Brendan Bell

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I can make that commitment. We are in the process of purchasing the equipment that will be necessary. I want to reinforce that, in some of our past efforts, the camps have become quite sophisticated. Cabins on the land are quite the facilities, actually. I want to make the point that this will not be as ambitious in that regard. We think we need a much simpler process. This is about going out on the land and making reparation for the people. We think that, in terms of programming, there could be a number of things undertaken, but certainly providing meat...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the House knows, wilderness camp programs are an important part of our corrections programming. Over the last number of years, I think we had a number of attempts to get the program up and running and make sure that it is well utilized. We have had some success. Kozo Lake is open right now with eight inmates, I understand, as of mid-January. That is pretty much full capacity for that. We really don’t have any other adult facilities operational at this time in the territory. That is a concern for me. I think part of the problem has been that the model we have...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as a government we’ve made the policy decision to pursue an agreement in the Sahtu region. I have spoken in this House about our commitment to conclude an agreement. You have the Premier’s word that we would pursue an agreement. We are doing so and we will stick to that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Minister Dent, in our discussions today, had already indicated to me that he intended to do this. I know he intends to do it as soon as possible and, in fact, as soon as we see who the federal Minister will be. I know that we will have some more discussions around that. But I think we can get back to the Member with a response from the federal Minister as soon as possible. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think we could probably go even a step further and have some discussion with other provincial and territorial jurisdictions, because I have looked into the numbers. Apparently, there are only 19 citizenship judges appointed in Canada representing just five of the 13 jurisdictions. That leaves Atlantic Canada, Saskatchewan and the North without citizenship judges. Obviously we need another approach. I think this is something that our Minister of Immigration will take up with the newly appointed federal Minister. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have, as a department, looked at other jurisdictions that might be able to offer some advice and some support in this area. What we found is that really there aren’t other jurisdictions doing this type of wilderness programming on the land. We have been pioneers in this area. I think the most effective approach for us here is to work with the elders in the region. That is, in fact, why we have undertaken this program. We heard from elders in the region that they were very supportive of on-the-land programming, and yet, when we tried to roll out programs, there...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, indeed. We are, at the Member’s suggestion, working with an elder from Fort Good Hope, Charlie Tobac. We are having preliminary discussions with him. I have had staff go up to visit with Mr. Tobac at his home to discuss the model. As I have said, we are trying to be as flexible as possible and, if there have been unnecessary complications in the past, reduce those hurdles. I think that has been part of the problem. Typically, we would issue an RFP and see very little interest. We were expecting elders to provide programming and counselling on the land, be...

Thank you. There was some concern raised in the public meeting around this issue, and I think that we specifically agreed that it probably comes from the term "agency relationship." Just to clarify, if the government is providing a contribution or is a funder to an agency like the one we were discussing, then there would be this funding relationship, which wouldn’t necessarily stipulate that the information gathered by that group would come back to government. That would all be laid out in terms of the contribution and the expectation. However, if an agency is delivering a program on...

Thank you. I guess that was a practice run. We’ve got Janis Cooper and Glen Rutland from the Department of Justice with me today. Thank you.

Yes, thank you, Madam Chair.