Thanks very much, Mr. Chair. Would the Minister be prepared to make a commitment to personally see what type of budget is allocated to the traditional counsellors within our corrections facilities in the Northwest Territories?

Thank you, Member. Minister.

Mr. Chair, I am assured that we can do that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. That was easy. Member for Kam Lake.

I need a button. Thank you. I appreciate that one a lot. I am wondering if the Minister can let us know what rate of Nunavut inmates choose to stay within Yellowknife following their incarceration. Thank you.

Thank you, Member. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. At the moment, in terms of just individuals who are adults in the North Slave, it appears that we have eight. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Kam Lake.

Just to clarify, is that we currently we have eight Nunavut inmates or 8 percent of inmates choose to stay within the capital following their incarceration? Thank you.

Thank you, Member. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. There are currently within the North Slave Correctional Facility eight individuals, four sentenced and four on remand, who are classified as being Nunavut prisoners. As far as it being a choice necessarily, Mr. Chair, it involves classification that is done by correctional officials, so just to be clear, it's not necessarily a choice either of the Department of Justice or of the individuals, but it depends on a variety of factors. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. In reviewing the budget, it's apparent that our corrections budget is over half of what we contribute, as the GNWT, to our housing budget, to the NWT Housing Corporation. Just in line with the Member for Yellowknife Centre's questions, finding ways to help people reintegrate back into their home communities would be very valuable to the government, so I am wondering if the Department of Justice has any plans to review corrections programs, to hopefully be able to work with inmates to better reduce recidivi -- oh, my gosh. I can't say that word, recidivi -- yes, what Mr. Norn said. Thank you.

---Laughter

Thank you, Member. Minister.

Mr. Chair, philosophically, I would say that I am fully in favour of improving reintegration of individuals to their community and reducing recidivism for all individuals who come into conflict with the law, whatever nature it might be. How we do that is much more complicated. That is the real nugget of the whole matter, Mr. Chair. I fully expect that I will continue to get questions and should get questions about how we are reintegrating, how we are reducing the rates of recidivism, how we are reducing the rates of contact with the justice system in the first place. I did make a very large note that says "housing" and underlined it earlier, and perhaps I will add a circle to it now. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Are there any further questions or comments with respect to corrections? Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just building on my colleague's comments regarding corrections, I think there is large recognition both professionally and best practices, that, if we can avoid putting people in corrections, we save money. We are spending millions of dollars constructing this new facility in Fort Smith. I question whether we should have just provided housing and addiction treatment to those people, but that is a different question. Can the Minister just explain, I often hear the new Fort Smith Correctional Complex referred to as a therapeutic model, how that is different from North Slave correctional facility?

Thank you, Member. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. There is a brand now complex in Fort Smith, which is obviously there, but it's not the therapeutic community. The therapeutic community is the one that is actually in Hay River. The idea there is that there are four phases that are going to be provided to individuals who come into contact with the system. From the very earliest integration into the facility, rather than being in a position where they are sort of told how to manage their lives and controlled, they are given increasing ability and opportunities to take responsibility for their own actions, and as they do that they move through the different phases and get increasing access to greater freedoms and greater opportunities as they go through the four phases. It's meant to be something where they're given that opportunity to truly take responsibility for their actions, for their lives, and for their own process as they go through a correctional programming, rather than be told by facility wardens or case officers what they have to do and how to do it. It's turning the model in terms of taking responsibility and integrating that process throughout the person's stay at the facility. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Sorry, I was confused about the difference between the Hay River complex, the new Fort Smith complex, and the North Slave correctional complex. I'm fully supportive of the Hay River therapeutic community model, I think it is the future of corrections. There seems to be recognition by all parties that these are the steps we should be taking, so my question to the Minister of Justice is: why is the new Fort Smith facility and North Slave not also using this therapeutic community model, if we recognize it as the direction we want to be going?

Thank you, Member. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The facilities that are based in Fort Smith, certainly the one that is for male individuals, is often one that receives individuals who have other, higher needs. For example, often with mental health challenges, which wouldn't necessarily be appropriate for the therapeutic model. The North Slave facility is the facility that generally houses, first of all, more remand individuals, but also often higher risk individuals. There may be a vision, and the time may come where other facilities can transition or add to their programming, but for the moment, what's happening in Hay River is the first of its kind in the North. We are going to start with one, and the other facilities continue to have to maintain needs and respond to needs for the other classifications of risk that still come into contact with the Justice System. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Thebacha.