Glen Abernethy

I do, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. In the Sahtu, from 2011 to 2012 there was a noticeable increase in activity in the Sahtu. I don’t have the statistics in saying how many of them were alcohol related, but it’s interesting that the increase comes at a time of two things happening in the Sahtu. One, the increased activity, which can be significant, and the other being the changes in the rules around the Norman Wells liquor store. Those two things both happened roughly at the same time, so it’s hard to truly quantify what the increased rate in crime is. We feel that much of it is probably related to the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Further to my Return to Written Question 7-17(4), I wish to table the following document, entitled GNWT Positions to Population Ratio as at December 31, 2012.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Currently there is, I believe it was back in 2009ish, an extra position was actually created in Fort McPherson to cover Tsiigehtchic. That position is intended to go into Tsiigehtchic on a regular basis. I understand that we had a community policing plan in place with that community and it hasn’t worked out exactly as the community and the RCMP have planned. I have talked to the commanding officer. The commanding officer is going to Tsiigehtchic on April 9th to meet with the community leadership to discuss the community policing plan that was in place and try to find...

Madam Chair, the department has followed up on the program. There are some challenges. Just as a note, it is very similar to the Aboriginal Community Constable Program. There are some differences here in the Northwest Territories. We don’t have a policing act, so having stand-alone police-type professionals in a community that weren’t under the employment or under the designation of the RCMP would be complicated because of the lack of a policing act. The program had some positive aspects, but there would also be some challenges given our radically different models of policing in Canada...

We work with them to set our yearly priorities and we meet with them on a regular basis to discuss things as they come forward at us. It’s more expensive but it is a 20-year agreement, and it also includes a 20-year capital allocation as well, which is spread out over the period of time rather than having one billed at one time and having a giant cheque one year and prices, it’s spread over a 20-year plan. It is more expensive. We know that. We have a relationship where we could provide more direction as far as priorities. We don’t tell them how to police. They police based on their standards...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, we are one year into this. One thing we’ve learned is it’s expensive, and it will continue to be expensive. We pay 70 percent of all costs associated with the RCMP, and as a result of the contract, we’re also paying for the infrastructure as well. The costs have gone up.

The benefits of the contract are, obviously, the different types of relationships that we have with the RCMP. We’re still in our first year there, so there are still some growing pains trying to figure out what exactly that means, but we are in a different position as far as providing some...

As I indicated, we have pulled off a director position to actually do some analysis and start working with corrections to identify means by which we can help the people be more aware of workplace injury, how people can be more aware of ways to avoid workplace injury. The WSCC has a number of courses and staff within the facilities, and the government as a whole have been taking advantage of these courses. We’ve done some worksite assessments on the sites themselves to see if there’s anything about the sites themselves that are causing or leading more people to be more prone to injury, and...

Thank you, Madam Chair. The community justice committees are an incredibly valuable resource that’s available in the communities. We provide funding support to the communities. It is limited but the committees have been very creative with what they are able to accomplish with those dollars.

In addition to dollars to support the committee, they can apply for funding to do special activities like on-the-land programs or whatnot. Many, many communities take advantage of that. We don’t tell communities what to do. These community justice committees come up with ideas based on what they know about...

We’re doing the work; we will come to committee. With committee, we will talk about how to move forward. We will get something done in the Government of the Northwest Territories.