Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it took a bit of work for me to get into Yellowknife from Tsiigehtchic in time for committee meetings and the start of this sitting. When you’re travelling to and from our small communities, especially during freeze-up and break-up, you have to be ready for anything.
Spring and fall make our rural and remote communities especially vulnerable to isolation. That means that communities that don’t have resident RCMP officers might be stuck without them, and with no way to get them quickly and in an emergency. The people of Tsiigehtchic have brought these concerns to my attention. Although they don't have a regular RCMP officer, they've also reported to me that having RCMP in town on the weekends is working very well. It means a lot to residents to have that support and to work on those relationships.
To build on that, Mr. Speaker, I hope the Minister can keep working with the RCMP “G” Division to ensure that, starting this fall, the community can also have resident police support during freeze-up and break-up. The Department of Health and Social Services already covers community services like this. At the moment, we have a resident nurse who stays in the community during those times. Making sure Tsiigehtchic residents have that RCMP support would mean a lot to the community. It would improve safety and community services, and it would enhance residents' access to justice and to services that other, larger communities already enjoy. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I will have questions later today.