Jackson Lafferty

Mahsi Mr. Chairman. We can set dates but if the federal government doesn’t come into play, then it really doesn’t work for us. But I can share with the Member that those areas that we need to discuss further with the standing committee we could give, let’s say, 10 years from now all the communities will be filled with detachments. Of course, that is our goal and objective. But at the same time it has taken some time for the federal government to make a commitment in that area, so it is going to be very difficult in small communities.

It is similar with the nursing, with the community...

Mr. Speaker, Education Week, February 22nd to the 26th, is a time to thank educators across the Northwest Territories for the difference they make in the lives of northern students and families. It’s because of their hard work that students are able to graduate and pursue a post-secondary education and fulfilling employment opportunities.

Each year, the Northwest Territories Teachers’ Association honours our northern educators with the Thank You for Making a Difference campaign. They continually received nominations from students all over the Northwest Territories who want their teachers...

Mahsi Mr. Chairman. This is a particular area of interest to our department. We are currently in negotiation with the federal government on the First Nations policing. We have shown our uniqueness in the Northwest Territories. The three territorial approach to the federal government and they have finally listened and they are re-examining and reviewing the formula funding that we get and we were told at that time that there is going to be some changes. They haven’t told us what kind of changes will be coming but to reflect our northern perspective. So with that in mind, we feel that there is...

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, these five positions are chief coroner, crime prevention coordinator, a staff lawyer and a legal secretary. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. With me I have Ms. Bronwyn Watters, my deputy minister of Justice; and also Kim Schofield, director of finance. Mahsi.

I am pleased to present the Department of Justice main estimates for the fiscal year 2010-2011.

The main estimates propose an operations and maintenance budget of $97.992 million, an increase of 5 percent over the 2009-2010 Main Estimates. This consists primarily of forced growth increases such as collective bargaining and strategic initiatives in policing, services for families and community justice.

This department’s mandate is to administer justice, including corrections and policing in the Northwest Territories. We support the Assembly’s vision of strong individuals, families and communities...

I think the Member touched on it; parental involvement and community involvement. It has to be monitored at the community level as well. The school can only do so much. The education council can only do so much as well. As a department, we can do what we can to make a very successful program. So there are all these partners actively involved, Mr. Speaker, but we do have ongoing... We are currently discussing what the Member is alluding to, such as a Mentorship Program where elders could be involved. So those are the initial discussions we are having to date and the outcome will be this summer...

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, with this particular area, it has been our intention that we need to have a thorough review of the community justice programming. We do have coordinators in place, not in every community. Some communities don’t have it, but at the same time there are some communities that are performing really well with the Justice department with the court services. I think there are nine without coordinators. Mr. Chair, we continuously have discussions with… Shirley Kemeys-Jones is the one in charge as the director and in constant contact and dialogue with the community to make...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Through the new initiative, we’ve had several meetings on the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative and they’ve made some recommendations to our department and we’ve implemented those particular initiatives. Although it may be small, it’s a start. We provide funding to each of the school education councils, so they can deal with enrolment issues, enrolment challenges. Not only that, Mr. Speaker, we’ve provided a laptop to the grade 12 students and now we’re looking towards next year of providing possibly to grade 11 students and other initiatives along the way that will...

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. When this was brought up at the standing committee, we did share with them that we are working on a children’s lawyer. So it would be like an advocate for children in the Northwest Territories. So those are the areas that we’ve been talking about. I guess the children’s lawyer will give the children a voice in legal proceedings that certainly affects them and by also protecting their rights. So I think it’s similar to what Ms. Bisaro is referring to, maybe a different title, but that piece of work we’ve been focusing on and we’re making progress in this area. Mahsi.