Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, we are one year into this. One thing we’ve learned is it’s expensive, and it will continue to be expensive. We pay 70 percent of all costs associated with the RCMP, and as a result of the contract, we’re also paying for the infrastructure as well. The costs have gone up.
The benefits of the contract are, obviously, the different types of relationships that we have with the RCMP. We’re still in our first year there, so there are still some growing pains trying to figure out what exactly that means, but we are in a different position as far as providing some administrative direction and setting some priorities. I know the department, senior management and I, as well, meet and talk with the RCMP on a regular basis, and we talk about northern priorities. We’ve been really pushing, and I’d say thank goodness that the commanding officer, I think, has been pushing as well, for community policing plans, and having a real relationship with the communities. The RCMP and the commanding officer, they’ve been going into most of the communities on a regular basis. Community policing plan in all 33 communities, which I think is fantastic. We’ve never had that before to that degree. The RCMP are providing regular reports to community leadership on reported crimes, crime rates, activities that are happening in their communities, so the relationships, I think, are becoming quite positive out there.
There is always going to be money issues and trying to figure out where the money’s flowing, and trying to get the priorities where we need them to be, but we’re working on it, and I think as we move forward it will become stronger and we’ll see more benefits in that area.
We do know, based on conversations that we’ve had with our partners, that both Nunavut and Yukon are very interested in our policing plans, our
community policing plans and that type of approach. Some of the things that are happening here are starting to get attention in other areas.