Mr. Speaker, the RCMP is a key partner in keeping our North safe and secure because the role they play in our territory is incredibly different than how they operate in southern jurisdictions. We rely on the RCMP for many services they would not offer in any province because for most communities, they're the only police around thus they play a greater role here as first responders, search and rescue personnel, and are essential to fighting drug crime. So embedded are RCMP officers in our communities that they serve, they're always warmly welcomed and adopted as one of our own.

The pivotal role RCMP plays in our territory is longstanding because the RCMP was established specifically to operate across Canada's frontier to enforce sovereignty against encroaching American interests and the early settlers who disregarded treaty provisions and disrupted hunting and trapping practices of individual communities. In fact, the RCMP were initially designated as a Northwest Mounted Police, reflecting their responsibilities over the vast stretches of Canada's west which were once a part of the modernday NWT. Later, they turned their focus towards bootleggers and outlaws evolving from horseback to snowmobile and to familiar vehicles we see around driving on our streets today.

This week, we learned that the outgoing Prime Minister is suddenly looking to dramatically reform the RCMP away from day-to-day policing towards high-level crime such as intelligence gathering and national security. These proposed reforms could put an end to the crucial work the RCMP provide in the NWT and Canada's North by limiting their resources and scaling back the services they provide to our territory. The RCMP has indicated that if these changes go through, as service agreements expire in the coming years the NWT may have to switch to a new policing model, but it's very unclear what that will look like and how our territory will have the capacity to take on a greater policing responsibility.

I hope that the Premier is as alarmed as I am and, indeed, the RCMP is, because they don't want to pull back from the work that they've done to keep us safe. Now that we've been underfunding the RCMP for years, changing their mandate isn't going to work for the North. We need a united front to keep the RCMP in our communities, in our territories, and in Canada's North to protect our communities, ensure our sovereignty, and fight violent predators that are encroaching in our communities, Mr. Speaker. And this new mandate threatens to undo that, and I hope the Premier agrees with me that it cannot stand. Thank you.