Okay. I will call it again. Office of the Regulator of Oil And Gas Operations, from pages 284 to 287, $1,874,000. Does committee agree?

Agreed. Thank you. Next we have policing services, operations expenditure summary, $46,257,000, from pages 288 and 289. Any questions? Mr. Nakimayak.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Looking at First Nations policing, we have a lot of First Nations in the territory. We have two reserves. Earlier on the floor of the House there was some talk about the lack of police services in some communities. I am wondering if the department has ever looked at something like having community constables in communities that do not have police officers so that we can have some stability of policing, or at least some type of reporting for crime and to be there for individuals in the communities. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Nakimayak. Minister Sebert. Okay. Thank you. Mr. Goldney.

Thank you, Mr. Goldney. Mr. Nakimayak.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Maybe just a suggestion, but it might be something worth looking into for the next Assembly. Some communities are hard to reach, and some are fly-in only, and some are quite remote, that there needs to be something there for the community. So we are looking at the health and safety of one or two individuals as opposed to a whole community. I think we need to look through a different lens, Mr. Chair. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Nakimayak. Minister Sebert.

Yes, I thank the Member for his comments. Of course, his question comes up quite often. We are aware of the necessity of policing services in the smaller, more remote communities. As I mentioned earlier today with respect to the community of Tsiigehtchic, it's not as though there is no policing there. They go in on an intermittent basis, staying overnight on occasion. Now, I mean, it would be best if we could have officers in every single community, but that is not really possible anymore. There is not only the cost issue, but, as Mr. Goldney alluded to, I don't think you can have one officer in a community anymore. That is just not possible, but we are always aware of the needs of the communities, always want to enhance the policing, but may not be able to place officers in every single community. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Sebert. Mr. Nakimayak.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just one last thing here, you know, it might be something that we can look at, some of the communities that have a highway, as part of a highway patrol. Someone, a Member on the floor, mentioned that there is a residence in one of the communities, and that might be an option, to look at that and restructure that. I am sure that, as part of operations, it's something that might be doable by the department and the federal government. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Nakimayak. Minister Sebert.

Yes, we are always trying to look at ways to enhance policing protection for our communities, so we are open to looking at new suggestions, but I don't want to hold out false hopes that we would be able to have a detachment in every community. That does not seem likely or possible, but, as I say, we are looking at ways to look at the delivery of police services more efficient and as good as we can make it, if I can put it that way. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Sebert. Mr. Nakimayak.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the response from the Minister and his staff. I don't have anything else. Thank you.

Thank you. Next on our list we have Mr. Vanthuyne.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chair, of course we all know that this past year the government legalized the use of cannabis, and so I would just like to maybe start by getting an understanding or some feedback from the Minister with regard to, since the legalization, how has the Department of Justice, or in particular the RCMP, been doing as it relates to getting a handle on or understanding the effects the legalization of cannabis has had with regard to public conduct, in particular driving under the influence? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Minister Sebert.

Yes. Thank you. Certainly, the public engagement that we went through in the fall highlighted a number of concerns for residents about enforcement and the prevention of drug-impaired driving, and, of course, police use their skills every day. There are a number of tools that they can use to detect imperilled driving, including the standardized field sobriety testing (SFST) and drug recognition expert (DRE) evaluations. So there has been training, and I understand that a fair number of officers are SFST certified, including seven in Yellowknife, three in Behchoko, one in Hay River, one in Fort Simpson, one in Fort Liard, and two in Inuvik, and some have been trained or recertified. Rather than going through the individual statistics, there is a target of 90 percent. The commanding officer has directed that all regular members of a division complete the SFST review and introduction to drug-impaired driving online course, with a target of 90 percent by the end of the fiscal year. As of January 21, 2019, 151 members or 77.4 percent have completed the course.

So this important issue is being treated seriously by the RCMP, and that is where we are at with respect to that. I asked earlier today whether any charges have been laid with respect to this, drug-impaired driving, and I am not aware of any that have been laid since, what was the magic date, October 17^th. That doesn't mean it won't happen. Certainly, there have been a lot or impaired driving charges of the traditional kind imposed since then. The training is taking place. The police are prepared. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Sebert. Mr. Vanthuyne.

All right. Well, that is appreciated. I appreciate the detailed update and letting us know. It gives confidence to the public at large that RCMP are being trained specifically on the Standardized Field Sobriety Testing. Is the SFST the actual mechanism or means for which we are testing as it relates to driving under the influence with the use of cannabis? Is that the actual test that is specifically used for that? Thank you, Mr. Chair.