Glen Abernethy

Mr. Speaker, I’d say that that’s one of the first things they’re looking at, especially in times of passive restraint or when we’re trying to make sure that we have the dollars to deliver programs. We need to make sure that every dollar we spend is being spent efficiently and effectively, so deputy heads would be pushing that pressure down into the bureaucracy to make sure the people are utilizing the resources to the best benefit. We have a lot of programs and services we have to deliver here in the Government of the Northwest Territories. The vast majority of our dollars are going to salary...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That’s done on a regular basis by the individual departments themselves. They always have to look inwards and make sure that the services that are provided are being met and that they have the staff complement to do that. The Department of Human Resources does offer advice and guidance with respect to organizational design and workloads and work flow, but at the end of the day, ultimately, it’s the responsibility of every department and the deputy head to do that analysis and make sure that analysis is done.

As a note, I think in the last vacancy report that was provided...

There’s no question that children benefit from access to both of their parents where all safety issues and no risk of harm to a child is present. We have, in the Government of the Northwest Territories and Justice in particular, a mediation program that is available to parents going through divorce so that they can work through the challenges of separate homes, separate lives with children to make sure that everybody’s got access where safe and appropriate. I think we’re – once again anecdotally, I don’t have any numbers, but we’re hearing positive results from that program that it is working...

As I’ve indicated earlier, diversion is just one tool in our arsenal, and it is proving to be effective in many ways. We’ve got statistics from other jurisdictions that have done some analysis on recidivism and they’re seeing positive responses there. As far as what we have as an actual analysis of diversion only, I don’t have that information, but I will commit to looking at the department getting some information on recidivism with respect to diversions that we’ve done.

But I have to say, once again, we have to deal with the root causes of crime in the Northwest Territories, and as I...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, the position is in place, it is a new position. It’s been in for just over a year. Anecdotally, we’re getting positive statements on that position and what it is able to accomplish. I will say that there was a blip. Unfortunately, the original person that we had in the position left the Northwest Territories and we had to refill the position, which took a little bit of time. So we don’t truly have a year’s worth of data on the effectiveness of this. Although, we are hearing positive responses and a lot of anecdotal statements that it’s positive and there are good...

In Mr. Moses’ first question he indicated that poverty is a real issue here in the Northwest Territories and poverty has a direct result on crime. We know that poverty is an issue. We know that alcoholism is an issue. We know substance abuse is an issue. This government is doing progressive work to try and deal with those things. One of those things that we’re doing is an Anti-Poverty Strategy, which Mr. Moses talked about. We’re going to continue to do those things as a government and if we can reduce some of these root causes, we should see a reduction in the number of people that are...

Parole is more of a federal inmate reality. Regardless, we still have individuals that are on probation and the length of their probation would be dependent on their initial charge and how long they were sentenced and they would vary from one individual to another. Regardless, every inmate that’s exiting the facility will have gone through the process of having a reintegration plan. Some of them can be very, very simple and others can be far more complex, and they can range in duration from very short to very long, but, once again, it’s tied to the sentence and what kinds of treatments or...

Thank you. I’ll have the department look to see if there’s any mandatory programming in other jurisdictions, but at the end of the day, making a program mandatory does not mean it will be successful. As individuals are suffering with addictions and other issues, they have to be ready for the healing journey, and if you force them to take it, you’re not going to get positive results. We make the programming available, we have really high calibre, high quality case managers who can work with the inmates when they come into the facilities to help them prepare for a healing journey and make the...

It’s a hundred and something. I don’t remember the exact total, but we’ll get it here for you. Can we get back to the Member? It’s $100,000, around that mark. We’ll get the exact figure for the Member and committee.

By way of an example, Madam Chair, the North Slave Correctional Centre provides programming to assist with anger management, including moderate intensity family violence prevention and violence prevention programs. One-on-one counselling is offered through a contract psychologist, the traditional counsellor and liaison officer, the chaplain, and through informal sessions with case managers. As I have indicated, every inmate has a case manager assigned specifically to them. North Slave Correction Centre mental health supports are available through the medical department through referrals to a...