Alfred Moses

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just wanted to clarify on a couple of things with the $5 million here because there have been some discussions, and you mentioned it quite well there, in terms of this having become more of a discussion of more than the $5 million and the project itself. I have heard some comments as we’re trying to move forward on a best guess as well as some assumptions on the project and cost overruns. I just wanted to confirm with the Minister today, I know that we did go out for some other cost estimates.

Can the Minister maybe just elaborate on how many cost estimates did we go...

No further questions.

Thanks for the clarification, confirmation. I think that maybe some Members were taken aback and thinking that was possibly a best guess in terms of the cost of the project here.

Moving forward with the $5 million, can the Minister confirm whether that $5 million is on top of the $299 million or is it part of the $299 million and that’s where he’s coming from, so that when Members are speaking of cost overruns they have a clear understanding that this $5 million is either part of the $299 million or not part of the $299 million.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I’d like to just discuss some of the work that the Inuvik Interagency Committee has been doing over the past year, I suppose. On the request of the Inuvik Interagency Committee, research was conducted in the community of Inuvik by Dr. Michael Young with the Royal Roads University on a Hard to House research program that he worked on. It presented initial findings on the research that he did with homelessness in Inuvik that was done this past winter. The way he did it was he did a lot of surveys and he did some focus groups, specifically with individuals who have...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise in the House today to also recognize the International Women’s Day and congratulate all the recipients from the five regions in the Northwest Territories. Today I wanted to recognize all the other ladies in the Northwest Territories, the thousands of ladies who do a lot of great work for their communities, for their organizations and for bringing serious issues to the forefront.

It wasn’t much more than two weeks ago that we had a bunch of ladies outside the Legislative Assembly pushing for midwifery programs. We have a lot of strong advocates out there that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When I awoke this morning I was listening to the news, and something that caught my attention – and I heard the report three times – and that was the national report on the Aboriginal prison population that has jumped in the last 10 years. In the report it says that Aboriginals are 4 percent of the Canadian population but 23 percent of all inmates in the correctional facilities. That’s very alarming. It also mentioned that 25 percent of them are males, one-third are females and then when you get into some of the western Canadian facilities that number goes up, in some...

Just one last question in regard to this and it’s dealing with the integrated programs again, and services for offenders that are outlined in the strategic plan by the department. They do mention literacy and workplace skills development. Can the Minister elaborate on what type of literacy programs are in place for the correctional facilities around the Northwest Territories and how is he working with the workplace skill development? I think in one of his Member’s statements he talked about a possible program for offenders to get a pardon or something. But if you’re developing workplace skills...

Madam Chair, and further, in one section here it also talks about reintegrated strategies will be provided to assist offenders to effectively return to their home communities and families. What types of strategies are put in place for the individual so that they can become a good citizen, a good member of their communities again?

As you see in some of the news reports, we do get a lot of repeat offenders. A lot of them aren’t getting the types of services that they do need in terms of their mental capabilities, literacy, which will be another question that I will have later on is with literacy...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Justice.

What are the incarceration rates of inmates who are sentenced with alcohol and/or drug-related crimes in the NWT for the 2011-2012 fiscal year to the present?

Can the Minister provide incarceration numbers of inmates for the 2011-2012 fiscal year to the present on a month-to-month basis for all NWT correctional facilities?

Can the Minister provide the number of inmates participating or who have participated in an alcohol and/or drug-related prevention program for all NWT correctional facilities for the 2011-2012 fiscal year to...

Thank you. I want to ask the Minister, does he see trends in terms of high incarcerations during the season or over the year. Is there any specific time where we see a higher increase of individuals being incarcerated in our northern jails any time of the year? Thank you.