Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I can assure the Member that, you know, I'm the Minister of Justice and I'm from Hay River, so these are not questions that I have not asked before. I've had conversations with my colleagues and with the commanding officer about this because I -- you know, I have that same sense as anyone else. Like, who doesn't want a police dog in their community, especially when you're feeling the effects of drugs. So the -- having the K-9 based in Yellowknife allows it to be quickly -- more quickly deployed to locations where it needs, whether that is in the South Slave or elsewhere, and it is often sent down to the South Slave. It also allows for enhanced -- or I guess easier training. There are requirements in place where the handlers and the dogs need training together at the same time. And so if the dog was outside of Yellowknife, it would have to fly into Yellowknife along with the handler, do the training, and fly back. So you'd be looking at three, four days out of the community every single week. So there are circumstances like that as well. There's also been issues with, I think, burnout with the RCMP who just have the one handler who is doing the majority of the work, the one's based in Yellowknife. So, you know, there's a multitude of issues here. And I'll say, if I had an unlimited budget, I'd have two dogs and two handlers in Hay River as well, but that's not the situation we're in. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
R.J. Simpson on Question 211-20(1): RCMP cANINE sERVICES IN THE nORTHWEST tERRITORIES
In the Legislative Assembly on May 29th, 2024. See this statement in context.
Question 211-20(1): RCMP cANINE sERVICES IN THE nORTHWEST tERRITORIES
Oral Questions
May 29th, 2024
Page 553
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