Charles Dent

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just to speak to the number that the Member said she didn’t want to correct me; when I said 5.5, we have been talking about a three-year average. That is what that works out to, as 5.5 over a three-year average. The Member indicated that she was using a one-year number, so it is entirely possible. I was talking to Mr. Braden about a three-year average.

I am afraid that I can’t agree with the way that the Member has put it. It is not that we are closing it because of one thing or another. Clearly, if we didn’t have room at the North Slave facility, we couldn’t propose...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The estimated cost from Public Works was $41 million.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Certainly I’ve already committed in the House that I will be working on that sort of capital plan, that sort of business plan that the Member has talked about. I’ve already started a discussion with the deputy and directed him to start some work at moving this forward. The Member makes a good point. I talked earlier about Tsiigehtchic and it being on the highway, so that would be a good opportunity for us to perhaps examine whether or not there wasn’t some justification for making sure that not only was there some RCMP there, but if there isn’t, a lot of business for...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I said earlier today, I understand the issue of the concern about the security in communities and there’s no question that that presents an issue in communities. There is no question that the issue of security can’t be dealt with in the same way in a smaller community. There are some mitigating factors and one of them is there’s always RCMP involved when court is being held in a community. That isn’t always the case in the courts in places like Yellowknife or Hay River where you have a courthouse. Typically there it’s a sheriff and that’s not the same level of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will certainly look into the issues that the Member has raised. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. There may be an increase in crime and, therefore, an increase in numbers of people who are put on remand. But will it be absolutely necessary to use that facility again? It is not likely that the level of crime to reach such dramatic heights, that we would have to or be forced to reopen the remand there as a separate unit. But if we did need to, then it is important to remember that we are not proposing to knock down any walls or make any physical changes other than moving the monitors. So it would not be very expensive to reopen it if it was judged to be a good move...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess I would like to get a better understanding. Is the Member saying all 11 Members support this $400,000 going back into remand over and above any other investment in Justice? Let’s just pick Justice as the $400,000, or any other investment of $400,000 somewhere else in government. Is that what all 11 Members are saying, that they want this ahead of RCMP in their communities, that they want this ahead of something like full-day kindergarten or something? I guess I haven’t heard that yet. I have heard a request for some more money, but I am not sure that Members...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I suspect that the Member is referring to the correction service Wilderness Camp Program. We have a number of those in operation. They are not specifically tied to those two communities that the Member has mentioned, but the program’s budget is a little over $1 million a year. It involves trying to get inmates into on-the-land camps. We have recently concluded a request for a proposal, where we were asking for proposals from potential operators from across the Northwest Territories. We have had a number of proposals come in for operations. We will be taking a look...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. If it was a wrongful death and somebody caused the death, then the person who caused it would be responsible. That would be where the liability lies.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As far as I’m aware, there is a program or part of the program that supports people with disabilities and kicks in extra payments for those people who have disabilities under the Income Support Program. In terms of a transition, I’m not sure what we’d be looking for, but I’d be happy to look into the matter and get back to the Member.