Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the research I’ve been given in regard to the alcohol that’s been increasing in the Sahtu, I want to just ask the Minister of Health and Social Services. In Norman Wells, the percentage of alcohol-related calls for service – and this is by the Department of Justice – in 2009 was 23 percent; in 2012 it was 52 percent. In Tulita it was 20 percent in 2009; 2012, it was 47 percent.

You see the increase of alcohol because of a number of factors. I think, myself, we believe that the Norman Wells liquor store has lifted the unrestricted sales of liquor there. I want to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services, how do we start working to deal with this issue. We have the information from the RCMP in regard to community wellness plans and getting that on the ground. Are we providing them with sufficient support and resources to get these plans off the ground and on the land?

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The Minister of Health, Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The plan for the Sahtu, in as far as the extra workload given to or, I guess, distributed to the alcohol workers and also even the medical staff, the nurses and that, has been, at this time, for the CEO out of Norman Wells to work with those two communities specifically, and also monitoring the other communities, was to monitor those two communities closely, and if at any time there was a requirement for additional health personnel like clinicians or any mental wellness personnel, I guess, community wellness workers, then there would be a call for it. Then we would go work with, and as we, I mean the Department of Health and

Social Services will work with the Sahtu Health and Social Services to provide assistance to the communities if they are overloaded as a result of the extra alcohol going into the communities.

Mr. Speaker, again, going back to the numbers I have been given, in Fort Good Hope the alcohol-related occurrences in 2009 was 238. In Fort Good Hope in 2012 it was 681, and Deline was 23 in 2009 and 319 in 2012. In regard to the increase of the alcohol occurrences by the RCMP, people are drinking quite a lot and they get more calls.

With the Minister’s support and his leadership, will the he start looking at some solid programs, working with the Department of Justice and other agencies, to say that we have a problem here, Houston? What do we need to do to get the money into our communities to start dealing with our communities? Is that somewhere in his plans in this year’s budget?

Mr. Speaker, yes, it is in our plans to try to address the issues that are stemming from addictions in all of the communities right across the territory. That is built into our Mental Health and Addictions Action Plan. It’s part of the mandate of the Minister’s Forum on Addictions and Community Wellness. As they travel around, they are to get enough information and ideas from the communities to be able to develop a solution. By May 1st we are hoping that we can

have the report completed. We’re looking to address this probably region by region and even community by community. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, while I was at the Sahtu Dene Council annual general meeting, people were asking me. We need to have some solid programs on the land in the Sahtu. Because of the increase of the alcohol in the Sahtu and the lifting of the Norman Wells liquor store to unrestricted sales, I have been personally told that people are buying more than they’re allowed to once they come into our communities.

Because the Nats’ejee K’eh is at a 40 percent occupancy rate, we have some money. Can the Minister look at that budget and say we are going to shift some of that money to help our people elsewhere where there is an increase in alcohol?

Mr. Speaker, earlier as I was responding to another Member, I had indicated that the department had put in about $850,000 over the last couple fiscal years to try to address the issues. Also, the department continues to allow communities to access on-the-land programs. What has happened is several of the communities have taken advantage of the program. Deline and Tulita are two of the communities that took advantage of the on-the-land program and put proposals in for and utilize their full budget of $25,000 in both communities and did some on-the-land work. We

are hoping to expand that program and increase the amount that goes to the communities. We are anticipating that, because each time we talk informally to the Minister’s Forum members, they speak of on-the-land program as one of the things that comes up constantly at the community level. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Mr. Speaker, once again I ask the Minister that, because of the occupancy rate is at 46 percent level at Nats’ejee K’eh, there are some dollars, I believe, left. Given that the report will be done some time next year, I think that the implementation of those recommendations that are rolled out later on, can the Minister look at communities down the Mackenzie Valley to say, yes, we have these additional dollars? We appreciate the money that is going into the Sahtu. We would like a little more to really help our people. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the Member is correct; we are spending $2.2 million in Nats’ejee K’eh and we are operating at a bit below 50 percent occupancy. We want to look at Nats’ejee K’eh as part of a spectrum of treatment opportunities or treatment options that will be provided to the people of the NWT.

Having said that, what we are doing with the one treatment centre that we do have in place is we are again removing Nats’ejee K’eh from Deh Cho Health and Social Services. We are going to have some discussions with the reserve, of course, where Nats’ejee K’eh sits. That will be directly run through the Department of Health and Social Services to try to improve the amount of people or the rate that individuals that are going in there to try to increase the capacity and change it so that we’re trying to provide more of an educational portion to the treatment centre so, like I said, it becomes part of the overall spectrum of treatment. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you for noticing there, Mr. Speaker. My questions once again will be to the Minister of Justice. Earlier today my colleague Mr. Moses had asked, are treatment programs such as alcohol and drug treatment programs mandatory. I believe his answer was no. I am going to turn the question around and say, what would it take for the Department of Justice to make treatment programs such as alcohol and drug treatment mandatory.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister of Justice, Mr. Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I indicated previously, what we’re interested in doing is working with inmates and people in the Northwest Territories who are ready. If an inmate isn’t ready for healing, if they aren’t ready to go through treatment, forcing treatment on them will have no results.

We have great case workers. We have a great case management team who will sit down with our inmates when they come into the facility, identify their needs and will work with them to encourage them to take the program, to take that healing journey, if you will. To force them is not going to work. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, that’s a bold statement by saying forcing them will not work. Maybe the Minister of Justice can clarify for the House where that reference and where the strength of that statement comes from. He must have some information reference expert that says, when you are locked up for two years less a day, of course, and you have nothing to do, that forced alcohol treatment… I’m talking about court-ordered treatment, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, if it’s court ordered, then it would be required, but to force an inmate who hasn’t had a direct order to participate in alcohol and drug treatment programming would be against the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms, so we would not be forcing people to do something that they are unwilling to do unless it was court ordered. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I guess the notwithstanding clause does not apply to us on this one. I can tell you first hand, when I worked in the correction centre as a corrections officer and certainly in many roles that I had worked there, a lot of inmates had mental health problems. What type of options, treatments and assessments are provided to inmates who are incarcerated? Furthermore, is there any follow-up provided to these particular inmates or are they simply just let go once they’re free? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I have already listed off a significant number of the programs that are available to our inmates, including the programs in some of our specific facilities. We have the facility in Fort Smith for adult males, which is actually set up for individuals who are having or experiencing cognitive challenges or other addictions issues. There is some specific programming there. We have specific programming at SMCC, which I listed earlier, as well, which was a result of good work done by the committee with us to put in that programming in Hay River. There are a number of programs there.

As far as transition, as an inmate completes their term or their sentence, they are dealing with a one-on-one case manager who is helping identify the programming needs that they have. As they are transitioning out, we have a program that works with probation officers outside in their home communities or in their home regions that will help with the transition. It will identify programs that are available to them within the region or community that they happen to live, at which point probation will take over that file and work with them to make sure that they’re meeting the terms and conditions of the probation and getting the programming that has been identified for them. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. How often is court-ordered treatment offered to inmates is not necessarily but as a direction that go to prison? Thank you.

Thank you. I’m not certain how often it is actually ordered within the justice system by a judge, who is a separate branch or arm of government. But I will go to the department and I will try to get that information for the Member. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Item 9, written questions. Mr. Moses.

Thank you, Mr. Moses. Item 10, returns to written questions. Item 11, replies to opening address. Item 12, petitions. Item 13, reports of committees on the review of bills. Item 14, tabling of documents. Mr. Ramsay.