Jackson Lafferty

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member's statement today I spoke about the problems the residents of Tlicho had with accessing service from the RCMP. Can the Minister of Justice inform the Assembly whether there's a standard service level that a community of a particular size can expect to receive? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to commend the Justice department. However, Mr. Speaker, I am very concerned with the delivery of RCMP services to the Tlicho communities. There are the same concerns that are echoed in other small communities.

Tlicho residents have told me that on average the police response is 48 minutes. That is quite outrageous in the Tlicho region.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I stated in my Member's statement, the RCMP workload is impacting on the service levels in the isolated communities. Can the Minister inform the Assembly whether there's a plan to increase the number of RCMP officers in the communities so that they can take a proactive role, rather than a reactive role in community policing? Mr. Speaker, mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, some of the problems with response times relate to dispatching being done out of Yellowknife headquarters. This leads directly to my next question. What are the hours of operation in the local detachment in the Tlicho region?

Mr. Speaker, I am concerned, too, that the police will sometimes not respond to a call because an actual crime has not been committed. It seems to be that that attitude is totally contradictory to the basic concept of community policing. Part of the responsibility of the RCMP is to provide a proactive presence in the communities, not just reacting to...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister tell me the timeline on the development of a strategy to deal with the bison on Highway No. 3, especially with respect to harvesting from the community’s perspective? Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I spoke of the dangers that the bison are posing for motorists on Highway No. 3. I strongly advocate for the need for a strategy to deal with this public safety issue. Public safety is a huge issue. Can the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources inform the Assembly whether his department has a strategy in place to deal with the bison on Highway No. 3? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I understand that the department is working closely with the Department of Transportation. Can the Minister also commit on working with the local Behchoko community government to deal with the bison issue? Will there be a harvesting of them or putting florescent tags on them so they can be reflective; also, initiating rubber bullets for discouraging them from going onto the highway, Mr. Speaker? Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. (English not provided)

Mr. Speaker, each and every year there are travellers encountering more and more problems with bison on Highway No. 3. Motorists are continually being warned to pay close attention against collision with these animals. The problem, Mr. Speaker, is it’s getting worse. As winter is fast approaching, darkness falls a lot earlier. Bison on the highway jeopardize safety of motorists and cause serious injuries or carnage of these animals.

Two weeks ago, Mr. Speaker, a constituent of mine wrote off his vehicle because he ran into a full-grown buffalo on...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker…(Translation not provided)

(Translation) Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Recently we have just come to our new job, and sometimes when we have to make implementation of that land, we want to work really well with the territorial government and also with the federal government. Many elders have mentioned this in the past and this is true. When we look at it, when we talk about this and we talk about the long-term vision, we have to look at how we are going to work with each other, how we are going to work with people in the community, especially for people that are still negotiating their land claims and self-government.

When you...