I think we should be more focused on the health and safety risks as opposed to what constitute

s an incident. We can’t be too safe

when it comes to protecting the employees that we have.

To get to the Member’s question, we are looking at redesigning the space to share a reception area and also a second egress at the back of the office space to allow a second way for the employee to get out of that office should the need arise.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The

Workers’

Safety

and

Compensation

Commission has regulations regarding employees who have to work alone, and as we’ve mentioned, the departmental occupational health and safety specialist identified the current set-up of the rental office as a health and safety risk for the employee that is staffed there.

It becomes incumbent upon us to address that health and safety risk, and as my deputy minister has stated, there was an incident there and we need to ensure that we can protect the employee that we have there. There have been incidents in other offices in Yellowknife and other communities, and we need to ensure that we’re doing everything we can to make sure that our employee is protected.

The departmental occupational health and safety specialist has identified the current set-up of the rental office as a health and safety risk for the employee staffed in that location. At times the clientele the staff is dealing with can be frustrated and very agitated with their landlords and, therefore, can express aggressive behaviour, putting the staff at risk. Proper physical security measures need to be put in place to ensure the health and safety of that staff. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It’s the safety of the staff in the office. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We can try to get the Members more detailed information on the scope. We are going to be combining the MEP and the rental office. It is a costly venture to be combining these two spaces and putting in the requisite security requirements into the space.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We have a duty and an obligation to ensure that our staff and the duties that they carry out on behalf of the residents of the Northwest Territories each and every day are done and conducted in a safe manner. These vehicles are required to ensure that the sheriff’s office can conduct its business in a safe manner. I don’t think we should be underscoring the important work the sheriff’s office does on behalf of all residents here in the NWT. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We will get the Member the detailed information on what the other vehicle is used for. I will just mention again the cost of the vehicle at $65,000 is not excessive for this type of vehicle and it is not certainly a luxury vehicle, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.

A safe assumption would be, and it would vary from month to month, depending on what month of the year you’re talking about, but an average of at least twice a month the court party travels from Yellowknife to the community of Behchoko. They’re there for three to five days, at least twice a month, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.

When that vehicle transports the court party, and there’s a court circuit in the community of Behchoko, its occupants are in the community usually between three and five days. They require transportation while they’re in the community, and the vehicle is a very important part of the sheriff’s office and their ability to carry out their work. The sheriff’s office conducts seizures of assets across the Northwest Territories and they are required to transport them to secure storage. This

can occur in any community within the Northwest Territories and the sheriff’s officers travel via roadway whenever they can to keep the costs of travel down, and a heated cargo area is required if some items can’t be exposed to the elements. The vehicle must have a towing capacity to move items that could be seized which, as I mentioned, could include a boat, snowmobiles, trailers or personal watercraft. You can’t tow those with a smaller vehicle. Thank you.