Louis Sebert

There are far less, Mr. Speaker, than 100 steps. I am pleased to advise the House, [English translation not provided].

There are several stages, and we are only at stage one.

Now, the Member opposite has talked about the information and the plans that we do have. We do not want to intervene between Aboriginal groups and their members. We are consulting with them. They, doubtless, will pass on information to their members. I don't think it would be appropriate or sensible for us to intervene between leadership and members.

Yes, I do remember that there was discussion about that so that prisoners or inmates would be aware of the A New Day Program. I believe some progress has been made, and perhaps I could look into that further and give the Member opposite a fuller answer.

Yes, Mr. Speaker, there are certain programs that I can speak of.

The Corrections Service has implemented a Substance Abuse Management, SAM, Program, Living Without Violence, and Respectful Relationships programming designed to help inmates with shorter sentences, as well as those serving their sentence in the community.

If I might provide more detail with respect to some of those programs, the SAM Program, Substance Abuse Management Program, was launched in 2016, and it has been delivered 36 times. The Violence Prevention and Living Without Violence Program was launched in 2017 and has been...

We do understand that the victim support workers do an incredible job, and it can be particularly difficult. Support for the program, in order to recruit new workers, was another recommendation referred to in the 2014 report.

They do get annual training opportunities, so there is ongoing training that does take place, and in addition, every year the department holds a significant annual training event, where the training provided is typically as a result of victim services providers' requests. Examples include child court accompaniment, critical incident stress debriefing, compassion fatigue...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Member opposite for his questions. There was a review in 2014 of victim service coordinators, and I can advise that this program started out in the late 1990s, with funding initially in two communities in the NWT, Yellowknife and Fort Smith. The Government of the Northwest Territories now provides funding for 11 community-based victim services workers in eight communities, including Yellowknife, Fort Smith, Inuvik, Fort Simpson, Behchoko, Fort Good Hope, Tulita, and Hay River. Workers in those communities also provide victim services to surrounding...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think the department fully realized the seriousness of this item, and it is of course a shared priority amongst several departments. I mentioned that we are developing a comprehensive approach to addressing family violence, and maybe I can talk a little bit about the first steps that we are taking. The first phase will be focused on research and analysis and will result in a comprehensive strategy recommendation based on evidence and interjurisdictional analysis of best practices, consultation with northern researchers is in progress, and we hope to have preliminary...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Member opposite for his questions. At this time, we're not aware of any plans for another attitudinal survey. The survey of 2007, some 11 years ago, was helpful in confirming the prevalence of this problem in the Northwest Territories, and we know that the problem has continued through the use of shelters, the rates of emergency protection orders, EPOs, crime statistics, and other measures. Now, I can advise that the GNWT is developing a comprehensive approach to addressing family violence. The goal of this work is to identify best practices, align...

I mentioned earlier that we don’t know our needs. Perhaps it was better phrased to say we don’t know all of our needs for the future. Some of them may not be fully mapped out yet. Again, on application, we can turn land over to the municipalities and have been doing so. I expect that procedure to continue. It seems rational and also following what the regulations state in the Commissioner’s land regulations. Again, applications can be made. They can be studied. If they are of merit, land can be turned over.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you for the question. As I say, there is no policy to turn over all Commissioner's land within the municipalities to the municipalities. We need to have applications. As I mentioned when I referred to the regulations earlier, we need to know the purpose for which the land is needed.

We also have lands needs for our government, so we simply can't turn over everything to the municipalities. However, again, upon application, we may turn the land over to them if it fits the criteria. Thank you.