Rylund Johnson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I recognize there is much advocacy work to be done, but I believe we won't make any progress absent this Assembly championing this issue. I'd like to speak briefly about a Yukon First Nation, Kwanlin Dun's, policing program where their own members are the front line of policing services. I believe this has been a success story. Indigenous governments around the world are taking notice. I really believe that we could work with the federal government and in this current political climate championing similar programming in the Northwest Territories. My question for the...

I am happy to hear that we are committed to the 5 percent target, and I hope we can blow right past that number. I believe there are a number of improvements that can be made here. Firstly, NWT prosecutions can start to use alternative measures more. I believe officers should be encouraged to use alternative measures before they ever get to the Crown's office, and I believe we should work with our PPSC, the Public Prosecution Service of Canada, to use alternative measures more broadly. Ultimately, we won't get that increase in alternative measures without increased funding and support to our...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Committee further believes that the GNWT needs to do more to communicate with its most vulnerable populations, many of whom do not have access to computers or who found their access limited as a result of the closure of schools and libraries. Such communications should focus on pamphlets, mail-outs, radio, and cable messaging designed specifically to reach residents who do not have access to computers.

The Standing Committee on Government Operations recommends that the GNWT develop an emergency response communications protocol that ensures regularly scheduled updates to...

Mr. Speaker, it saddens me that I spill hear people downplay the reality of racism in Canadian. Yet, I ask anyone who wishes to downplay the pain of those protesting as we speak, I ask a white person to ask themselves if their child was Black whether life would be easier or harder for that child. We should not have to use such analogies to show the importance, but maybe the fact that we do is commentary of where we are as a nation. There is no doubt that a person of colour has a harder time and the game is rigged against them from the moment they are born. That is what is meant by systemic...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I guess what I would ideally like to see, and I know there are competing interests, here, and different fishers have different things, is that perhaps this $9-million fish processing plant is not just in Hay River and the various remote collection stations are stationed around the lake, and perhaps we're breaking up this $9 million into smaller projects that actually make sure that the lake is evenly fished. I don't know if, in passing this specific line item, whether that's possible, and I would like to get a sense from the Minister of, going forward on this project...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm always happy to hear when things are 75-percent funded. This is one of the line items I have a bit of an issue with in that I'm always hesitant to approve something when we don't exactly know what it's going to be. I know there is some work to go out and adjust and see if we can get this back on budget, but I've spoken to a number of fishers, both on this side of the lake and in Hay River, who say this isn't exactly what they're looking for. I also know, with the passing of Stacy Linington, we have lost a significant amount of our previous fishing capacity and, you...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I also see the $1.1 million for the Enterprise licensing and permitting. My understanding is that that budget line is to bring most, if not all, of our licensing and permits online into one system. Can I just, perhaps, have a bit of a distinction between SIMS and Enterprise? Is one for the DMV and one for other licensing? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that, on Friday, June 12, 2020, I will move the following motion: I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Hay River North, that, notwithstanding rule 4, when this House adjourns on Friday, June 12, 2020, it shall be adjourned until Thursday, October 15, 2020; and further, that any time prior to October 15, 2020, 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 or at a time later than...

I look forward to continuing those conversations regarding business planning. I believe that the Minister could put forward quite a compelling case that every dollar we spend in alternative measures actually saves us money because it is simply extremely costly to bring people to trial and to hold them in prisons. If we can avoid doing that, it ultimately saves us money, and I believe there are numerous studies showing that.

Mr. Speaker, our MP, Michael McLeod, has been quite a vocal advocate for increasing First Nations policing funding. In this current budget, we passed $47 million to fund the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate there is a steering committee and there is a process. My concern here is that, if you go look at the budget right now, there are published graphs and reports that no doubt someone created with underlying data. Every time I see one of those, I have to request, "Can I get that underlying data that actually make up this chart?" I'm not asking for information that's not already public. The way that this would be done, in my opinion, is: we have an information management and technological policy manual. It requires all sorts of things: translation, same look...