Julie Green

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to offer my thanks to the Minister of Justice for the detail that he provided yesterday on the programs offered to inmates at NWT correctional facilities. One highlight is that over 500 participants have completed programs that address substance abuse, violence, and other negative behaviours. Another is that the programs are offered in probation offices throughout the NWT to reinforce the new skills and copying mechanisms. The department staff is obviously doing good work in this area.

Yes, there is a "but," Mr. Speaker: but what about housing for inmates when...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Great Slave, that, notwithstanding rule 4, when this House adjourns on May 30, 2019, it shall be adjourned until Tuesday, June 4, 2019, and further, that, at any time prior to June 4, 2019, if the Speaker is satisfied after consultation with the Executive Council and Members of the Legislative Assembly that the public interest requires that the House should meet at an earlier time during the adjournment, the Speaker may give notice, and thereupon, the House shall meet at that time stated in such notice and transact its business...

Is there any possibility that the Minister of Justice could work with the Minister of Housing to look at alternatives to releasing inmates into homelessness, such as, for example, transitional housing, so that it is possible to stop the cycle of people failing because they don't have stable housing and going back into the justice system?

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Justice. I know the Minister is aware of the Guthrie House Therapeutic Community in Nanaimo, and his officials are working to set up a similar program at the South Slave Correctional Centre. Can the Minister tell us whether the program in the South Slave will assist inmates to find housing on their release? Thank you

Mahsi, colleagues. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. If we truly want to benefit from the investment that we are working in programming and reduce the chances of people returning to jail, former inmates need a stable place to live. I will have questions for the Minister of Justice. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am in support of this motion because I am in support of evidence-based decision-making. I have talked about it consistently through the life of this Assembly. What I have heard and seen from the evidence that the committee has collected, this amendment that they are proposing is a reasonable amendment. I haven't heard any reason that it should not be adopted on the evidence.

I have heard a lot of speculation instead from the government side of the House. What they have done is set up a series of straw men to knock down that shows that somehow this is going to be the end...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the Minister for that answer. I wonder if the Minister would start on a small scale and try a pilot project in which staff could assist inmates to find housing, maybe just in one community, in order to maintain the department's investment in their wellness. I am thinking, in one of the communities where there is a correctional centre, that there be a pilot project and the Minister gauge the results of ensuring that inmates have housing on their release, in order to see whether, in fact, that brings down rates of people going back into jails. Thank you.

Thank you to the Minister for that question. Are there any supports in place now that would assist inmates to find housing on their release?

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to acknowledge the achievements of Patrick Clancy, recipient of the 2019 NWT Outstanding Volunteer Award in the Elders category. Since establishing the Yellowknife Wado Kai Karate Club in 2009, Patrick Clancy has nurtured the physical skills and mental discipline of territorial youth, sponsored master clinics and demonstrations, and he has generated 18 new black belts. He spends more than 400 hours of volunteer work per year to make the NWT karate scene a centre of national excellence and youth achievement. Congratulations and thanks go out to Patrick Clancy...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. This is a botch. This assessment should have been done before the RFP went out. On what basis was the RFP issued in the first place, if not to describe the needs that the bidder was supposed to work on? I fail to understand how doing an assessment at this point is the next logical step. It should have been done years ago. Now, the Minister is saying to us not only will it be done now, the whole program will be implemented and designed within the next four months. Mr. Speaker, I have been here long enough to think that that is unlikely. What confidence can the Minister give...