Jackson Lafferty

Yes, Mr. Chairman.

That initiative is underway. I did ask all Members where they stand on inmates calling them in their respective ridings. This had been decided upon in the 15th Assembly. Whatever decisions there are, such as this, we like to inform the committee members, which I’ve done. I’ve informed the committee members that if they feel confident that we need to change our policy, which I did…. They will eventually get back to me, get back to the department, and we’ll pursue it. I think the communication we’re having now is a great example of moving forward. Mahsi.

We at the Department of Justice, and also Corrections, recognize the importance of having a communication dialogue, whether it be between the inmates and their MLAs or the parents and so forth. Those were the issues that were brought forward by a Member. They want to have contact with their inmates if there are issues, so certainly we are allowing that to happen now.

We are asking all 19 Members, if there are inmates from their ridings wishing to make a call to them, that they give us their blessing, and certainly that will be open. There may be some Members who may not want the inmates to be...

To date we have 4,683 individuals that have been certified through apprenticeship programs. We should be proud of that here in the Northwest Territories. We continue to deliver those effective programs. Camp cook or the cook apprentices could be one of them. We need more information from Chef Pierre and his resource people to provide the accreditation so we can move forward. Mahsi.

Since June of this past summer my department has been working closely with Chef Pierre. They also toured the facility. They did talk about the proposal coming forward from Chef Pierre and also asked questions on the accreditation program. That is supposed to be forthcoming.

At the same time, there is also great news from the Mine Training Society. There was a proposal submitted by Chef Pierre, in partnership with the Native Women’s Association, to deliver a camp cook program. That is one of partnerships that has always been successful in the past working with the Mine Training Society. It is an...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Today we honour the memory of one of our own RCMP officers. Constable Chris Worden lost his life one year ago today while responding to a call in Hay River. Later today the RCMP will be adding his name to the cenotaph outside G Division headquarters in Yellowknife.

On behalf of our government I extend my condolences to the Worden family and to the brave officers who serve our communities so faithfully. This incident is a tragic reminder that serious crimes do happen here. All too often they are related to illegal drug trafficking and use.

In the past few months we have seen...

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. To my left is Mike Reddy. He is a senior policy analyst with the Department of Justice. To my right is Mark Aitken, director of the legislation division. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. I am pleased to appear before the committee today to review Bill 13, An Act to Amend the Legal Profession Act.

I would like to start by thanking members of the Standing Committee on Social Programs for their review and comments on the bill. The Law Society of the Northwest Territories is the organization that regulates the legal profession in the Northwest Territories. Its functions include the investigation of complaints against its members and the discipline of its members.

The bill before you today was developed at the request of the Law Society to update the discipline...

Mr. Speaker, those are the issues at hand. In order to amend those policies we currently have in place, the Members have raised those issues. We do allow a telephone privilege for inmates to call their MLAs. There are phone numbers listed within Corrections so they can call their MLAs. We do have that information for those inmates at Corrections. Certainly, if the Members want us to amend that policy, we’ll grant the wish of the committee members. That has been in the works since the last Assembly, but now we’re in a new Assembly, and we can take on the task. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. This particular issue was raised at the 15th Assembly. The request came from a Member at that time who didn’t want inmates to be calling him. It was at the request of the Member that the government initiated a policy pertaining to that event.

At the current time I did hear complaints from Regular Members, new Members of the 16th Assembly, so we followed through with that. I did write a letter to each Member highlighting if they’re open to their riding inmates calling them. It was an option I threw out to them. Certainly, we’re listening to the Members. They gave us concerns...