R.J. Simpson

Emergency protection orders are temporary court orders up to 90 days, and they are available under the Protection Against Family Violence Act. Of course, there has been a report highlighting some of the deficiencies, and so Justice is working with its partners to identify ways to fix those. It's not a perfect solution, obviously. There are communities with no RCMP, and so a piece of paper doesn't feel like it makes you very safe. It's not a perfect fix, but that is what is in place.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We all share in the responsibility of ensuring that our schools and communities are safe spaces. Today, we take a moment to pause and reflect on how each of us contributes to safe spaces where bullying is prevented whenever possible and quickly addressed when it occurs.

As I am sure all Members of this House are aware, bullying can occur to anyone of any age at any time. It occurs when aggressive and repeated behaviours happen between one or more people in a real or perceived power imbalance. This imbalance can be based on a range of factors from size, age, or ethnicity...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following two documents: "Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 497-19(2) Corrections Workplace Assessment;" and "Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 528-19(2) Integrated Case Management." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The departments have already signed an MoU. All of the social envelope departments, the deputy ministers have signed an MoU committed to carrying this forward, and partnerships with communities and community organizations are essential. Going forward, I am not sure how they are going to formalize those or what is needed, but they are essential. We will be working with them, MoU or not.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The idea of having a full-government approach to integrated service delivery and rolling this out across the GNWT is a big aspiration, and it takes a lot of work. It's an entire culture shift. It's not something that can be done overnight, although I wish I could snap my fingers and have it done. I share the Member's passion on this, so perhaps I can talk a bit about what's been done and some potential timelines.

In January, the territorial director for integrated service delivery engaged with over 100 GNWT staff to provide information on the fundamentals of integrated...

I recently met with the commanding officer of the RCMP, and he had also met with BACupNorth. He was very open to working with them, continuing to work with them, and providing them support in any way that he could. I know that the RCMP also, here in the territory, undertakes cultural training and community integration, but I don't think they do elsewhere in Canada. In that sense, they are ahead of other jurisdictions.

In terms of what we do to address some of the issues surrounding Indigenous people in the justice system, there is the integration of Indigenous culture with input from elders. We...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a meeting scheduled with BACupNorth. It has been on the books for some time. There were some issues, I think, finding a time that worked for everyone. That is happening on March 15th. We have our community justice committees, which support communities to develop alternatives to the criminal justice system, such as diversion programs. We also have, what I set as the Minister, annual policing priorities. I just recently sent out letters to the Indigenous governments to find out what their priorities are so that we can incorporate those. Those are some of the things...

I have to disagree with that. I think that, despite the concerns raised by staff, they still have the ability to perform their jobs and help inmates with rehabilitation. I understand that a healthy workplace where people want to be is always conductive to a better job, and so we are working to make that happen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Members are aware from the numerous times that I have addressed this in this House, this is a project that I am keeping a close eye on because it is so vital to the hundreds of staff in the corrections system as well as the inmates and their families and their futures.

One of the things that came out of the assessment was the creation of a working group with senior management from the Department of Justice, the human resources people from Finance, as well as the UNW. A working group at this level has never been assembled before. The union has never had that type...

It would be great to have "one system to rule them all" and not have to worry about trying to mesh different systems together, but the fact is that it's difficult. We know that from systems that we currently have that do not talk to each other, and so we really need to know a lot more about what we are going to do. We really need a solid plan before we invest in something like that. At this point, there is not a plan to create this system, but we really do need to put in the work to make sure that we do not just spend a whole bunch of money for nothing. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.