David Ramsay

Thank you, Madam Chair. I thank both the Premier and the Minister of Finance for their brief overview of the Northern Strategy. It does cover a tremendous amount of ground. I know I have 10 minutes here; I am going to try to cover the points that I feel I need to cover and then I will pass it on to some of my colleagues here.

The first thing is that I am still not 100 percent convinced of the Northern Strategy and how the Northwest Territories is going to be seen by the rest of the country as being different than Nunavut or being different than the Yukon. I know that both the Yukon and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would suggest that there is very little evidence that the RCMP have the resources and the manpower to try to tackle the problem that is hitting our youth, hitting our families and destroying people here in the Northwest Territories. I would like to ask the Minister of Justice if he has had discussion with the RCMP with regard to the drug problem that faces the Northwest Territories. What have those discussions been? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we need to work with community groups, yes, I agree with that. That type of work should happen, but we’re here today and we still don’t have treatment centres. How long is it going to take for the government to work with the community groups to get us the treatment centres that our communities are demanding and the residential care that our communities are demanding? How long is the work going to take? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister didn’t mention the fact that the government had anything specifically dedicated to drug use and the troubles that drug use brings to our youth and our families here in the Northwest Territories. The other item that they mentioned is what are we going to do as a government to address the long-term residential care that’s needed and the treatment that’s needed for these individuals? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Agreed. I would like to thank you very much. Consideration of these documents is concluded and we will call for a short recess. Thank you.

---SHORT RECESS

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to speak today about drugs and the impact they are having on our communities, families, residents and children. I had the opportunity on Monday to attend the session with representatives of Crack Busters, a group trying to help crack addicts through the process of quitting crack cocaine.

I listened to how the group works and learned from local addictions experts, including Dr. Ross Wheeler, how addictive and devastating crack is. Unless you are personally affected by crack, most people have no idea how dangerous this drug is. It destroys families, and...

Mahsi, Mr. Yakeleya. Does the committee agree that consideration of Ministers’ statements…Oh, Mr. Premier. Sorry.

Mahsi, Mr. Zoe. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Madam Groenewegen. Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. I have Mr. Yakeleya next.