic services in their communities, some of them fairly modest in terms of cost if you just looked at them individually. So we have, and I’ve also stood up in this House and laid out the constraints that we’re under as a government. So the answer to the Member’s question would be no.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Your final, short supplementary, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister seems adept at pointing out the small communities and the service problems that they have there, things that Members on this side of the House regularly talk about. I’m getting kind of tired of that response when we’re talking about specific issues here. I’m wondering what will the Minister do in terms of getting this back in service immediately, and does he see this as a temporary cancellation extending for years and years. What is the end point, the actual implementation of recommendations as a result of the analysis? Thank you.

The concerns of small communities are legitimate ones. Yellowknife has the good fortune as the capital and the largest community to have by far the best services in just about every area. So we cannot diminish those concerns of the small communities when they are often struggling for basic services. The plan and timeline for this particular review, it will be there for the 17th Assembly to consider as they move into their business planning process. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Justice and I want to follow up on some questions I had to the Minister of Health and Social Services last week regarding youth at risk in our communities across the Northwest Territories. I get very disturbed when I hear stories from parents who are having a very difficult time with their sons or daughters and they run into trouble with the RCMP -- in this instance got caught drinking alcohol -- and no charges are

laid or no consequence to the young people; their alcohol is poured out.

I’d like to ask the Minister of Justice what action he can take in trying to address these opportunities to perhaps turn a young person’s life around instead of looking the other way. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister responsible for Justice, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. This particular incident, along with others in the Northwest Territories, is under RCMP “G” Division. They have their own federal jurisdiction laws that they have to follow, and what I can do as the Minister of Justice is to sit down and meet with the chief superintendent to highlight the concerns that are being addressed here today. I’m sure it’s been addressed within “G” Division already and I’m sure that there are processes being undertaken.

With that, I can pass on the concern that the Members have risen to the chief superintendent and discuss what action needs to be taken. Mahsi.

I thank the Minister for that. Having alcohol open in a public place is against the law, Mr. Speaker, and it’s even worse if you’re a 16-year-old young person in a public place that has open liquor. The other side of this, too, is the RCMP encounter these young people and they don’t even hold them until their parents get there. I’d like to ask the Minister if he could look into situations like that as well where obviously young people are breaking the law, why aren’t they held by the RCMP until their parents can show up. Thank you.

Mahsi. That can certainly be added to our discussion. Again, it’s under the direction of the “G” Division through their federal legislation laws that they have to follow in dealing with 16-year-old, 15-year-old or 14-year-old individuals that may be drinking with an open bottle. But I can seriously take those into consideration during our discussion with the chief superintendent of the RCMP “G” Division. Mahsi.

Thank you. In that one instance it was public drinking, open liquor in public, and the same young woman has even admitted to stealing close to $1,000 from family to the RCMP and no charges are laid.

Again, I want to ask the Minister if he can sit down, perhaps himself and his officials, that the Department of Justice can sit down with the RCMP and have a look at the entire picture and see where it is along the line that the RCMP can have a positive impact on trying to make sure that young people’s lives don’t continue to be put at risk. Thank you.

Mahsi. Part of our overall objectives and action plan is to deal with

preventative measures, not just our department, also GNWT wide, and the RCMP “G” Division as well. So those are issues we need to take at hand where a concern is being raised.

The individual may or may not be stealing money or materials and we need to prevent those things from happening, what can we do now to deal with those issues. I think formally we can deal with the top guy, the chief superintendent of the RCMP “G” Division and along with the Member and my Department of Justice to deal with this matter at hand and how we can find a solution. There’s always a solution to existing challenges. So I’m willing to take that on with the chief superintendent.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Your final, short supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Minister’s offer to talk to the superintendent of the RCMP “G” Division, but the Minister is the top guy in the Department of Justice and these issues are real issues that are facing young people around the territory. The reluctance to take action by the RCMP -- and that’s why I’m speaking about it here again today -- to hopefully intervene in a young person’s destructive behaviour has to be at the forefront.

You know, we can’t afford to look the other way. Again, we need to ensure that we’re sitting down with the RCMP and discussing these items. I’d like to ask the Minister if he could commit to doing this sooner rather than later, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Mahsi. I agree that we are not looking away at that particular issue. Again, it’s a preventive measurement that we need to deal with, myself as the Justice Minister along with the federal law that’s before us. The RCMP “G” Division follows the federal law, as well. So we have to respect the Youth Criminal Justice Act as well that’s before us. Yes, the sooner the better. If we can have a meeting, by all means, let’s do that. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister responsible for the Executive, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The work that we have done has been by line departments. For example, I know we’ve looked at the growing seniors population in our communities and the fact that we will need to address those through program reviews. When there are requests from Members of this House to look at extending our home care, for example, or our seniors facilities, as well as increasing our health services or expanding education programs. Each department then does a bit of work to look at what it would require to step up and make decisions on a yearly basis of what we could afford. We haven’t done, through Executive, a study to look at overall impacts across the North. We do use, for example, our geographic tracking costs to look at the level of services we have and the cost of doing business in our communities.

As the Department of Executive, when they’re looking at taking care of the people in the Northwest Territories and the services in the smaller communities, I want to ask the Premier if it makes sense that this department take the initiative to look at this, or is he quite satisfied by having the departments go line by line to see if it makes sense and if we could actually afford a nurse in Colville Lake or have the RCMP present in Colville Lake.

One of the things we’ve done in the life of this government is a Program Review Office that Executive is a part of. We look at how we are investing in our programs across the North and our communities to see if in fact we are delivering the level of service that is required, or how best to try to meet the demands that are being placed on us overall on program delivery in our communities. We have started that work. There is a fair bit of work that has been done that will help decision-makers coming up as to what areas we should invest in across the North.

I must say that as well as the Government of the Northwest Territories that started this Assembly, we went through an exercise of looking at a re-profile of some of our dollars. We weren’t as successful at shrinking our budgets that would then allow us to reinvest in some of these critical areas. That decision will again remain open and the possibility for future governments to make some key decisions on.