Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Deh Cho, that Bill 11, Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act, 2007, be read for the second time.

Mr. Speaker, this bill corrects inconsistencies and errors in the statutes of the Northwest Territories. The bill deals with other matters of a minor, non-controversial and uncomplicated nature in the statutes, and repeals provisions that have ceased to have effect. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Deh Cho, that Bill 11, Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act, 2007, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, lastly, I wish to table the document entitled GNWT Response to Recommendations from the Diavik Communities Advisory Board in its 2004-05 Annual Report. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As well, I would like to table the document entitled Diavik Communities Advisory Board Annual Report 2004-05.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have several documents to table. I wish to table the following document entitled Communities and Diamonds: 2006 Annual Report of the GNWT under the BHP Billiton, Diavik and De Beers Socio-economic Agreements.

Mr. Speaker, I'm more than prepared to come and talk to the Social Programs committee about such an initiative, but I am concerned that we set up some sort of paper shuffling exercise involving the RCMP, a long, drawn out process that really does nothing, Mr. Speaker. I think we all share the same thoughts, and that is to get as many RCMP officers on the ground and make sure their time isn't spent frivolously doing unnecessary paperwork.

Now, Mr. Speaker, I would say that I haven't heard from the RCMP this concern. They have a number of opportunities to bring this to my attention. We meet very frequently. This is not something that has been brought to my attention in terms of two people left in the community to police an entire community the size of Yellowknife. That's never been raised with me, Mr. Speaker. But I'll certainly sit down with Social Programs, sit down with the new commanding officer, and we can talk about what might have some merit. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I'm trying to be conscious of not sucking up a bunch of RCMP time in an exercise that will bear little fruit. I'd be willing to sit down and talk with the new commanding officer, ask him if he feels there's some merit in pursuing a formal committee with a formalized mandate and setting up some sort of a structure. If he thinks that that can assist the RCMP in improving their efficiency, then I'm more than prepared to champion that cause. But that's what I would propose at this point. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will certainly inquire as to the suggestion that it's uniformed, I believe that the suggestion is that it's uniformed police officers who are handling travel arrangements for witnesses. I think it's probably clerical staff at the RCMP, but I could be wrong and I'll certainly check into that. If that is the case, that would be an example, I would agree. Certainly there's got to be a better way for us to utilize our uniformed staff. So on this committee, we participate with the RCMP. One of the major initiatives, as I've indicated, was to find a way to handle prisoner transport more efficiently. I know the RCMP have been very supportive of that. This is an ongoing committee. We meet frequently, apparently, and sit down and discuss ways to rationalize and improve service, Mr. Speaker. So I can get some of the last couple of meetings, get some notes, and would certainly be willing to share those with the Member or with all Members so that Members can see the kinds of issues we're talking about at that committee level. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I think there are things that we can do as a government to assist the RCMP and there are a number of things that we have been involved in doing. One that I would point to is the use of our officers at our corrections facilities to escort prisoners as compared to asking uniformed RCMP officers to do this. So we've come up with an arrangement that allows the RCMP officers to stay on the ground, as the Member has indicated, in the community and not have to do this escort of prisoners function.

The RCMP have civilian staff who handle most of the clerical work and they have RCMP uniformed staff who, for the most part, don't do that type of work, although there is some paperwork involved. There's a committee that's been struck. Our government sits on that to look at how we can work on some efficiencies. I think we all share the Member's point or goal that we want the RCMP as much as possible doing police work on the streets. Of course, we know that uniformed members will end up taking victim statements, witness statements, those kinds of things. Paperwork, Mr. Speaker. But as much as possible, it's to all of our benefit that we minimize the amount of paperwork that they're doing. We are participating in that committee and I hope that we'll have some good results. Thank you.