Jackson Lafferty

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I’m glad the Member is referring to offenders either reintegration to the community or rehabilitation. We do have some programs in place, such as a program for men who use violence, protection against family violence and also domestic violence treatment options through court. Those are just some of the areas that we are focusing on as a preventative measure.

Also, we have a staff and programs at the correctional level that work with offenders so they can be rehabilitated and reintegrated back into the community. So we have various programs that suit inmates’ eligibility and...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. There are policies in place for a specific reason. What the Member is referring to, I can touch on. The student case officers need to track all expenditures, our sponsors, our subsidies to the students through the SFA program. Not only that, but there are also First Nations and other organizations that also sponsor students. We just want to be cautious about who is paying for what trips. If the First Nation claim is paying for a particular trip, then we need to be aware of it so there are no duplications. We just want to have accountability in place. That’s part of the...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The Department of Education, Culture and Employment is pleased to share news about its Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative. The focus is on increasing the accomplishments of Aboriginal students across the Northwest Territories.

The initiative’s long-term goal is developing and implementing a territorial education plan to help eliminate the achievement gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students. Helping these students achieve success in their studies is one of the ways that the Government of the Northwest Territories is working to fulfill this Assembly’s goal of...

Mahsi. It all depends on the case that’s at hand, if it’s a high risk, low risk, medium risk. So it all depends on the case that’s before the court proceedings. So it all varies. Mahsi.

Mahsi. The judicial system is another arm of this government and as a Minister of Justice I cannot tell the chief judge or judge what to do with respect to sentencing. I have to respect their decision. The final decision lies with the judges. There’s a federal law that they have to follow as well. There are various aspects of independent cases. So I cannot interfere as Justice Minister on those decisions that are made. The final decisions are made by the judges. Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, yes, we definitely do support the teachers that we have across the Northwest Territories. When it comes to challenges such as the housing issues in the communities for professionals, those are the areas that we need to work at within our committees. So, yes, we’ll work closely with the Member and also other Members as well, and the Members of the Executive. Mahsi.

We do recognize the pressure that’s out there in the Northwest Territories, especially in those small, isolated communities. Finding suitable units can be a challenge and the high cost of living in the communities as well. With that we have initiated, through the refocusing committee, that there’s interdepartmental groups that are working on identifying funds to deal with those matters at hand. There are challenges before us to find suitable units for the teachers and other professionals as well. We do have an interdepartmental committee that’s working currently and are actively involved in...

Mahsi. There is a contract with a physician to provide services to inmates at the North Slave Correctional Centre, but at the same time we do have somebody in training right now to be a psychologist. That individual completed her degree program and also needs to complete one year under supervision before she can be registered. So that individual has a few more months to go, Mr. Speaker, to be qualified. So it is in the works and it’s going to be happening this summer. Mahsi.

I also met with the Board of Governors on that same day, probably before or after Mr. Hawkins. We talked about the same issue. My understanding is that the Board of Governors will bring an idea forward to our attention within the ECE department. So we are waiting for the Board of Governors to bring us information that we can work on. Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, there has been a couple meetings a few years back on potential partners, private partners, organizations, but the information has been brought back to our attention as we need to move forward. Those are the discussions that we’ve had in the past and we are open to ideas and suggestions on how we can move forward. There have been talks about having possibly a First Nations organization build a facility for us and lease it back to the GNWT. That was an option that was thrown at us, but we haven’t seen anything as a proposal or anything that we can move forward on.

Mr. Speaker, this...