Statements in Debates
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I guess I hope we don’t have to invest a significant amount of money in new correctional facilities in the Territories. I would prefer to see increased use of camps and other community-type facilities where possible. Those don’t tend to be as capital intensive. We’re hoping that the level of facilities we’re talking about here, that by 2010 we’re basically done with any big investments for quite some time.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have, as I’ve indicated to the Member, already written to the federal Minister. I will, if an opportunity presents itself…Perhaps since we will be in Ottawa in April, we may have an opportunity to put the case face to face to the federal government. I have also communicated with the MP for the Northwest Territories, Mrs. Ethel Blondin-Andrew, to express concern about this issue. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I don’t have the numbers in that form. But I could tell the Member that our records show that the average occupancy for the unit has been 5.5. It is a six-bed unit, so that indicates that, on clearly most days, the unit has all of the beds occupied.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I don’t believe that I told Mrs. Groenewegen that I wanted all-day kindergarten funded. I think if you want to check the record though, the Standing Committee on Social Programs brought forward a recommendation to this House, which was voted on and passed by this House, that the government funds all-day kindergarten. So there has been a motion passed. It was presented by the Standing Committee on Social Programs. At this point, there hasn’t been a motion passed on this recommendation on remand, so I'm in a position where the Member is asking me to accept that all 11...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. For the Member’s last question, I would have to check with my colleague, the Minister of Public Works, to find out if the thermostat has been fixed yet.
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I haven’t got that information with me. In terms of the schedule, the planning is proceeding, as I understand it. The whole process of locating the site for the school has proceeded over the course of the winter and the community has been involved in approving that site so that now we can start to prepare. The expectation is that construction will start to take place within the next fiscal year and the...
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I should probably go back to Mr. Menicoche because I haven’t been offered the occasion to respond for a number of Members. I can’t disagree with Mr. Menicoche that the RCMP in his region have a big area to cover with the six communities, and I certainly heard the Members yesterday talking about the need for more police services in communities that don’t have any services right now. As the information that I have with me here indicates, there are eight RCMP positions in Fort Simpson and four in Fort Liard. I don’t know if any of them are vacant at the moment, but that’s...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m not aware of the exact number of condominium corporations in operation right now. It is, though, I know a relatively small number. Condominiums are a fairly new method of housing in the Northwest Territories and that’s one of the other reasons, as we start to see more and more of them, that we need to take a look at our act and make sure that we are protecting the consumers adequately.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I don’t think the Member would find any different opinion from Mr. Cooper or me, that justice delivered at the community level is better justice. I think what we would say, and Mr. Cooper advises me, that the community involvement in the Northwest Territories is already higher than what you would find anywhere else in Canada.
We have, across the Northwest Territories, 30 active community justice committees, where we are seeing them do exactly what the Member is recommending. They are taking administration of justice to the residents of that community and we are quite...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is with great sadness that I speak to an event that reminds us of the dangers facing those who put their lives on the line to make our communities safer. Yesterday, four RCMP officers were shot and killed while investigating a suspected marijuana grow operation near Rochfort Bridge, Alberta.
This serious and tragic event has touched all of us, especially the officers’ colleagues here in the Northwest Territories who are represented in this House this morning by Inspector Greg Morrow and Inspector Roch Fortin of “G” division. It also reminds us of the...
Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to present the 2005-06 Department of Justice main estimates. These estimates offer details on how the department will allocate its resources to meet its mandate of administering justice, including corrections and policing, in the Northwest Territories.
The 2005-06 operational budget for the department is $79.8 million. This is an increase of .58 percent of approximately $460,000 from last year’s main estimates. This increase will help make our communities safer and improve access to legal aid services.
Seventy percent of our total budget will be spent on law...