Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Minister responsible for Justice.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It sounds very complicated, and I'm not sure if we really accomplish much with it.

Mr. Speaker, can the Minister tell me with respect to the illicit drug trades, in the past year how many seizures of cash or assets were made by the RCMP, and how much of that was returned to those that it was seized from? And I realize I'm asking for statistics so I will allow the question to be taken on notice. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And the Member's correct, my last answer was complicated. That's why I read it verbatim so I wouldn't get it wrong. But basically if there is a conviction, then property can be seized. If there is not a conviction, it's a different story altogether.

So I don't have the numbers that the Member is asking. As part of the efforts of the Department of Justice to start turning its mind towards this area, that is one area that we are looking into and I hope to be able to get those numbers at some point. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess what I'm trying to do is to find tools for the RCMP and enforcement to, you know, combat drug trade in the Northwest Territories. So I'd ask the Minister to confirm if the department has looked at current civil legislation to see if it can be used to address some of the issues caused by the drug trade. And I'm talking about, for example, the Fire Prevention Act, the Residential Tenancies Act, can we use them as it stands now or can we tweak them so that we can make it so that the RCMP might be able to use it in fighting the drug trade? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And those are the same questions that I am asking. Sometimes drug houses might be fortified and so perhaps there is a way through existing legislation to enter those premises. The Residential Tenancies Act does have provisions which allows for evictions to occur when residents are carrying on illegal activities but that's initiated by the landlord, not by the RCMP. So there are some options available but not what the Member is looking for, but we are exploring those. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Hay River South.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yeah, and we're counting on, you know, criminal legislation and it's tough to get convictions sometimes. It takes a long time. And, for instance, you know, I had one constituent who had people in the house under the Residential Tenancies Act trying to get rid of somebody because there was illegal activities there. Well, you got to prove that in court and if you don't, they just stay there.

So, Mr. Speaker, will the Minister commit his department to undertake a jurisdictional scan and review of civil forfeiture legislation and consider moving it forward in the NWT? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At this point in the Assembly, all of the department's resources are committed to other projects. So I can't commit the department to do that work right now. However, as we wrap up the work that is ongoing in this government and move closer to the beginning of the next government, there should be an opportunity for the department to begin putting their mind towards this and start looking into these pieces of legislation.

I know that the civil forfeiture legislation, I believe it's in eight provinces and in Nunavut, it's been tried in Yukon, and it is somewhat of a controversial piece of legislation. So if we do move forward with this, it will likely have to be tailored to the territory, to the people of the territory, and I just hope that, you know, the next government does move with it. I hope they have the stomach for it because there are concerns around this legislation. But as the Member stated, we have to do something. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Great Slave.