Charles Dent

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The review is one that was requested by the department. They approached corporate human resources and asked if they could get some assistance to do an internal review. So it’s our staff along with one representative from corporate human resources assisting them to make sure they’re examining our human resources policies and practices, as said, to identify strengths and weaknesses and to make recommendations to build on our strengths and if they find weaknesses, to recommend where we might make changes within to address those weaknesses. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have to honestly say I don’t know whether that’s possible. It would seem a reasonable approach if that person was available and if they could provide the service to the courts, but they may have other job-related duties. I’ll have to look into that and get back to the Member. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I indicated previously, corrections did try to staff up for the move. Unfortunately, the process, as it works in government, is sometimes time consuming to fill positions and they were not able to fill those positions prior to the move. That alone led to an increase in the use of overtime, as well as the increased numbers in staffing at the facility. The intention would have been to run another competition sooner had we been able to fill the positions, but because of the length of time the first one took, we’ve gotten behind. Why wasn’t staffing done...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would be happy to contact the courts and see what sorts of information we can put together. I can’t promise it for tomorrow, but I could let the Member know within the next 24 hours how long it will take us to put the information together that we can get. I would be pleased to present that information.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Previously, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Ramsay didn’t ask a question about fair hiring practices, so I will answer that one first. I am satisfied that the hiring practices undertaken by members of the Department of Justice follow the government standard as set out by corporate human resources and by FMBS. Staffing is a process that is well supervised. The process is set out in the Collective Agreement and it is followed specifically as set out in the Collective Agreement. One of the reasons we’ve had to use so much overtime in the past while, is when the competition was held...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the RCMP review their staffing needs across the Northwest Territories on a regular basis. About three or four years ago, they did a study that showed that across the Northwest Territories they needed an extra 27 members. At this point, this government has not come up yet with enough money to fill those 27 positions. I will certainly be working with my colleagues to try and finish that up in the next budget so that we can achieve that. I would expect that shortly after we have done that, since it has been a number of years, that the RCMP will again...

Thank you Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have a return to oral question asked by Mr. Menicoche on October 13, 2004, regarding the court worker position in Fort Simpson.

Mr. Speaker, the Legal Services Board of the Northwest Territories has indicated that the court worker position in Fort Simpson will be filled before the end of this fiscal year. Since April of this year, a court worker has been sent in to Fort Simpson once a month for two days to provide assistance to clients wishing to apply for legal aid, and to cover every second Justice of the Peace Court.

A notice is posted at the court...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there has been a real growth, particularly in the southern part of the Northwest Territories, in the drug trade which has caused a need for greater resources in this region. We’ve seen a number of larger drug busts in Hay River, Yellowknife, and along the highway recently. That’s certainly lead to some of the concerns. Further north, in the Delta, because of the oil and gas activity, there’s been an increase, too, in crime. That’s led to some of the changes. The ruling that we could no longer have single-person detachments has also caused us to have to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will review the Alberta program and our program and I believe that our program is substantially better, but if it’s found wanting I’ll certainly respond back to the Member and take a look at what we can do to address any inequities. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member sounds like he might be talking about a specific situation. Perhaps it would be best if we could get to the bottom of this by meeting and reviewing the circumstances around that situation. I’d be happy to commit to doing that with the Member if he would like to meet with me outside so we can discuss this specific file or family.

In terms of the program, the Member is right; it is set up so it recognizes the income that comes into the household. That’s done in order to live with the philosophy that we all must first rely on our families before we...