Caroline Wawzonek

There are two different things that are at issue. First, with respect to third-party reporting, that certainly would provide another avenue of reporting, another way in which victims can come forward, and arguably in a way that would provide some flexibility and alternatives when people may not be in a position, for whatever reason, to attend the RCMP. That said, the model that is being looked at at present involves non-governmental organizations or victim service providers who are not necessarily GNWT employees, so, of course, we need to ensure that those individuals or those organizations...

As I said, the Department of Finance is already active on this file. They are already engaged at the federal level, and the point of engagement at the federal level is always to ensure that the people of the Northwest Territories and the needs of the Northwest Territories are being fully considered. I am confident that that will happen. I am confident that that will happen in the follow-up to this conversation here in the House, and I am quite confident that, indeed, if carbon offsets are a direction that the federal government moves to, we will be, as I've said, engaged and involved and we...

It's not uncommon in any kind of an incident that there will be areas of improvement. What I would speak to are, in fact, the improvements and responses that were made as a result of this incident. For example, there was additional training provided in January of 2020, so already this year, surrounding the kinds of responses that should be taking place. There have been discussions within Corrections and in the workplace, specifically around when and how to review policy and about refresher training, which does happen regularly within the facility. In addition to that, being aware of the need...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This particular investigation, which was back in May, was not conducted by staff from the North Slave correctional facility, though the Member is correct; it was conducted by other members from the Department of Justice. The nature of the investigation into any incident is responsive to the incident itself, and in this case, this was deemed to be adequate and appropriate.

I would also note, Mr. Speaker, that the RCMP were called and were involved, and the WSCC was involved, so there were responses from a variety of different avenues. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I was also privy to the news articles about the change in the Yukon. I can assure the Member that the Department of Justice is well aware of what's happening and well aware of the need to be reactive now and not later. What I can certainly say at this point is that, should Alberta make a change, we will be in a position to respond very quickly. It's not a response that would be mine alone, and so that's my inability to commit to that here today on the floor, but for whatever assurance I can give, if there's a change, we will not be delayed in our response.

I am assuming that the Member is referencing assaults on staff. Seeing that that is correct, I will find out whether or not there have been any further incidents involving assaults on staff and, in doing so, try to determine what responses there have been or investigations that may have taken place. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I certainly share the view that making sure that all staff at Corrections facilities across the Northwest Territories are safe is critical. I certainly am aware of the need to do that and aware of the challenges of working in the Corrections environment. I have seen and am aware from just my involvement in the correctional area that this is something that we need to be constantly vigilant about. Leaving aside this specific incident and the specific individuals involved, when I assumed this role, it was something that I was alive to and did, indeed, take action to establish the inter...

There are certain forms of escort within the facility that require two guards to be conducting an escort, and the staff at the correctional facility are aware of that. That policy has been the subject of review, and that has been the subject of review by the staff and by the supervisors at the facility. I am confident, going forward, that they have looked at that, that they have looked at that policy specifically, and that the things that we've done since then, including training in January, including the inter-departmental working group to support the staff, and hopefully, also with the...

I am confident in the work that was done in response to this incident by our staff, by the Department of Justice staff. That said, that doesn't mean that we can't still, being a new government and looking more broadly at correctional services and more broadly at the work that is done by all corrections staff, always strive to do better. I can say that there is going to be a workplace assessment done about safety and corrections this spring, and that that is, in fact, going to be external to the Department of Justice.

I am happy to commit and confirm that we will reach out to our legal counterparts in the other jurisdictions. We will reach out to stakeholders such as airlines, such as computer service providers. As far as public engagement, I think I would be a little more hesitant there in that that can mean a lot of different things depending on the nature of the bill. This change would involve a change to regulations. This is not a change that requires a legislative change; it is the Daylight Savings Time Regulations, I think, I'm not sure if that's quite right, so it's a fairly narrow change that would...