Glen Abernethy

Madam Speaker, when the 17th Legislative Assembly set its goals, two of them were to support the growth of healthy, educated people and to operate an effective and efficient government. Today I would like to update my colleagues on an important development to the GNWT’s digital communications network, which is helping achieve those goals.

The network connects our 33 communities to the government’s communications system. Everything from critical department applications to Internet access and e-mail is delivered through this network. Without it, our ability to deliver high quality programs and...

Thank you, Madam Chair. It may touch in this area, but it would also touch in courts. We do utilize interpreters. We have a list of interpreters that we can go to to provide services when we need them. We provide translation when asked, for sure. Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I will go through the notes that I’ve heard from my colleagues. A number of my colleagues repeated similar things, so I’ll try to lump them into groups and then I’ll talk about some of them individually.

One of the things that came up a number of times is obviously Bill C-10. That’s something we are hearing a lot about right now and we have just completed the review, which has been shared with Members and has been tabled in the House. That report clearly shows there’s going to be what equates to about an 11-person increase in our male facilities.

We are concerned. We are...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Not specifically. This isn’t one of the areas that this particular division is working on. This division has a lot more involvement with things like the community justice committees, who happen to be doing sort of on-the-land initiatives from time to time, which clearly, young families can participate in and benefit that way. But there’s nothing specifically being done necessarily for early childhood and development. This is about reintegration and trying to get people back on the right path.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Not with me, but I will talk to the detachment and see if we can get some statistics for the Member.

Yes, Madam Chair.

Sorry, I didn’t catch all of that. One of the things that we can tell you is the director of court services has recently got back from the Yukon and she has actually compiled a really comprehensive, sort of, report on that particular type of court, and I’d be happy to come and present that information to committee sooner than later. It’s going to obviously form just one piece of the building block to help us make an informed decision on how to move forward.

As far as the final decision point, we do need to pull all that information together. I think the timeline now starts talking in the winter...

It’s a resource development position. I’m happy to have that conversation with the RCMP to see where is the appropriate place for that position to be located. I couldn’t tell you right now. I’ll have to have that conversation.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Before I get up and leave, I’d just like to point out that this is probably the last time that Deputy Minister Bronwyn Watters is sitting in this Assembly in front of the House, so I’d just like to congratulate her for all the hard work she’s done over the years and her dedication to the people of the Northwest Territories.

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My focus to date has actually been to try and get them back up and running. With respect to the specific output or the specific recommendations that they’ve provided to the last Assembly, I will certainly gather that information to share with my colleagues.