Jackson Lafferty

This particular facility holds most of the Aboriginal clientele throughout the Northwest Territories and a lot of them came from my region, as well, the Tlicho region. I'd like to know: what kinds of programs are available to these high-risk clients with respect to Aboriginal programming from a northern perspective?

Masi, Madam Speaker. [Translation] I want to ask a question regarding children. They go through difficult times. They have a lot of problems. I want to talk about the treatment. [End of translation] It's been brought to my attention on the territorial treatment centre here in Yellowknife. We have a treatment for clientele ages eight to 12, for those who have emotional, behaviour, or psychiatric difficulties. Madam Speaker, it has been brought to my attention that, at the facility, the centre does not currently have a full-time psychologist on site at the treatment centre, and it has been...

[Translation] The second question I have regarding the process convention is that it's stated in the policy that you give them notice for five days in advance to return your question or written question. They have five days to return that answer. [End of translation]

When the Regular Members request for information from ministerial offices, the general rule of thumb is that the turnaround time should be within five days or less. We understand that, sometimes, five days needs to be extended and, as long as the Minister's office lets Regular Members know about the necessary extension, we are...

Masi, Madam Speaker. Today, I'd like to speak about the Whati housing plan. Madam Speaker, the Minister of Northwest Territories Housing Corporation proudly announced early to mid-December that Whati was the first community in our territory to complete their housing plan. Being the Member of the Monfwi constituency, I was indeed proud of the community of Whati. I then heard through the grapevine that a big celebration was scheduled for Whati on December 17, 2019. I checked with the Minister's office. Sure enough, a celebration was indeed scheduled, and I was not notified about it. By that time...

Masi, Madam Speaker. I believe we need to do more work in this area, improvements, so I would like to suggest one area. So far, from what I've heard, I'm voicing concerns for these individuals who cannot speak for themselves. Their parents, their family members came to me, so I'm raising that issue. We are currently being dictated to by a southern firm, I believe it's called Bosco Homes, on how to run this centre. After all these years, why haven't we got a northern contractor providing these valuable services to our children, to provide northern perspectives? Masi, Madam Speaker.

That's the very concern that was brought to my attention, that the psychologist is not there on a frequent basis. Very rarely, a psychologist goes to the site, and by the same time the children are not assisted at the centre. The children have to be taken out of the centre. Those are just real concerns that are brought to my attention by parents and by Northerners in the Northwest Territories. How often is a qualified psychologist on site on any given basis, on a yearly basis? I'd like to know how many times that individual or that psychologist visits the centre.

Yes, I definitely will do, and I clearly hear the Minister's apology. This is an area that, obviously, we need to improve; not only her department, but other departments, as well, so I'll be speaking to that in my probably last and final question.

Myself and my colleagues on this side of the House are getting extremely frustrated with how the government is operating and how our side of the House is being treated. In her letter to me, the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation mentioned that she would like to collaborate with me for the betterment of my constituents. Communication...

Masi, Mr. Chair. I, too, definitely agree that this should be expanded. The First Nations Policing Program has been very successful in the past, and we should be at a point of, as the Justice Department or as a government, we should be matching the GNWT "G" Division, what they offer at the table. There should be a partnership. We talk about partnership as a government, but we shouldn't just be looking to "G" Division to see if they are willing to add more funding. We should be proactive.

Mr. Chair, I only have 30 seconds of my time. One more question I have is the justice committees. Are all...

Masi, Mr. Chair. Obviously, I would like to see up-and-coming training on the "G" Division as has happened at the depot. I know there has been some in-term exposure for some northern students. Just so it happens, one of my daughters was interested, so she pursued it through her high school. She had a week, I believe it was a week or 10 days, at the depot, and obviously, she is interested now. She wants to be a cop after she gets her degree, so I think we need to do more of those areas of recruitment and promotion. I am glad the Minister is willing to sit down with the chief commanding officer...

Masi, Mr. Chair. [Translation] Regarding community justice and the RCMP, I would like to ask the Minister a question. The past couple of years, we have been advocating for Aboriginal policing, so I want to ask a question regarding that. [Translation ends]

Community justice and policing, I know that there has been training in the past because I have been involved as the Minister of Justice of the day. We have had a successful outcome training an individual to become almost a full-fledged RCMP officer, without investigation. They are from Hay River, your community. We are obviously a huge...