Louis Sebert

Mr. Speaker, of course the inmates' past histories will be known by the staff at the correctional facilities, and it is clear from what I know from my past that recidivism is a tremendous problem in all of our facilities, not only here, but throughout the country, so the issue is: are we providing the necessary programs to reduce recidivism?

As I mentioned a few minutes ago, there are some new programs that we are offering. We are hoping to reduce recidivism because there will not be much success in our overall system if the same people keep coming back. We are aware of the problem and we are...

I was not aware of this specific issue. I am sure that management is ensuring that all correctional officers do have adequate backup and support. I will, however, look into it if the Member wishes.

Mr. Speaker, I'm not certain of the number of training officers, but I do know that there has not been any cut in training overall. While we're always looking into programs, there is no financial cutback that has reduced the amount of training or programs at the facility. Thank you.

I can advise that I have not personally received or reviewed the report, but I do understand that it has been received by the department. I am also aware that there are some concerns that some of these devices may not work in extreme cold, but the RCMP are looking into this matter to make sure that when the devices are received and utilized, they do give a proper reading.

As mentioned previously, two recreation officer positions are being converted to correction officer positions. I don't think there will be any change in the availability of the recreation programs to the inmates.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Member opposite will know, not from personal experience, but from his experience as a JP, there currently is, under section 253, an offence of operating a motor vehicle when impaired by alcohol or a drug. What the federal government is attempting to do, as they have done with alcohol where you hear about the 0.08 limit, they are trying to impose a similar scientific limit on the amount of marijuana allowed to be in the system of someone operating a motor vehicle.

The proposed THC level for a summary offence is two nanograms per millilitre of blood, and for a...

Thank you for the interesting question. Essentially, the production of marijuana is a federal issue. Those who wish to manufacture marijuana will have to be licensed by the federal government. They would have to approach the federal government. Presumably, they would have to make an application showing how they could ensure the safety of the product and so on. That could happen. I understand that even fairly small organizations might be able to avail themselves of this legislation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We think so, Mr. Speaker. We formed a committee with departmental officials to explore this option further. The committee will look into the program model and consider how it could be adapted to fit the context of the Northwest Territories, including changes to infrastructure, changes, or supports. According to all reports, the amount of recidivism of residents who complete this program is far less than the normal population, so we certainly do want to look at this program and see how we might be able to adapt it to the Northwest Territories, where clearly something is needed.

As I mentioned, we received 1,160 responses to our online survey. Anybody from across the Northwest Territories or, in fact, from outside the Territories, if they wished, could participate. In addition, we did write to Aboriginal organizations seeking their input. We only have a limited amount of time, as we all know, as the federal legislation will be in force starting July 1st next year. We visited a cross-section of communities, admittedly not every community. Between the visits to the community and the many submissions made online, I think we did receive a good cross-section of opinion...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Guthrie House is a therapeutic community located on the grounds of the Nanaimo Correctional Centre in Nanaimo, British Columbia. That is a medium-security custody facility. It is a provincial institution, so I assume that it deals with inmates doing less than two years. Guthrie House is separate from the main jail, so the prisoners, who are called residents, actually, should they be accepted into the program, stay within that portion of the institution. They don't mix with the other prisoners. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.