Glen Abernethy

Thank you, Madam Speaker. The strategy still exists, the committee that’s been put together to provide recommendations to the Minister and the department on Aboriginal employment in the Northwest Territories did go through a bit of a hiccup. We did lose a couple of members after the election as a result of changes in professions. We got that back up and running about two months ago and they’ve been starting to meet again and they’re back providing us some direction and information. I’m looking forward to their input.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Work continues to be ongoing. As a matter of fact, our director of court services has just got back from the Yukon, where she was meeting with counterparts in the Yukon to review the actual wellness court that exists in that jurisdiction. We aren’t looking at just that model. We are looking at a number of models and pulling information together.

Currently, a terms of reference to support the work of the interdepartmental committee, which will examine the feasibility of a specialized court as well as consider ways to improve service delivery for mental health services...

I’m not sure how I suggested we’re downloading this responsibility. When it comes to things like anti-poverty, we’re all working together to find a solution that’s in the best interests of the people of the Northwest Territories.

The same is true with the courts. We know that we have a role to provide courts in the Northwest Territories. This is an option that we’re excited by, but we want to make sure we get it right. We are going to work with our colleagues on both sides of the House and experts who exist out there. The judges certainly want to have some say into what this looks like with...

I don’t believe we’ll be ready to make that kind of decision. We need to pull the information together, we need to work with Members to do an analysis of the different types of options that are out there, and we together have to get together to select one. We have to pick one that is going to work in the best interest of the people of the Northwest Territories. From there we are going to have to go into a whole design model and design a model that actually works. There are so many things that have to fall into place.

With respect to the type of supports individuals may be given through the...

This is one of the items that is actually falling under the work plan and the terms of reference that I mentioned earlier. The departments, including MACA, Housing Corporation, Justice, Education and Health, have been working together on these types of initiatives, trying to find ways to break down some of these barriers. We will continue to do so. We will find some solutions hopefully that will improve service delivery in this area in particular. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Madam Speaker, if and when we get this court in place, this will obviously be a particular tool that is available to us to help offset the cost by keeping some of the low-risk offenders out of our facility. It is something we need to do. It is something that we are pursuing. As I indicated, we hope to have something available to share with Members so we can actually set a direction on which model we want to use.

In the meantime, we are managing within to make sure that we can handle the number of inmates coming into our facilities. We do know that we do need to upgrade the facility in Fort...

I believe that I’ve been fairly consistent, in my time as a Minister and before I was a Minister, that prevention is important. My colleague, the Minister of Health and Social Services, spoke in favour of prevention significantly and I have as well. To that end, we are working on an Anti-Poverty Strategy that’s going to help us deal with the root causes of crime. These are all prevention. When it comes to the courts, I acknowledge full well that the courts are an important tool. Whether it’s an addictions court, a mental health court or whether it’s a wellness court. What I’m telling you right...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. It’s in Hansard; it must be true. I am committed to getting this done. I do see it’s taken a little longer than anticipated. It has taken a bit longer to get a work plan done. We are still doing the research and analysis. I have committed to getting the work plan to the Members by the end of August. From there we plan to complete the feasibility study so that we can have an options paper in front of Members before the end of this fiscal year, so that we can actually make a decision on what type of model we’re going to use. There are a number out there. We need to make...

Madam Speaker, this is actually the first time that I have indicated any deadlines that we are going to be moving forward, in particular with the work plan for August 12th and then having a decision point for the end of the fiscal year.

Right now we don’t have a significant demand on our system. A lot of the acts on Bill C-10 haven’t actually come into effect yet, so we still have time. We are still in the planning phase, trying to make sure we can accommodate these changes when they come forward. We know this court is a valuable tool. We want to continue to pursue it, but honestly, we would...

I agree completely. We want to make sure that this type of thing doesn’t happen. What I’m committing to do is providing a bit of an analysis and report on what can be done to make sure that orders can be enforced and how they can be enforced. I’m not sure that’s going to require a legislative amendment. It may be policy, it might be regulation. We will do that research and analysis. We will bring it to committee. We will present it to committee and seek direction from committee and the Member as well. We will seek direction on how we want to move forward on that. It may be legislation; it may...