David Ramsay

Mr. Speaker, the answer to that is yes. We have done a lot of work. Last summer, I think the number of the harvest generated about $650,000 locally, so that’s a big number. We want to see that number increase. The Member is correct; with the number of forest fires last summer we do expect a bumper crop of mushrooms next summer. We are moving forward with plans to get into communities over the winter. We don’t want to wait until the spring. We’re developing pocket booklets. They’re like a how-to booklet informing people about morel mushrooms, where to find them, what they look like, maps of the...

Mr. Speaker, we do take recommendations that coroners provide us seriously. We do work with other departments. The Member is correct; the prevalence of alcohol and drugs as they relate to sudden deaths here in the Northwest Territories is certainly something that we need to pay attention to. Seven out of the eight suicides last year were alcohol related. So it’s very important that we continue to work with the Department of Health and Social Services on addressing those root causes of alcohol and drug abuse across the territory. Thank you.

Across Canada, similar to the Northwest Territories, coroners’ recommendations are not binding, and we don’t believe they should, in fact, be binding. Making recommendations binding would change the fundamental role of the coroner as we know it. They would have to consider the binding nature of their recommendations before putting them forward. They may limit the kind of recommendations they can make. It would also require them to be very specific so that their recommendations can be followed.

Again, we do work with other departments. As far as a report that is put forward, I don’t believe...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document, entitled “Growing Forward 2: A Summary Report of the Small Scale Foods Program, 2013-14.”

Mr. Speaker, just waiting for my light to come back on.

I’m not quite sure what the Member is getting at. We have systems in place at the Department of Justice. I can’t speak for the other two departments, but we are not going to be putting the resources and the effort into establishing a Wellness Court here in the Northwest Territories without a way to measure the success of it, measure how it is impacting people that are going through the court system. When we lay this out, those measurements are in place; they certainly will be looked at. All I was mentioning was that the court has only been...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Member for both his statement and his questions today and his support for the NWT Wellness Court, which rolled out… The first case was heard October 2nd of this year.

The question about resources, so far this year, $305,000, and for next year we’re looking at $970,000. That’s in ‘15-16 and ongoing. We aren’t going to be successful with the Wellness Court unless we are continuing to work with our colleagues at Health and Social Services and Education, Culture and Employment on the rollout of the Wellness Court and getting the people the help that they need...

I believe we’ve made a commitment to the Member to have a look at that, and it is certainly something we will be doing. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In order to operate in the Northwest Territories, you would require a business licence.

Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned earlier, across Canada the recommendations contained in coroners’ reports are not binding, and here in the Northwest Territories we feel that they shouldn’t be, in fact, binding. If the recommendations were binding, they’d have, in some cases, some pretty heavy financial practicality issues associated with those recommendations. Again, it would fundamentally change the role of the coroner if we were to make recommendations binding. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Many of the recommendations contained in coroners’ reports are acted upon, and we continue to work with other departments as necessary. I mean, a lot of the reports reflect alcohol abuse or drug abuse. Those issues are dealt with by the Department of Health and Social Services and we certainly communicate with those departments that are involved as well.