Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. As Members will know, we are advancing this project of transition of the South Mackenzie Correctional Centre to a facility that operates under a therapeutic community model. This is based largely on the Guthrie House program in Nanaimo, British Columbia, that some of us had the opportunity of examining by going down there. It was thought that the Hay River facility would be ideal for this, and I understand that staff has bought into the idea.

When we were down at Guthrie House, it seemed that this was a path that could lead to success. Now, what we don't want, of course, is have people who are recidivists constantly coming back to the facilities, whether here, Fort Smith, or Hay River. So we did look at their program. We have made some alterations to fit with our northern circumstances. We also will need to make some improvements to the facility. As you may know, it is a minimum-security facility, and I believe we have to move it up to medium-security to be appropriate for this type of program. One of the things that is being done is that there will enhanced security fencing, and that is a fairly major item. In addition, I understand that there are some lesser costs that will be involved inside the building. There are a lot of key steps that have to be taken before we make this total transition. We have to develop contingency planning for off-grounds activities and programs of orientation.

As I understand it, there are essentially four stages. There is an orientation that is peer-led, primary treatment with re-entry transition counsellors, case management and outreach, and aftercare. It is a four-step process, and we are working, of course, on this.

There will have to be additional staff training, but as I said earlier, my understanding is that the staff has bought into this idea. We are optimistic. Under the communication plan, all of the staff have been notified of the transition, and they will be receiving continuing updates. I believe, also, that the public will be supportive.

This seems to be an excellent idea. Any of us who had the opportunity of going to Nanaimo, I think, were impressed with what they are doing there. There is no guarantee of 100 percent success, but it did seem to us that there was a better chance of success with this type of therapeutic community.

Those are the steps that we are taking. Some of it is in dealing with the staff, keeping them informed and training them, and also the enhancements or changes that we have to make to the physical site. Thank you, Mr. Chair