Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on November 29th, 2021, I had made a Member statement on the RCMP Territorial Police Service Agreement with the NWT. I asked questions of the Minister of Justice about RCMP accountability in relation to the police service agreement and I did not receive any good answers to my questions. In fact, I walked away from that exchange with more questions than answers about the RCMP regarding transparency and accountability in the NWT.
Mr. Speaker, according to the 2022-2023 Main Estimates, the Government of the Northwest Territories is paying over $50 million for policing services in the NWT which is already nearly $2 million than the 2021-2022 revised estimates. That's not even considering the additional $3.5 million for increased RCMP salary costs for their new collective agreement. There's also an additional $8 million that our Department of Infrastructure is paying to provide maintenance and utility services for the RCMP commercial and residential properties in the NWT.
All together that amounts to $61.5 million that the Government of the Northwest Territories is paying to the RCMP. With costs like that, what are we getting from it? How are these increasing costs for policing making policing services better for the people of the NWT?
Mr. Speaker, there is much talk in numerous jurisdictions about cutting or reducing funding to the police yet here we are increasing those costs. Do these increased policing costs make people safer? Will they lead to a reduction in crime across the NWT? Are police doing more patrols throughout the communities? Are there ways to measure whether police are improving the quality or level of public safety within our communities? These are legitimate questions given the amount of money we are allocating here.
Mr. Speaker, two weeks ago Statistics Canada released two articles with detailed analysis of the perceptions and experiences of people in Canada, with particular focus on black and Indigenous people. Mr. Speaker, I speak unanimous consent to complete my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted.
According to these studies, black and Indigenous people are twice as likely than non-Indigenous non-visible minority people to report that they have little or no confidence in police. Additionally, the studies also state that one-third of Indigenous people reported experience in discrimination from people in the past five years.
Mr. Speaker, policing and police services is something that affects everyone in our society regardless of color, race, or background. Upholding and maintaining public safety is the core duty of policing. It is also a core duty of governments to ensure proper transparency and accountability is maintained in all police services in all jurisdictions. I understand and I respect that policing in this country is done with an arm's length relationship between government and police services; however, as a public government we must provide proper oversight over the police to ensure public confidence and that peace, order, and good government is maintained. I will have questions for the Minister of Justice at the appropriate time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
