Rylund Johnson

Thank you, Madam Chair. I guess I'll just make some comments here.

You know, Scotland I'm going to step out a little. Scotland presented passed a presumption of short sentences of three months. They just said it didn't make it sense to jail people for that long. They lose employment. They lose housing. And that was so successful they actually made it for a sentence of less than a year. They just don't put people in jail for less than a year. They use probation, alternative measures, treatment, whatever else. And I think, you know, if we did that we would have no one left in prison. Anyone...

Thank you, Madam Chair. During I believe it was the capital budget, we were talking, and our corrections are at an alltime low. Part of this is, we suspect, due to COVID and the courts have been shut down but also just a number of other factors. I was just wondering if the Minister had an update of whether we're seeing any trends that the number of inmates is going to go back up? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yeah, I think this is in need of a review. And, you know, I like the idea of getting as many community ones as possible and, you know, for some of the smaller liquor infractions or probation infractions, please divert them, do it at the community level. But I'll note most jurisdictions have some sort of higher up diversion. You know, Alberta alternative justice, where you can refer someone from anywhere in the province and they run, you know, weeks ontheland programming. They run really elaborate diversion programming that I just don't think any one of our one community...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Does the Minister have an update on whether all of our community justice committees are up and operating? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Can I get a bit of an explanation as to what the internet child exploitation unit is? I see there's $390,000. Are those officers that would be located in the Northwest Territories, or is this a contribution a federal kind of level? Thank you.

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I spoke earlier that we lost the wage topup program which brought many workers up to $18 an hour, and then I think this year we are going to see one of the highest inflations Canadians have seen in years, and the cost of living is not getting any cheaper in the North. I just worry that, you know, we in the NWT are heading down a path where making a living wage is just getting harder and harder for other people.

Can the Minister speak to what plans the department has to ensure that NWT workers are making a decent wage that, you know, keeps the pace of the cost of...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I think we're all the eagerly awaiting to see the size of that bill.

There's $809,000 here for increased housing costs for RCMP members. Can I just get an explanation of whether that's money that then goes to the Housing Corp because they built those RCMP units, or is this a different housing cost? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The last minimum wage report was never made public, and I understand the Minister's position and he told the committee that the work they would do would remain confidential. But I understand that we're now looking at reviewing the minimum wage again. And I just don't want to be standing here at that time asking that question once again.

So can the Minister speak to what the process is going forward for the next minimum wage review? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Can the there's a number here, other adjustments including $1.8 million, mainly for collective agreement increases. Can the Minister just provide how much the RCMP's collective agreement increases were specifically?

Yeah, and I guess perhaps I would also like the Minister to clarify if I have a misunderstanding here. I know TSC kind of operates on this model of charging departments for the service provide, and it may not in fact be a true cost to the GNWT. So perhaps in coming back, the Minister could also clarify a bit about the TSC and what this $30 million means. Does that mean we are actually spending $30 million? Thank you.