Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Merci, monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations. The Process Convention on Communication states:

Except under extraordinary circumstances, Members of the Legislative Assembly should be made aware of and have opportunity to discuss significant announcements, changes, consultations, or initiatives before they are released to the public or introduced in the Legislative Assembly.

Would the Minister agree that there is a need to improve communications and involvement with Regular MLAs when it comes to engagement with federal Ministers? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Honourable Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to reassure the Member that we signed the Health Accord, which is more than the original offer, and we communicated that in writing. The Member would seem to suggest that we can control federal Ministers and their travels. Nothing can be further from the truth. We just had the Prime Minister come, and we had the Minister of Health, and the meetings are confirmed a day before they are here. The Minister of Health requested the meetings, and she did not say what she wanted to talk about.

This has been an issue. We have raised it before with the Government of Canada, that federal Ministers come and go and they are not required to check in with us. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I know it is a special day, and I am really feeling the love from the other side of the House. Can the Minister, though, commit to consulting with Regular MLAs on GNWT positions and negotiations on federal-provincial-territorial agreements?

We adhere very closely to the priorities and mandates that are set by this House. We have a federal engagement strategy that we have shared with the standing committee, and we follow the protocol that is set out in the Guiding Principles and Process Conventions.

I think every single session I have been here, I keep raising these issues and concerns. I just don't seem to be getting anywhere with my Cabinet colleagues. I have tried to suggest a number of constructive ways of improving this working relationship. Can the Minister commit to regular reporting on meetings held between GNWT Ministers and federal Ministers and the tracking of results, for example, the kind of statement that the Minister made today?

I believe that, with all of the responsibilities that Ministers have, there are probably about 25 to 30 federal-provincial-territorial meetings that occur on an annual basis. I believe that, in every instance, there are press releases and communiques that come out of them. Certainly, I understand that we share those with Regular Members, and we will continue to do so.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I can assure the Minister that, if there are communiques and so on, that we don't always see that kind of material, so I would certainly encourage him to share it with this side of the House. Again, can the Minister commit to recommending to federal Ministers and their staff that during visits to the Northwest Territories there be meetings with Regular MLAs through the appropriate standing committees? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will communicate that to the Prime Minister.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Justice. My Member's statement outlined a recent catalog of judgmental action, or inaction rather, suffered by a woman who has asked repeatedly for protection from intimidation by a person who is accused of having sexually and physically assaulted her. In holding these experiences up against the findings and recommendations of the Hush-Hush Report, I must conclude that safeguards for victims are lacking or nonexistent. Can the Minister tell us what victims should do when they feel threatened by a person who is supposed to be restrained by an emergency protection order or conditions of reconnaissance? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Justice.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can advise that the Crown attorney's office and the RCMP do treat these breaches of undertakings, in particular, very seriously. If a person feels threatened or there has been a breach of conditions, they can go to the RCMP. My experience over five different decades in the court system is that these breaches are treated very seriously, often leading to a hearing in which the accused person who is charged or accused of a violation of his undertaking, that is the conditions of his release, then has to establish, the onus is on that person then to establish why they should be released.

So these are treated very seriously by the RCMP and the Crown attorney's office. In addition, we have victims' assistance workers in, I think, six of the communities, and they can be of great assistance in these types of matters. Thank you.

Thank you to the Minister for that answer. I think that he has had a more positive experience, or his clients have, of this court system than the woman I have been working with. In this instance that I cited in my Member's statement, the victim had to visit the RCMP three successive times to report just one instance of intimidation, each time requesting interviews with more senior RCMP members and then finally getting the support of the Status of Women. Only then did the police take action to enforce the conditions of release. My question for the Minister is: why should it be so hard?

I of course cannot speak about individual cases, but, again speaking from my own experiences, the police and Crown attorneys do treat these matters very seriously. In fact, if I recall, approximately 40 per cent of those in custody are on remand, often for violating terms of their release and being held in custody.

If a person, an individual, is not satisfied with an RCMP investigation into their complaint, they can make a complaint to the local detachment, which usually then goes to the senior RCMP officer in G Division.

Thank you to the Minister for that response and for talking about the complaint process. I want to repeat one of the dismal remarks from this account that I have given:

"I now wish I hadn't gone to the police because the system's gross insensitivity towards the victim now makes me feel more vulnerable than ever. I am never going to encourage any woman to go to the police due to domestic violence."

What can the Minister say in response to that?

Of course, I can't address the individual complaint. As I mentioned, there is a process. If a person does not feel that a matter has been properly investigated by the RCMP, they can go to the local detachment head and that matter would likely be passed on to the senior RCMP officer within G Division. However, if a person is not satisfied with the results of the RCMP investigation, they can ask for an independent review by the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission, the CRCC, so there are avenues to deal with complaints about the way in which a case has been handled by the RCMP.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Yes, Mr. Speaker. Clearly, the Member opposite has raised an important issue. I just repeat that we do have victim's assistance workers who are of great assistance to those in these types of very difficult situations. I can advise again, in my many decades before the courts, that a lot of these supports were not available 30 or 40 years ago, so we are getting better at assisting those who are victims of crime, as I mentioned, the victim's assistance workers. Also within the Crown attorney's office, they have those who assist witnesses in preparing for the trial. Everybody knows these types of trials, domestic violence or sexual assault trials, are particularly difficult. All I can say is that our support is mostly from the federal government in the PPSC and our government in the form of victim's assistance workers.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as follow-up to my Member's statement, I have a few questions for the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. Mr. Speaker, I would like to the ask the Minister how our plans for pre-suppression activities, like fuelbreaks, are prioritized. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.