Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document, entitled “2014-2015 Report of the Legal Aid Commission.” Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It's very important that that message continue to get out. As the Minister of Justice, along with my counterparts from across the country, we're deeply concerned with the number of deaths that are caused by the illegal drug fentanyl, and I think that's something that we have to be acutely aware of as well. I know we've had some recent seizures of that drug here in Yellowknife. It's very alarming.

We do have RCMP patrols, and one of the seizures that I spoke of earlier was near the community of Tulita where a jet boat was intercepted with a number of bottles of liquor on board. Also, road checks and the winter roads. We really increase our efforts when the winter road season is in, and check stops and ensuring that there is not illegal alcohol going into our smaller communities.

The only way we are going to rid our communities of bootleggers and drug dealers is to let the authorities know. In the communities, folks can contact the local detachments. If they want anonymity they can look to Crime Stoppers, and we've advanced the Crime Stoppers board here. There's a renewed effort to get that board up and active here in the Northwest Territories. We're very encouraged by that. There are opportunities for folks to provide information to the RCMP whether it's anonymously or through the local detachments.

That would be an operational decision of the RCMP, but what I can say is in the 12 years that I've been a Member of the Legislative Assembly, I don't recall a year where we've seen more drug seizures, illegal alcohol going into communities. We've had just today another three seizures in small communities across the NWT, and the number of drug busts is really something. It really gets back to the great police work that the RCMP are providing for us here in the NWT, and also campaigns like the Not Us! campaign and also Crime Stoppers. At the end of the day, community members have just had enough of the bootleggers and the drug dealers in their community and want to do something about it.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The total allotted to the Not Us! campaign by the Department of Justice is $100,000 per year. Communities can be provided with up to $10,000 to create and implement their own campaigns in their own communities, plus up to $5,000 annually as well.

We've had some success in a number of communities across the Northwest Territories, Fort Good Hope, Fort Liard, Fort Smith, Gameti, Hay River, Ndilo, Detah, Paulatuk, Ulukhaktok, and also here in Yellowknife.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document, entitled “Government of the Northwest Territories Response to Committee Report 19-17(5): Report on the Review of the 2015 Report of the Auditor General of Canada on Corrections in the Northwest Territories.”

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to welcome all visitors to the gallery today. We have some special guests visiting us from the Yukon. We have the Deputy Premier of the Yukon,

the Honourable Elaine Taylor; her deputy minister, Murray Arsenault; and from

the Premier’s office,

Jonas Smith; and I’d also like to welcome a former Member of the House, Mr. Roy Erasmus; and, again, everybody else who’s with us. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, providing our residents with opportunities to make healthy choices is a priority that has strong support from this Assembly and the Government of the Northwest Territories.

This support extends to all citizens, including those serving sentences in a correctional facility. Progress made by the Department of Justice over the past six months will mean inmates looking to make

better

choices

and

return

to

their

communities as healthy, contributing members will be better supported.

In March of this year, we received a report and recommendations from the Office of the Auditor General on the corrections service. This report was reviewed

by

the

Standing

Committee

on

Government Operations, and later today, at the appropriate time, I will be tabling the Government of the Northwest Territories’ response to the standing committee’s report, including an updated progress report on action taken.

Progress on improvements resulting from the Office of the Auditor General’s recommendations has been substantial. Of the original 106 individual action items the corrections service outlined in their action plan released in May, over 75 percent are now complete, and we expect that most items will be completed by the spring of 2016. Today I would like to share some of the highlights of that progress with you.

All 194 corrections directives, setting out how the service operates, have been reviewed and necessary amendments made in each priority area. These changes have been communicated to staff and they are making improvements in their day-to- day operations as a result.

Every inmate is now receiving appropriate case management,

including

individualized

release

plans. This includes those on remand and those serving sentences that are less than 120 days.

Changes have also been made which allow corrections officers to focus their efforts on true contraband items such as drugs and items that present safety risks. Staff recognized the definitions being used to describe contraband were not focused on those items that could cause harm or disrupt the safe and orderly operations of facilities. In fact, 85 percent of the items were actually nuisance items such as cups or pillows. We will be examining types of contraband closely to be able to react to changing trends as they arise.

I am also pleased to report that progress has been made on training. Through established mandated training, standards have been set and tracking processes are in place to provide a safe and secure working environment for staff and inmates. As crime evolves, so

must our officers’ training in order

to have the best skills and current intelligence to understand today’s inmates.

Steps have been taken to improve correctional programing. Seven years have now passed since the last program review was completed, and we need to stay current with offender needs and profiles. A survey of staff and inmates along with research on correctional programming has been completed. Analysis on the information learned will allow the NWT corrections service to create strong programming that meets the rehabilitative needs of inmates. We plan to complete this work by March 2017. Until then, we will continue to provide a range of programs including those that incorporate traditional healing and enlist Aboriginal elders to share aspects of their culture and traditions. This focus on traditional healing will continue to be a key element of programming at the facilities.

These are just a few of the actions that have been taken by the Department of Justice in the last several months. I want to assure Members that the staff at our correctional facilities are professional and are committed to excellence. We are grateful to the Auditor General’s office and the standing committee for their advice that has helped us refine and focus our efforts. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thought the deputy and myself have made it quite clear that there have been incidents. It shouldn’t matter to what degree those incidents happened. Some of them have been serious in nature, and when you are dealing with a rental office and people are facing the prospect of perhaps losing the place they live, they are under a tremendous amount of pressure, and we can’t be too safe when it comes to protecting the employees we have, because when people are faced with that type of pressure, sometimes people don’t deal with that pressure very well and they lash out at these front- line workers that we have, and we need to ensure that they’re safe.